The Husband has always loved Cadbury Creme Eggs; along with Reese's mini-eggs, they are his springtime candy favorites. However, since Cadbury was acquired by Hershey, the Creme Egg recipe hasn't been the same.
Per The Husband, the insides are grittier than they used to be. Instead of a smooth creamy "egg" center, he claims he can feel the sugar. And it appears that he is not alone in this, Facebook pages have popped up, articles have been written, people are very very emotionally attached to the Cadbury Eggs. Take a few seconds and Google "Cadbury Creme Egg Change Complaints" and you'll see page after page of people writing about this particular subject.
So when I came across a recipe on the Food52 Blog for DIY Cadbury Creme Eggs, I thought I'd try it. I changed the chocolate mixture, but otherwise kept it pretty close to the original. The most challenging thing for me was to find Golden Syrup. I could have ordered it on Amazon, but I work in The Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago and we have a gourmet cooking shop in the building. So during a much needed break from work on Friday, I wandered down the way to The Chopping Block and inquired about Golden Syrup.
After Googling it and finally looking it up in some large dictionary of "What is this ingredient" (that I need to have...) we were able to find that the Golden Syrup I was looking for was also Steen's "Southern Made"; it cost me $2 and was worth the 10 minutes of trying to explain what it was I was looking for.
Making the insides was pretty easy. Honestly, the most difficult part of this whole process was keeping the "inside" cold enough to mold. The warmer it got, the stickier it got and the harder it was to do anything with it other than want to wash it from your hands. And because of that, it was the most time consuming part.
The other important thing I should tell you, the mixture is going to be really sweet. When I tasted it after making it, I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. Trust me though, once it's dipped in the chocolate, it really tastes fantastic (although if you dip pretty much anything in good chocolate, it's going to taste fantastic).....
Ingredients:
½ Cup Golden Syrup
6 TBS Butter, softened
½ TSP Salt
1 Vanilla Bean, remove the seeds and use those (toss the pod)
1 TSP Vanilla
3 Cup Powdered Sugar
½ TSP Yellow Food Coloring
1/2 Cup of Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (go with Ghiradelli)
1/2 Cup of Semisweet Chocolate (go with Ghiradelli)
Toothpicks!
You should use a mixer, either a stand (use the paddle attachment if you've got a stand) or a hand-held one for this, it helps get the creaminess quicker. If you don't have one, just be prepared to beat the living hell out of this stuff.
Beat the butter until it's creamy, around 2 minutes. Then add the golden syrup, salt, vanilla seeds, and vanilla extract and mix on medium-low and mix well.
Once everything is mixed, turn the mixer on low (trust me, you don't want powdered sugar all over the place) and slowly add the powdered sugar to the mix. It's going to go from very liquid to a more solid, fondant-like texture. Incorporate all of the sugar and make sure none remains on the sides of the mixing bowl.
Take 1/4 of the sugar mixture, and place it in a smaller bowl. Add the food coloring and mix until it's totally combined.
Place both of the sugar mixtures in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are totally chilled and cool and slightly hard to the touch.
Remove the yellow mixture first, and place wax paper on a plate. With a 1/2 TSP, scoop out the mixture, and quickly roll into a ball. Again, if the mixture starts getting warm, it stops doing what you want. So roll quickly and place on wax paper. If it gets too sticky, then just throw it back in the freezer for a bit. You should get around 10-12 yolks
Once all of the yolks are rolled, put them in the freezer and pull out the whites.
You will use a 1/2 TBS for this one. Scoop and roll. Toss them back in the freezer for another 10 minutes and then pull out. Quickly take each ball, and place your thumb into it, making a niche for the yolk to go into. You should get around 10-12 whites.
I left these in the freezer for a good hour before I moved onto the next step (but that was because I was making dinner).
Again, being quick, drop the yolk into the white and quickly roll the sides up to cover the yolk. This doesn't have to be perfect since it's all getting covered in chocolate, but get it as covered as possible and roll the whole thing into an egg like shape.
When you're finished, pop them back in the freezer. I left mine overnight and then made the chocolate in the morning, you can start the next step once the egg is no longer tacky when you touch it.
The final stage in this process is tempering the chocolate. If you know how to temper chocolate, drop down two paragraphs, if not, read on. It's not too hard, it just involves a whole lot of stirring.
If you have a double boiler, you can use that. I don't, so I use a small sauce pan, fill it with water and wait for it to boil. Once it's boiling, I use a glass (it MUST be glass) bowl with a curved bottom. I put 1/4 cup or bittersweet and semisweet chocolate into this bowl and place it over the boiling pot.
Be careful, because the bowl can get hot. You will stir the chocolate until it starts to melt. As soon as it begins to melt, take it off the boiling pot, place it on a counter inside a nest of dish towels and begin to add the remaining chocolate. Don't dump it all in, but add 1/4 cup at a time, and stir like a maniac. The chocolate will melt and become really shiny. This is what you want.
Take you eggs out of the freezer, place a toothpick at the base of every egg. Dip the eggs into the chocolate, making sure to cover as much of the egg as you can. Place the chocolate covered egg on a wax lined sheet. Once every egg is covered, place them in the refrigerator for five minutes.
The chocolate should be cooled, hard and shiny at this point. Slowly pull the toothpicks out from each egg and cover the hole with the remaining chocolate.
Put back in the refrigerator and keep there until you're ready to serve.
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