Easter is just around the corner (yes, already!).

If you want to impress your friends and family with amazing Easter eggs but don’t want to spend your hard earned savings on eggs that turn out to be mostly packaging, then give making your own a try!  Even if you're not a whiz in the kitchen give this simple recipe a go or check out how you can fill hollow eggs with pretty much anything you want.

Marshmallow Eggs
This recipe is dedicated to all you marshmallow fans out there (or at least people who have friends and family who like marshmallow eggs) - T'is simple, t'is cheap and tastes oh so good. This recipe laid hidden in my mother’s sacred cooking book for years but I have risked life and limb to bring it to you today.

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon of gelatine
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 cup of sugar
½ a cup of hot water
¼ of a cup of cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
400g bag of chocolate buttons
Food colouring optional

Preparation
Make a bed of flour in a dish and using a regular egg, push half sized indentations in the flour so as to make a mould for the marshmallow.

Method
1) Place cold water in a bowl, stir in gelatine and stand for 5 minutes.
2) Mix hot water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
3) Add gelatine and boil for 5 minutes.
4) Pour mixture into large bowl
5) Put a bit of cold water in the sink and place the bowl in the sink to cool it down quickly
6) Add lemon, vanilla and optional food colouring and beat until thick and creamy
7) Spoon into flour moulds
8) Refrigerate about an hour or until the marshmallow is chilled right through
9) Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a boiling pot
10) Using a knife ice the marshmallow with the chocolate sticking two pieces of marshmallow together.
11) Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Voila! Your very own Easter eggs! Now all that’s left to do is decorate them. Grab some tinfoil and some ribbon, wrap ’em up and they’re good to go!

Egg Surprise
If the kitchen just isn’t the place for you (and let’s face it we’re all very busy people) then try this trick to spruce up an otherwise boring and plain hollow egg.

Method
1) Grab some hollow eggs and carefully take off the wrapping.
2) Using a razor blade carefully cut through the seams of the egg where the two halves of the mould are joined. 3) Fill up the egg with anything that tickles your fancy. This could be anything from little notes to more Easter eggs, lollies or my personal favourite from childhood, one of those little fluffy toy chickens that pop up everywhere at Easter.
4) Melt a bit of chocolate and use it to stick the egg back together again.
5) Wait for the chocolate to set then wrap up again.

There you have it, personalised Easter eggs.

Turns out it’s possible to put a little bit of thought into giving Easter eggs. Don’t just buy into the fancy boxes with their tiny little eggs inside, hop to it and get creative for some eggs that will really impress your friends and family.

Liselle