Fondant Eggs

This is a big tradition in my family – my mom has made these almost every year at Easter, and there’s nothing we love more.  It’s basically butter and sugar dipped in chocolate . . . and what could be better?  I brought the recipe home from my preschool, and my mom’s been making it ever since, sometimes after a bit of pleading.  Usually it’s my job to do the chocolate dipping, but this year my mom agreed to go through the whole process together with me.

The process takes a while because of the refrigeration between each step, but they aren’t too hard to make.  And they are SO worth it.  The bitter chocolate is a perfect contrast with the sugary filling.

What you need:

1 & 1/2 cups butter, room temperature

2 lbs icing sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon yellow food colouring, or whatever makes it a colour yellow you like

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

6-7 ounces bitter chocolate

What you do:

1.  Beat the butter in a mixer until soft.  Add the sugar gradually, then the egg, salt and vanilla.

2.  Remove about 1/4 of the mixture.  Add the yellow food colouring and almond extract to the 1/4 of the mixture.  Cover and refrigerate both parts until cold.  The yellow will form the centres of the eggs.

3.  Once the mixtures are cold, use your hands to roll the yellows into 7-9 balls.  Form the whites into 14-16 flat ovals, slightly concave.  Place them on a wax paper covered baking pan.  You need two white ovals to each yellow centre.  Refrigerate again until cold.

4.  Form the whites around the yolks with your hands, making them into an egg shape, smoothing them out.  Refrigerate again until cold.

5.  Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  Using a fork, dip the eggs into melted chocolate.  Place them on a wax paper covered baking pan.  Use the chocolate to touch up any spots with a spatula that aren’t covered.  Refrigerate again until the chocolate hardens.

6.  Wrap  them up individually and put a ribbon on top.  They are best served in thin slices.