Surprise Filled Chocolate Bunnies

The smell of chocolate evokes memories of

Easter more than even Christmas.  It reminds me

of the chocolate Easter bunnies we always received

in our baskets, and of memories of my Aunt

Ionia always complaining about how my dad used

to bit the ears off her chocolate Easter bunny

when they were little.  He would just laugh every

time she told on him!

I love to mold chocolate as well as dip it

and I have quite a collection of Easter bunny

molds, vintage metal ones as well as plastic

ones.  Some of the plastic ones I have had for

over 30 years so I guess they technically count

as vintage.  They still have their sticker on them.

I got them for $.75!!

I love to make my own chocolate bunnies, but this 

year I decided it would be fun to make them hollow

and fill them with some treats.

Of course I had to sacrifice one to show you the

treats.  I plan on placing them on top of a cake

and then letting the little ones break them with

a hammer before we slice the cake for Easter Sunday

dinner.

I made up a mixture of favorite Easter candies 

to fill them with.

This is the grand dame of the bunnies.  She takes

about 2 pounds of chocolate to fill.  She is made

from a plastic mold.  

To make the bunnies, melt the temper the chocolate,

or use good quality chocolate coating discs, like

Ghiradelli, and fill half the mold.  Place the mold

pieces together and secure with clips or large

paper clips.  Tilt the mold from side to side to

fill entire mold and shake it to remove bubbles.

Place in fridge for five minutes and then turn 

over to evenly distribute the chocolate.  

Leave in fridge about 15 minutes, and then I

pop it into the freezer for about 5 minutes so

it releases easily from the mold.

Don't worry if you have a problem releasing

one, you can always remelt and try again. 

In order to fill the bunnies with treats, I 

heated a large frosting tip on the stove and

used it to melt a hole in the bottom of the bunnies.

Now she is all ready to fill.

When handling the finished product, use gloves to

keep the heat from your hands from melting

the chocolate.

Next I placed a dab of chocolate on a piece of

parchment paper, big enough to cover the

hole in the bottom of the bunny.  Then quickly

place that over the hole in bunny and then

stand the bunny up while the chocolate dries.

If there is excess chocolate around the base of

the bunny, use a toothpick to cut the excess away

while the chocolate is still liquid.

I had to make a darling white chocolate lamb too.

The bunnies got all dolled up with some eggs and

grass and even a little fondant flower by using melted

chocolate to stick the decorations on.

I can't wait to see the kiddies break open these

fun chocolate bunnies and lamb.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your

Easter Sunday is wonderful, filled with the

joy of the resurrection and family and friends.

I will be posting with 

Spring and Easter Joys

Pink and Green Easter Table Two Ways

Are you like me and just love setting the

table for a party?  It definitely is one of my

happy places.  

This table was set for my craft group.  We get

together once a month and craft together.

I feel so lucky to have been invited into

this group.  We were talking about it and it

all started a few years ago at Christmas time

when my friend Laura called and said that

some of them were doing a Christmas home

tour that night, and did I want to come. 

Of course I did!!

But was I also willing to let them come visit

my home.  Well, I had spent the whole day baking

for a church dinner and the counter was a mess,

and the ward dinner started in half an hour, but

hubby pulled through and helped me spiff up

the kitchen and I was able to do both the

ward dinner and the home tour.  That was the

start of our craft group.

Since Easter is this week and we were working

on an Easter craft, I decided to set an Easter table.

Normally I would do fresh flowers to bring

in spring, but I had just purchased these beautiful

silk peonies, so they became the centerpiece, sitting

on a grass runner.

These adorable pink and green dotted bunny plates

were purchased several years ago from Home Goods.

Since I was in junior high, pink and green have been

one of my favorite color combinations for spring.

I sat them on my favorite white wood chargers

from Pier 1.

We were having a fondue dinner so I had

two color coded fondue forks for each person

and a brass basket for scooping out things that

don't skewer that well.

The little white rabbits were a favor for

everyone.  I added the moss green wire

and some flowers.  

A little bunny tag was

used for place cards and two kinds of

flowers and a little hot glue and I

had pretty matching napkin rings.  

I only had four of each napkin and there

are eight of us, so I alternated them.

 These pretty pink goblets were purhased

from Pier 1 a couple of years ago.

The final touch for the table was using

my chiavari chairs and covering them with

curly willow chair covers in blush.  I used these

for our Christmas table and they add such a beautiful

touch.  They are from CV Linens and very

reasonable.

I had used the same plates and goblets

for a table in my dining room with a bunny fur

runner.

I used sterling silver flatware for this fancier

table, and the bunnies were nestled in the fur runner.

This glittering bunny was from Pier 1 last year

and was featured atop a gold embellished marble

cake pedestal.  The table featured three of these.

Our fondue dinner consisted of three courses.

The appetizer course was a Southwest Cheese

and an Italian Pizza Cheese.  The main course

was chicken, steak, shrimp and potstickers cooked

in oil.  The final course was chocolate and caramel

fondue with fruit, brownies and cookies for dipping.

It all finished with creating our Grandin Road

copycat Easter Eggs.  Brenda spent hours figuring

out how to create the harlequin pattern and trace

it on for us.

These were mine.  I painted my butterfly egg

pink and added glittered dots.

Brenda had prepped the eggs by painting them

white, then drawing on the pattern.  The eggs

were from Hobby Lobby.

Karen decided to leave her eggs the original color

from Hobby Lobby and she painted on Mod Podge

and glittered them with Martha Stewart Glitter

It was a fabulous evening filled with fun, food,

crafting and lots of fun conversation.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It

Metamorphosis Monday

Spring and Easter Joys

Finding the Green and Gold

Even if you can't find the pot of gold at the 

end of the rainbow, you can create your own gold 

on shamrock cookies.

If you want to make some pretty shamrock cookies 

for St. Patrick's Day, a little real, edible gold is perfect.

Or use a little gold glitter dust - and you have found your 

leprechaun treasure.

I found the set of four leaf clover cookies at

Hobby Lobby.  The big one is huge, the smaller one 

is the medium size, and I made a few of the smallest 

ones, but they were a little hard to decorate, but the 

kids would think they were fun.

Hope you can find some gold at the end of the 

rainbow too.

Shamrock Crepes

Looking for a yummy and pretty dessert

to serve to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

These lovely green crepes are so tender

and delicious and super easy to make.

Accented with a chocolate shamrock and

a handful of mini chocolate chips, these

are the perfect dessert.

I just used my regular crepe recipe with a touch

of green food coloring, and my favorite creamy

crepe filling, also with a touch of green.

Crepe Recipe

4 eggs

1 1/2 C. milk

1 C. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. melted butter or oil

Place eggs, milk, flour and salt in blender,

and turn on stir.  Blend until smooth and

then add in oil and blend a little more.

Let the batter stand for about 30 minutes to

reduce bubbles.  Stir in green food coloring gel.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium high.

Spray with oil.  Pour in about 1/4 C. batter,

and turn the pan to create a thin crepe.  Heat

until it looks dry on the top, then flip and

cook for just a few seconds.  Remove from

pan and let cool.

Crepe Filling

8 oz. room temperature cream cheese,

2 l packages White Chocolate or French Vanilla Instant Jello Pudding

Milk as per directions on pudding packages

12 oz. container Cool Whip, thawed

Green Gel Food Coloring

Mini Chocolate Chips

Whip the cream cheese until smooth.

Prepare the pudding according to package

directions.  Whisk it into the cream cheese.  Fold

the Cool Whip into the pudding mix, adding a little

food coloring gel to create a pretty green.

Spoon some of the filling down the back side

of the crepes.  Sprinkle in a few mini chocolate chips. 

Roll up the crepes, placing the seam side down.

Garnish with additional Cool Whip or 

whipped cream and chocolate shamrocks.

Chocolate Shamrocks

Trace the shape of the shamrocks on 

parchment paper.  I used my small cookie 

cutters for the shape, but you could print them 

off the internet.  Melt chocolate discs and place 

them in a pastry bag with a small tip.  Pipe

the shamrock out, following the pattern.  Let 

cool until hard.

Kiss Me I'm Irish Table

St Patrick's Day is right around the corner.

We didn't grow up with a lot of traditions

on St. Patrick's Day.  

Mom would make corned

beef and cabbage, and my parents would tease

about wearing green and who had Irish blood

and who didn't, but that was about it.

So my cabbage plates, which I just adore, are

perfect for my St Patrick's Day table,

as we pull out all the stop for a lush

green table like Ireland itself.

I have been into geneology for years and years

now, and three years ago I took Ancestry.com's

DNA testing.  It shows I have 12 percent Irish

blood.  That is kind of fun to know.

Hubby and I decided to take the DNA testing

because when our children were little the 

pediatrician asked us if we had Mongolian

or Asian blood, as the children had what is

known as a Mongolian spot - a bluish triangle

at the base of their spine.  We wondered whose

side of the family it came from.  Just two weeks

after we had sent off our test, while having a 

family dinner, two nieces on my side of the

family said they had the Mongolian spot, so

we now knew whose side it came from.

As it turned out, I have trace amounts of 4%

from Western Asia - so not a ton of information

regarding that bloodline.

Just some shamrock beads make up our napkin ring on

the St. Patrick's Day table.  Surprise, surprise, hubby is 32 %

Irish, so this table is even more meaningful for him.

For those of you who have seen the Ancestry DNA

testing commercials - a man talks about his German

heritage, how he wore lederhosen and took German

dance lessons, then found out he had no German blood.

Well, hubby's DNA testing came back the same.  His

dad had always said they had a lot of German blood,

but the DNA testing showed absolutely no German

blood.  When we told his dad, he was so upset and

insisted that the Shoemaker's came from Germany.

After looking it up, we found that surname is very

common in other parts of Europe.  It could also come

from someone who migrated to Germany.  It was fun

to see that he also had Italian/Greek blood, Finnish, and

roots from the Iberian Peninsula.  Those were all less

than 5% on his side.

No wonder we love so many international foods!

So although we don't necessarily have days to

celebrate those nationalities, it is fun to pull

out the green to celebrate our Irish heritage and

to know exactly how Irish we are.

Traveling to Ireland is certainly on my

bucket list.  

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup

Dishing It and Diggin It

Easter Kitchen Tour

Are you all dressed up for Easter?

Here at Purple Chocolat Home, 

we have started our Easter decor.  

Today I am going to take you to see

some of the Easter that fills the kitchen -

the heart of our home.

This is the center of my large baking cabinet, 

and it is probably my favorite place to decorate

in the kitchen besides the center of the island.

There is always something here that represents

the season, or holiday, or just my love of baking

and dishes.

My MacKenzie Childs canisters were my first

MacKenzie Childs purchase, and they usually

reside right here.

I found these darling MacKenzie Childs egg shaped

candles this year and they fit perfectly into my little 

egg cups.

They just might stay up after Easter comes down,

they look so cute here with the canisters.

Years ago my neighbor and friend found these

vintage chocolate molds at an ice cream 

shop and bought them for me, knowing 

my love for making chocolates.  

She decided she would like some too and 

went back to the store to buy some more

and they said they were no longer for sale.

I was tickled I got these.  They always come

out for Easter.

These imitation chocolate bunnies always

come out too.  I will be making some chocolate

bunnies closer to Easter, but these never melt

or go bad.  Of course little ones always want

to try and take a bite.

A couple of moss covered bunnies are also

placed here.  I love how soft and furry, yet

organic they look.

I love that we installed lighting in this

area.  It accents whatever is on display so well.

Next we go to the center of the kitchen

island.  There is always a fun display here

too.  

The centerpiece here is my chippy white three-tiered

tray that I use for everything.  It is filled with 

eggs that I decoupaged, glass eggs, and pink

crystal eggs.

Right next to it is my giant Edelweiss Chocolate Bunny

that my friend hand carried home for me from Los Angeles.

Hubby keeps bugging me to let him eat it.  Maybe next

year, but only if he will replace it.  I think chocolate 

bunnies were always my favorite on Easter morning.

The Valentine's tree quickly transforms to

an Easter tree to grace the kitchen.

This Easter wreath that I purchased at the

Holy Cow Boutique used to be on my

front door, but since it is almost all paper

crafting, I moved it inside and it is the

center point of the tree.

The boutique has their spring and Easter show

this week.  I hope to find some more of this 

woman's work.  

I looked last year, but didn't find anything.

I am going first thing when it opens, just

in case I was too late last year.

It is just a treasure trove of beautifully

crafted pieces.

Mama and daughter Kitchenaids 

fill one corner of the counter

and a little Easter bowl accents them.

There isn't a whole lot new in the kitchen

this year, but I still enjoy arranging everything

in new ways.  This little guy is new though,

and he quite charms me!

Thanks for coming to visit to see my Easter kitchen.

I hope you are having fun decorating too.