Paleo Filled Easter Eggs (GF, DF, RSF & Vegan)
Easter is almost here, and with that comes almost everyone’s immediate desire to eat copious amounts of chocolate. Now look – we can’t blame you, chocolate is pretty freaking amazing. And we know there aren't a huge amount of 'healthy' alternatives around this time of year, we wanted to create a tasty alternative to the traditional easter egg.
These eggs aren’t ridiculously sweet, nor are they made with any refined sugar. The chocolate is made from scratch and holds itself at room temperature although we do recommend storing in the fridge.
It can be reasonably fiddly to fill an easter egg mould. It took a few goes but we got it down pat in the end. We would recommend for most people just to fill the half and cover the bottom with chocolate and be done with it. Sticking them together is fiddly, takes a lot of patience and the end result is pretty hard to achieve perfectly (as you can see by my various finishes above!). The key is letting your completed chocolate sit for awhile after making so that it thickens up a lot as it cools down. Cocoa butter is naturally solid at room temperature so the more it cools, the thicker it gets which is much easier to work with. Too thin and it wont coat the mould enough. You could even skip the mould part and just place blobs of the filling in the freezer until hard then dip in the melted chocolate and refrigerate until set!
We got our mould from Spotlight in Christchurch pretty cheaply a few years ago; the brand was Roberts Confectionery and it was mini moulds about the size of a creme egg (but these taste so much better!).
If you're strict paleo (peanut butter isn't paleo!), you could switch to your favourite nut butter of your choice.
Paleo Salted Caramel & Peanut Caramel Filled Easter Eggs
You'll need:
Chocolate
- 150 grams Cocoa Butter grated or finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 tsp Fine Salt
Caramel Fillings
- 3/4 cup Dates softened for 20 minutes in boiling water then drained
- 3 tbsp Coconut Oil - NOT melted
- 1/2 cup Coconut Cream
- Salt to taste (I kept tasting as I added til I got that real salty hit)
- 1/4 cup Peanut Butter you can use smooth or crunchy!
Place your cocoa butter into a large glass bowl sitting over a pot of gently simmering water and stir until almost melted. Once almost melted add your maple syrup and stir until melted together.
Remove from the heat and add your cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Stir until completely combined. Set aside, and allow to cool and thicken up.
Meanwhile, place all of your filling ingredients into a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. If using crunchy peanut butter and you want the chunks, simply stir this into the date mixture after you have blended the rest. Set aside until needed for filling.
Once your chocolate has thickened (the texture will be similar to regular melted chocolate, not too thin that it is hard to coat, but not too thick that it doesn't move smoothly), spoon a large teaspoon into each of the chocolate moulds and push it to completely coat the sides. It doesn't matter if it gets around the rest of the mould.
Once each mould is filled entirely with chocolate and the sides are evenly covered, quickly flip the mould upside down over the bowl and allow the excess chocolate to run out back into the bowl. Gently tap the mould if needed to give it a helping hand.
I used a palette knife, but if you have a cake scraper or similar, run this across the top of the mould to tidy up the edges. This is essential for a flat bottom and so that there isn't excess chocolate around the edges when you remove the chocolate eggs from the mould. Ensure its still level with the mould and you don't remove too much from the edges. This is where a palette knife or cake scraper is handy! Once tidy, place into the freezer to chill until set. I left mine around 20-30 minutes.
Once set, fill each half with your filling of choice. Be sure not to overfill them as this makes it too hard to cover the base in chocolate.
Finally cover the filled halves with chocolate. If your chocolate is too thick and hardened at this point, simply place in the microwave in 10 second bursts and stir each time until at the desired consistency. Tidy once more with the palette knife and cake scraper, being careful not to apply too much pressure to keep the chocolate in the base. Place in the freezer until set.
At this point, you can turn your chocolates out and they're done! But if you want to stick them together, gently heat a pan on a low setting. Place each half on the warm pan for a few seconds to melt the chocolate base. Carefully stick them together and spread any excess chocolate to cover the seam. Place on a plate and refrigerate again until set.
HAPPY EASTER!
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Planning to make these? Please don’t forget to tag us! We LOVE to see your creations @nourishandthrivenz and #NourishandThriveNZ
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