Kick start your chocolate Easter egg hunt this year by making your own homemade eggs, complete with white chocolate decorations. By tempering the chocolate, your eggs will have a beautiful shine and a crisp snap when you crack them open to eat them! You will need Easter egg moulds, a piping bag, a pastry brush and a thermometer for this recipe.

Prep:

1. Chop 300g of the chocolate for the Easter eggs into small chunks. Finely chop the other 100g and set aside in a separate bowl. Place a small saucepan on a gentle heat on the hob. Place the 300g of chocolate into a heatproof bowl, on top of the saucepan. It is vitally important that no water gets into the bowl or the chocolate will seize. Place the thermometer into the bowl with the chocolate and bring the chocolate to 55-58 degrees C while stirring and then remove from the heat.
2. Now take a third of the melted chocolate and set aside in another bowl and try to keep warm.
3. Take the 100g of finely chopped unmelted dark chocolate and add it to the two-thirds of melted chocolate that remains. Stir the combined chocolate together to bring the temperature down to 28-29 degrees C.
4. Now add the remaining one-third melted chocolate to the final mix, stirring again to bring the temperature up to 31-32 degrees C. Now your chocolate is ready to use for your Easter egg moulds!
5. Spray the egg moulds with an oil spray. Get a pastry brush and dip it into the melted chocolate and paint a thick layer of the melted chocolate into the egg moulds. Ensure there are no clear patches and that the moulds are well covered.
6. Place into the refrigerator to set, which will take approximately 1 hour.
7. Meanwhile, to make the white chocolate for decoration, chop the white chocolate into chunks. Place a saucepan of water on the hob and heat gently. Place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and onto the saucepan. Again, do not let any water get into the bowl. Stir the chocolate until melted. Set aside and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Decoration:

8. Place the white chocolate into a piping bag, cutting a very small 0.2cm hole in the end.
9. Carefully remove the eggs from the moulds, they should easily release with a little push.
10. To decorate, place the half eggs onto a tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle patterns of the white chocolate onto the eggs from the piping bag. Chill in the fridge for another hour.
11. To assemble the eggs, warm a tray in the oven on a gentle heat (below 100 degrees C/80 degrees C fan). Take the tray out of the oven and place one half of the egg on the tray for 3 seconds. The chocolate on the edge of the egg will slightly melt, and act as a glue to the other half of the egg. Place the two sides of the egg together and allow them to re-set in the fridge again for 30 minutes.