Friday, April 6, 2012

Polymer Clay Egg Stand

Is it me or did Easter come awfully quick this year? I barely got over St. Patrick's Day and suddenly I realized Easter was here and I really didn't get to any of the Easter projects I'd planned to post.


So I guess they'll have to wait to next year... but I do have one that's quick and easy. And might just come in handy if you're going to decorate eggs this weekend.

Polymer Clay Egg Stands

I used decorative scissors, my craft knife, and some border paper punches to make stands that will hold decorated eggs.

I started with strips of clay flattened in my pasta machine. Then used my craft knife to even out the edges of my strips. I cut the top edge with decorative scissors, or punched them out with a border punch.


Then I curled the strips into rings and pressed the edges together. And baked according to the directions on the package.

Since this project uses polymer clay, which is not recommended for use with food (mostly from what I gather because it's porous and can't be cleaned properly between uses to kill bacteria), you probably don't want to use these stands for eggs you are going to eat. But it's perfect for decorative eggs! 

Monday, April 2, 2012

Be a Bunny Pops: April's Sweet of the Month



Have you seen the Easter Bunny? I got a glimpse of him in the garden this weekend. He had a cute pink nose and long whiskers. 




My nephew happily posed for this picture with the pop over his face, but didn't realize it was chocolate. After I snapped a few pics I old him to take a bite of it. He gave me a weird look and tentatively took the tiniest nibble. Then giggle as he realized it was chocolate. He held it up to his face once more, gave me a grin, then took a big chomp out of the top.

These Bunny Face pops are simple and quick to make. And kids will definitely get a kick out of looking like the Easter Bunny before they eat them!  Here's how to make them...

You'll need:

  • White Chocolate
  • Pink Chocolate (I used red and mixed it with some of my white)
  • Dark Chocolate
  • Lollipop Sticks
  • Parchment Paper
  • Edible Easter Grass (* optional)


And a few things from around the kitchen:

  • Plastic Snack Bags (one for each color of chocolate)
  • Scissors
  • Spoons and Small Bowls (one for each chocolate color

Start by drawing a bunny face template on a piece of paper. If you're going to make a lot of these pops I would suggest copying your template so you have plenty to use. Then Cover the template with parchment paper.



Most of this pop is made by piping chocolate over the template. I used plastic sandwich bags for piping bags. To do this, use scissors to snip a corner off the bottom of a sandwich bag and fill the bag with melted chocolate. Then it can be piped out into the correct shape. I prepped all three sandwich bags so they were ready to use as I melted my chocolate.

The first step is to melt some dark chocolate and make the bunny's whiskers. It's the only step that doesn't use a piping technique.


They are made by dipping pieces of edible Easter grass into dark chocolate.  Make six whiskers for each bunny pop, setting them onto parchment to dry after each one is dipped.




TIP: If the chocolate coats the grass to thickly, use the edge of the bowl to scrape some off.



* If you can't find edible Easter grass you can make whiskers out of chocolate. Pipe lines onto parchment paper and set them aside to dry. The whiskers will be fragile if you make them this way but it'll work.


Next make the pink nose for each bunny. Melt pink chocolate and pipe it over the template in the shape of a nose.


The nose will be a separate piece that's placed onto the main part of the pop after it's dry. I piped it out onto the parchment then moved my template over so I could make the rest of the pop separate. You could also make a template that's just the nose.


Now it's time to make the main part of the pop.



Place a lollipop stick in the center of each template, then pipe white chocolate over the template and stick. It helps to outline the bunny's face first then fill it in with chocolate. Once the shape is full and the stick is covered, carefully smooth the chocolate out with the back of a spoon.


If you have gaps or some areas that are slightly uneven you can fix them with the spoon.



While the chocolate it still wet place the nose and whiskers onto each pop.


Once the chocolate is set, pipe on a mouth using dark chocolate.


Hope you enjoy. Happy Easter!
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