If you are looking for something to add a little extra to our Easter table setting, why not make some chocolate Easter baskets. The one on the left in the picture was made using a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup as a base. The one in the middle used a Rolo and the one on the right was made by molding chocolate into a cordial mold. The kids will probably enjoy helping with this Easter craft.
Here are the details:
Supplies needed:
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
Rolo
cake sprinkles
4 Reese’s Pieces (or M&Ms)
4 Jelly Beans
chocolate mold (I used the Wilton cordial cup mold)
Chocolate that you can melt to mold the handle (I used Wilton candy melts but you can use Hershey’s drops or any plain chocolate)
colored candy melts for the Easter grass (or use white chocolate and you can dye it with candy coloring)
wax paper
decorator’s brush or plastic piping bag
2 plastic containers to melt the chocolate
microwave
baby spoon
pen
Toothpick
Instructions:
1) If you are doing the cordial mold basket, you will need to melt the chocolate as per the instructions. You can melt it in a double broiler, a chocolate melting pot, or in the microwave. I use the microwave. Place the chocolate in a plastic tub (I used the Wilton candy melts and melted half of a bag at a time). Use the defrost setting in the microwave and heat it in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval until the chocolate is melted. Do not overheat or it will go funny. If you do overheat the chocolate, you can usually fix it by adding some shortening but the chocolate can get a little greasy when you do this. I then used a baby spoon to fill the cordial cup molds but you can put the chocolate into a piping bag or a decorator’s bottle. I have tried those ways before too but find that by the time I spoon the chocolate into them, it starts to harden and I need to reheat it. Once you have filled the cordial cups, tap the mold on a hard surface (table, countertop, etc) to get out any air bubbles. To speed up the hardening process, I placed the mold in the freezer.
2) The next step that you need to do is make the handle. In order to do this, you need to take your chocolate cup (the cordial, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or Rolo) and place it upside down on wax paper. Make pen marks on either side of the middle of the cup. This will mark how big your handle needs to be. At this point, you may need to reheat the chocolate a little. Using the decorator’s brush (or piping bag or bottle), make a “U” shape with the chocolate. You will want to make this pretty thick. After you have done this, let it dry. It won’t take long, just a few minutes. When it is dry, you will need to very carefully (using a knife or some type of scraper) lift it off the wax paper. Then you need to flip it over and go over the back side of the chocolate U with another layer of chocolate. If your melted chocolate has hardened again, you will need to melt it like you did previously.
3) While the handle is completely setting, for the Rolo basket, cover the top of the Rolo with a thin layer of melted chocolate. Then sprinkle the sprinkles on it. For the Reese’s Peanut Butter and Cordial basket, you will need to melt the chocolate that you will use for the grass. Once it is melted, I used a toothpick and fashioned grass with it by placing the toothpick in the colored chocolate and then simply dabbing it on the cup basket. I did this numerous times. I then added 4 jelly beans to the Reese’s Peanut Butter cup basket and 4 Reese’s Pieces to the cordial cup one.
4) The final step is to attach the handles. You will need to place some melted chocolate on each of the bottom sides of the U and then place it on the basket and hold in place. I also put a little dab of melted chocolate in front of the U on the cup and in back of the U. It just provided a little more support that way because the handles can be quite fragile.
There you go! You have some cute little Easter baskets that the kids and everyone will love.
Great idea!! Thanks for posting this!