My mom used to have a couple of these sugar eggs when I was little, and I always loved looking inside, and wondered how they were made. I decided this was the year to do it, and found multiple tutorials online. I combined a few, and came up with my own, and am so excited to share it with you today. These look intimidating, but they are not! The are so easy. You just need to plan at lest a day in advance.
To start out, make sure you have a plastic egg that opens long way, like the one pictured. I got this at Michael's for $.99.
You will need:
5 cups sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 egg whites
food coloring of your choice
1) Whisk sugars in a bowl until combined. Whisk egg whites in a separate bowl until frothy, and add food coloring.
2) Combine the eggs and sugar. It doesn't seem like a lot of liquid, but it will work.
3) It will be the consistency of wet sand.
4) Pack it into one side of the plastic egg (be sure to use each side.)
5) Scrape the top off with a knife until it's level.
6) Spoon the inside out. These pictures are of the first eggs I made, and as I made them, I learned that you can for sure take more of the middle out. If you have a problem, and take too much just repack it, and start over.
7) With a quick, firm, strong motion, turn the sugar filled egg over onto a hard surface where it can be left to dry for a few hours, to overnight. I turned them onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
8) When the outsides feel quite dry, turn them over to dry and harden the rest of the way. This would be a good time to hollow out the rest of the center, and make it more even.
9) Cut your peek hole now. Start with a sharp knife, and twist until you break through, then you can carve out the rest into the shape you want.
10) You can also cut the front off.
11) The eggs are now ready to be filled. You can see, the yellow egg was one of the first I made, and is rather thick. When I do this in the future, I will remove more sugar when it is still soft.
12) You can see the pink egg is one of the last I made, and it looks more uniform, and the edges are thinner.
DECORATING!
You will need frosting that dries hard and dries fast! I made royal icing. There are many variations online. You can choose whatever you prefer working with, but for mine, I whipped up 4 egg whites, and added about 5 cups of powdered sugar. I left it in the mixer on high until it was shiny, about 5 minutes. You can add more or less sugar, depending on the consistency you want. You want it to be thick and hold it's shape. I divided mine into 2, dyed half green and left the other half white, and put it in decorating bags. You could also use a ziplock with the corner cut off.
Filling
Easter cards from the dollar store, cut up for the images. I am sure you could find some online as well.
Easter candy, whatever you can find
Fluffy chicks... of course fluffy chicks!
I had to get a close up of them. They were a staple in my Easter basket growing up, and it is the same for my kids. They are extra adorable!
Coconut for grass is not necessary, but a nice touch. To dye it green, simply place coconut in a bowl, add a few drops of food coloring, and stir it up. I made mine the same day I formed the eggs, and left it out to dry, so it would be dry when we used it to decorate.
Now for the fun part...
After you have filled the eggs, simply pipe a ring of icing around the rim, and attach the top.
Put the top on, and ice around the seams.
I would like to say I know how to make fancy designs with frosting, but I don't. I just made dots, and pushed the tips in with my finger for the photo above, and for the photo below, I just left the points. My daughter chose this fun one with the different opening.
This is the Molly egg.
This is the one the baby and Mr. B. made.
My creative child, who likes to think outside the box, made this one and filled it with unattached candy. He knows what he's doing!
You can place them anywhere in your house among your Easter decor, and they will fit right in! They are so charming, and so easy to make. I think this will become a tradition for us.
If you are not up for the sugar part of this process, be sure and check back soon, because I will be sharing another way to dress up store bought eggs!
Have a Happy and Creative Day!
Risa
