Make your own Easter eggs, you can do it!

After the celebration of Christmas it's Easter time. As we all know eggs were adopted by Christianity as a symbol of Jesus Christ's resurrection, and came to form part of the traditions of Easter Sunday. This year let's be creative and decorate your own Easter egg and surprise your friends and family. If you have kids, this is the best way to have fun.  You don't need many things, just some decorating material, chocolates, colors and your imagination will create the masterpiece. Let's check it out!

Blue Designer Eggs

Materials required:

• Boiled Eggs
• Round stickers and strips of tape
• Vinegar
• Blue and red food coloring

Method: Hard-boil eggs before you dye them, or blow them after dyeing. To reduce the chances of your eggs cracking when hard-boiling, use very fresh eggs and make sure they are at room temperature. Cook in a small saucepan so eggs move around less, and remember they should simmer rather than boil. To blow eggs, use a long needle to make a small hole at each end of egg. Place your mouth on one end and blow the contents into a bowl. Rinse egg out with water and a little vinegar then allow to dry on paper towels.

1. Using round stickers and strips of tape, arrange spots and stripes on your eggs.
2. Smooth out any air bubbles in the stickers with a butter knife or burnishing to prevent dye bleeding through.
3. Fill a bowl with 3 cups hot water, 2 tbs vinegar, 3 capfuls blue food coloring and 1 capful red food coloring.
4. Mix to combine, then dip eggs in, carefully removing with a spoon when they reach desired color.
5. Leave eggs to dry on paper towels then remove stickers.

Marshmallow Eggs

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon of gelatin
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 cup of sugar
• ½ a cup of hot water
• ¼ of a cup of cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 400g bag of chocolate buttons
• Food coloring optional

Method: Make a bed of flour in a dish and using a regular egg, push half sized indentations in the flour so as to make a mould for the marshmallow.

1. Place cold water in a bowl, stir in gelatin and stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix hot water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
3. Add gelatin and boil for 5 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into large bowl
5. Put a bit of cold water in the sink and place the bowl in the sink to cool it down quickly.
6. Add lemon, vanilla and optional food coloring and beat until thick and creamy
7. Spoon into flour moulds
8. Refrigerate about an hour or until the marshmallow is chilled right through
9. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a boiling pot
10. Using a knife ice the marshmallow with the chocolate sticking two pieces of marshmallow together.
11. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Egg Surprise: Using the same ingredients you can make your Easter egg much more interesting and surprise your guests with hidden chocolates or some other interesting stuff.

1. Grab some hollow eggs and carefully take off the wrapping.
2. Using a razor blade carefully cut through the seams of the egg where the two halves of the mould are joined.
3. Fill up the egg with anything that tickles your fancy. This could be anything from little notes to more Easter eggs, lollies or my personal favorite from childhood, one of those little fluffy toy chickens that pop up everywhere at Easter.
4. Melt a bit of chocolate and use it to stick the egg back together again.
5. Wait for the chocolate to set then wrap up again.

The chocolate egg

Ingredients

• For 1 large, hollow egg, You can buy egg moulds from specialist kitchen shops.
• 100g quality chocolate
• 1 x 14cm hollow egg mould
• "Writing icing" for decorating the egg
• Heatproof bowl
• Metal spoon
• Pastry brush
• 100g of chocolate is also enough to make around 12 solid "mini-eggs"

Method

1. Wipe over the inside of the egg moulds with some kitchen paper. You could use a dab of vegetable oil on the paper, which gives the egg a shiny finish.
2. Melt your chocolate using a bowl suspended over a saucepan of water, or in the microwave.
3. Once the chocolate is ready for use, use a metal spoon to transfer some into the mould.
4. Use the back of the spoon to spread the chocolate around, and use a pastry brush to sweep it right up to the edges.
5. Then place it for 20 minutes to set in the fridge - place it on a plate upside down, so that any "runs" go to the edge of the mould, and don't pool into a mass at the bottom.
6. Build up 3 or 4 layers in the same manner.
7. Run a small amount of melted chocolate around the edge of the half still in its mould, and lay the other half on top.
8. Leave the whole egg to set in the fridge and then pop it out of the remaining half mould.
9. You can then decorate your eggs through silver baubles, sprinkles, iced flowers, bows, the only limit is your imagination.

So now you have so many options to make your own Easter eggs. Go for it and make your Easter colorful and interesting. Happy Easter and happy decorating!

(Sources: dooyoo.co.uk, taste.com.au, nzgirl.co.nz)