Chocolate Easter Bunnies and Chicks

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and it was a a beautiful sunny day for a picnic. I had been planning on contributing an edible item to the potluck that my friends were planning on having in a park. I didn't have much time though because last week I was super busy with job hunting related activities. So, I took out my trusty silicon mold that contains shapes of bunnies, chicks, and egg shapes. I melted Nestles chocolate chips in a bowl (1 cup for 1 minute) and used a pastry bag along with a bigger tip, like a 5, to pour the chocolate in the mold (One cup of chips is a perfect quantity for one mold). Of course you can also just cut off a small piece of the tip of a pastry bag and that works too. But I like to use the metal tip to poke around in the chocolate to pop any  that the air bubbles that may be hidden at the bottom. 

For these chocolate pieces I used good quality white chocolate and for the design I used dark chocolate. The eyes were piped on carefully with a no. 1 tip using the dark chocolate. It takes a little practice to get little round dots that don't have a pointy tip on top. You can use a pointed tool to push down the tip if necessary. The bunny noses are just sprinkles that I attached with a little powdered sugar+water.The orange beaks were made with powdered sugar, a little water, and orange food coloring, and a small brush.  I used gel food coloring thinking that it would stick to the smooth surface better but it kept pulling back together into a ball. So, after one coating, let it dry a little and then paint on a little more. Eventually the surface will be covered. Another trick that helps is to roughen the surface a little bit by making a few scratches with a needle. 

If you're not into piping on decorations or just don't have time to deal with it, then these chocolates look nice without any designs on them as well! My friends really liked the taste and the kids kept coming back for more.

If you want more colorful pieces, you could use candy melts. Or, you can make colorful designs on top of the white chocolate pieces using candy melts.

SI