Easter is all about chocolate and these chocolate nests with chocolate truffle eggs are the perfect addition to an afternoon cup of tea or coffee.
What You’ll Need:
- 850g milk dark chocolate
- 140g unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 2 happy egg yolks, at room temperature
- 100g icing sugar
- 125 ml boiling water
What To Do:
Make the nests
- Grease with sunflower oil the outside of a silicone half sphere mould. (I used one that was 80mm wide for each half sphere)
- Melt and temper the chocolate.
- Break 400g of the chocolate into small pieces and melt in the microwave, 20 seconds at a time, taking out after each 20 second interval and stirring well.
- Continue until about 2/3rds is melted and there are a few lumps left.
- Stir well until no lumps are left.
- Put the chocolate in a piping bag and pipe thin lines in a crisscross manner over the greased half sphere mould. Make it quite thick at the base.
- Leave to dry, and then carefully remove from the mould.
- Using a cheese slicer of a vegetable peeler, scrape shavings of chocolate off the remaining block of chocolate to make the straw for the nest.
Make the salted truffle eggs.
- Chop 400g of chocolate into small pieces.
- Place the chopped chocolate, butter in a heat-safe bowl.
- Half fill a small saucepan with water and heat until it just simmers.
- Place the bowl with chocolate and butter on top of saucepan and melt the chocolate and butter.
- Put the 2 egg yolks in a bowl and gently whisk to break the yolks. Very slowly pour 125 ml of just boiled water into the yolks whilst stirring continuously.
- Beat the melted chocolate and butter a few times with a whisk then place a fine mesh strainer over the mixture. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture through the strainer and into the bowl, beat with whisk until incorporated then repeat with remaining egg mixture.
- Add the salt.
- Beat until the chocolate mixture has thickened and looks shiny. Refrigerate for about 2 hours until firm.
- Put the icing sugar into a bowl.
- Dust your hands with icing sugar.
- Take ½ teaspoonfuls of the truffle mixture and roll the mixture into an egg shape.
- Roll each shaped egg in the bowl of icing sugar.
- The egg truffles can then be returned to the fridge and kept for up to 2 days until they are ready to be served in the chocolate nests.
Visit www.thehappyegg.co.uk