Easter Eggs

In the process of organizing and inventorying my molds earlier this month, I realized that while I had intended to purchase a second polycarbonate Easter egg mold last year so that I could produce 24 pieces at a time, I had in fact never placed the order. I immediately hopped on Amazon and clicked "add to cart." The delivery estimate was a day in April. After Easter. I pulled out a few different egg molds to use instead, including a silicone one.

I also spent a week or so contemplating the flavour for this year. In the past, I've made strawberry, raspberry, peanut butter (one gianduja and one fudge), orange creamsicle, and even cream eggs. This year I was thinking I might try making a strawberry lemonade flavour, but at the end of the day pistachio white chocolate gianduja won out. Pistachio is having a moment, after all, thanks to the Dubai chocolate craze. My hunt for pistachio paste led me to the tiniest jar known to man. It cost $9.99, but at least I was able to buy it locally. Ingredients acquired, I was ready to make Easter eggs just as soon as the spirit moved me. 

Mid-month, I was pleasantly surprised when the mold I had ordered arrived several weeks ahead of schedule. Armed with two polycarbonate Easter egg molds, I decided there was no time like the present and gathered my tools.

I had much more success tempering chocolate using my microwave this time around. No overheating the chocolate for me! I shelled the two molds and let them set. Then I combined equal parts of white chocolate and pistachio paste to create the gianduja centre. My math, however, failed me. The recipe I reviewed said that 500g would fill 92 standard size bonbons. That's about 5.4g per piece, which meant that 300g should fill 55. Now, eggs are larger than standard bonbons, but there were only 24 of them, so I thought that should be enough to fill the eggs without having leftovers. Alas, I filled 19 eggs and was left with 5 empty shells. I decided to make 100g of peanut dark chocolate gianduja with the idea that I would keep these alternatives for any recipients who didn't like pistachios. I left them to crystallize overnight.

The following day, I used a chalk marker to write on the side of the mold so that I would know which eggs were peanut and which were pistachio. I tempered 300g of dark chocolate to cap the eggs and once they were set I prepared to unmold them. I started with the mold that only contained pistachio centres. Clearly I nailed the temper, because before I had fully inverted the mold, the eggs toppled out onto the tray. Luckily, none cracked. I pushed them aside. Not wanting a repeat, because that would make it impossible to know which eggs were peanut, I placed a cutting board over the second mold and inverted it. I then very carefully transferred the eggs, keeping the five peanut ones separate from the rest. Time will tell if my method actually worked!

The final step was to wrap them in foil. Naturally, I went with different colours to identify different centres. Dark blue for peanut and purple or light blue for pistachio. They look great! 

I have to say that I feel much better about the production of these eggs than I did about my assortments at Christmas. Maybe it's because I had more time, or because I know my microwave better now, or because I was in a very Zen space this time, but the tempering went smoothly, I was able to work very cleanly, and the eggs unmolded without any effort. A very successful production run!

And I can't wait to taste one on Easter Sunday.

Organizing Molds

My chocolate and candy molds have always been organized in a chaotic fashion. They are awkward to store because of their different shapes, sizes, and materials. And even when I purchased a piece of furniture in which to store them, I never managed to corral them all into the same place. Consequently, it was very easy to forget what I had.

When I moved about six months ago, they were all packed into boxes with a generic label and no sense of order. They were deposited in my basement and placed on the shelf of a baker's rack. While I love having space to store them without seeing them daily, I knew I needed to make it easier to find what I want when I want it. And as the old year transitioned into the new, I made a note to organize my chocolate and candy molds in 2026. 

And so about three weeks ago, I took the last of my vacation days for the 2025-26 year. I didn't sleep in. Instead, I was up with the birds as usual. After breakfast, I drove to Canadian Tire to purchase a folding table and then once it was set up in my basement, I put every mold I own on it. As I sorted and sifted, it became clear that the easiest way to organize them was to separate them into boxes by material -- polycarbonate, PET, and silicone. 

Polycarbonate molds are professional grade and made of a rigid plastic. They give chocolates a beautiful finish and tend to be more expensive. I purchased my first two when I did my professional chocolatier program and have been slowly collecting them since. For these, I have been restricting myself to classic shapes rather than novelties -- the diamond dome, the half sphere, the peanut butter cup, an Easter egg, etc. About two years ago, I concluded that based on my current production scale, I need two of each, which allows me in most cases to produce 42 of the same chocolate at once. 

PET molds are made of a lighter plastic and are usually much less expensive. While they result in a better finish than silicone molds, they seem to be prone to marring during the unmolding process resulting in an imperfect finish. They more commonly are novelty shapes -- Garfield lollipops, awareness ribbons, giant pills, hockey pucks, etc. For the vast majority of these, I own only one of each mold (unintentional exceptions are an Easter bunny mold and a Valentine's pour box).

Silicone molds, of course, have become increasingly popular and are generally inexpensive (unless you order a custom one like my oyster mold). They can produce greater detail and are easier to release because you can peel them from the chocolate, but they are very difficult to work with. For example, unless you want a colossal mess to clean up, shelling has to be done by painting each well with a pastry brush. Consequently, they are better suited to solid pieces. I have molds for penguins, Christmas lights, bats, pumpkins, gummy bears, etc. 

As I sifted through the molds, it occurred to me that sorting by material wasn't good enough. It would be much better to have an inventory of all of the molds. Go big or go home, right? Before I knew it, I had a laptop in front of me and was typing into a spreadsheet. I recorded the shape, the type (hollow, 3D, 3-part), the material, and the maker or source if I knew it. I also noted how many I had, how many pieces each one made, and in which box they were located. Three hours later, I was done. 

In case you're wondering, it turns out that I have 94 distinct molds and 115 in total. Being able to search the inventory quickly will surely make life easier. The first test of the system occurred just a week after completing it, when I wanted molds for Easter eggs. It was quick and easy to choose and locate the right mold for the job -- and there was no mountain of molds to manage and eventually dodge when they inevitably collapse around (or on) me. 

And you know what that means... Production of Easter eggs is just around the corner!