Easter Means Chocolate Eggs & Gift Baskets

Spring is in the air, and that means...CHOCOLATE! Yes, it’s nearly Easter, which means there is a great selection of chocolate Easter Eggs and other chocolate Easter gifts available to purchase. If you are planning an Egg Hunt, or just looking to get gift baskets for friends and family, you have only one more week to get geared up!

The history of Easter Eggs dates back thousands of years, to a pagan holiday celebrating the Spring equinox. Culture after culture adopted the symbol of the egg as a "rebirth" to celebrate the Spring, and new beginnings, and it became widely associated with the Easter holiday.

Many cultures decorate their eggs using a variety of techniques. Today, you can decorate your own eggs, or purchase beautifully-decorated chocolate eggs to give as a gift to celebrate the holiday. People decorate their eggs using paint, stickers, or a kit of egg dye. For those that would prefer a more simple method, edible chocolate eggs are available for purchase.

One of the most popular Easter traditions involves the egg hunt. The night before Easter, the Easter Bunny visits homes and hides eggs, chocolates and treats. On Easter morning, children look for the eggs and other treats when they wake up, filling up their basket as they collect their prizes. Because of this, the Easter Basket has also become a tradition at this time of year. Some families set the egg hunt up so that there is an Easter Basket as the "prize" at the end of their hunt for each child, while others simply hunt for eggs and keep the Easter Basket visible for all to enjoy. Children and adults alike love receiving an Easter Basket full of goodies; it's a great gift and an easy way to make someone smile.

Many families use chocolate eggs in their egg hunt, so that the treats can be eaten along the way. Chocolate eggs come in a huge variety of sizes and varieties. Some are small and foil wrapped, while some are as big as a child’s head. It's bound to make a most memorable Easter for any one receiving such a delight.

Easter Gifts are not limited to chocolate Easter Eggs -- you can buy chocolate versions of the Easter Bunny in almost any shape or size. These can be wonderful additions to the Easter egg hunt or the Easter Basket. You can personalize a basket for anyone -- your children or your parents, your neighbor, a teacher or even a friend from the gym! By sharing a basket with friends or family, you're helping share a springtime smile.

So this Easter, take some time to do something personally for someone you love - they will obviously feel happy, and you'll feel good about spreading that smile!

Homemade Chocolate Easter Eggs

Like any other holidays, Easter is celebrated within US with equal gusto, as it heralds Spring into most parts of the country. However, Easter is always extra special for kids, as they have lots more activities to do compared to some other festivals. Right from Easter bunnies to Easter Egg Hunts, to colorful costumes and flavorful candies, there are tonnes of family activities to engage your tiny tots, the most preferred one being Making Chocolate Eggs! Though its customary to dye egg shells, kids are more excited to make Chocolate eggs which they can relish at the end, rather than make painted eggs. This simple recipe is a great way to start your kids on early in the Easter fun! [photo courtesy of Woman's Day magazine]

How To Make Chocolate Easter Eggs

The basic recipe calls for using baking chocolate and some egg-shaped moulds to make your chocolate eggs - a great way to use up some wholesale chocolate, by the way! Then how you decorate them is all your choice. There are tonnes of edible Easter decorations available in markets today - you can just buy whatever suits your theme and stick them onto your finished eggs. From flowers and birds to simple candy dots and sticklers, you will definitely find something to suit your budget, and your child's fancy. So let your child's imagination run wild, and help them create their edible Easter masterpieces!

Instructions
1. Melt the Chocolate first by placing it into a small bowl which you place inside a larger bowl which has some hot water in it (double-boiler method) Be careful not to get any water into chocolate as this will make the chocolate go wrong and not set properly.

2. While the chocolate is melting clean out the Chocolate Egg mould using a small amount of cotton wool.

3. When the chocolate is melted and has no lumps, pick up the large brush and start painting the inside of the Chocolate Egg moulds. Once you have coated the whole of the inside of the mould with chocolate, place it into the fridge for five minutes. Repeat as many times as you like, forming a thick layer inside the mould. Leave it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to set firmly.

4. Once set, you can remove the egg from the mould. Place the mould upside-down onto the table and give a gentle tap on the top. Then gently lift the mould and the egg will stay back on the table.

Decorating the Chocolate Eggs
Mix up some royal icing in a pot, add tints of colors to make leaves or flowers, and then fill this into separate icing bags. Use proper icing attachment and pipe your desired shapes onto the chocolate eggs. You can also stick some ready-made edible Easter decorations by sticking them onto the eggs using royal icing as glue.