Homemade Kinder Surprise Eggs

Do you know what's crazy?

Kinder Surprise eggs aren't allowed in the USA. Millions of American kids will never experience this childhood staple that so many children across the world love.

Well, the time of Kinder egg famine is over! Anyone who wants to can experience the glory of a delicious Kinder egg, even if you're in the USA.

I was able to get Kinder Surprise eggs back when I was a kid, but since I'm currently in America, I can't get them legally. I certainly don't want to be arrested for the sake of chocolate eggs.

If you too are in America and you want to try these glorious confections, now you can! Or if you're in another part of the world, but have just run out, this is your ticket to homemade Kinder eggs!

(This recipe makes about 6 Kinder eggs)

-1/2 cup (3oz or 75g.) dark chocolate chips or chopped high-quality chocolate bar (see the note on the next step)

-1/2 cup (3oz or 75g.) white chocolate chips (again, see the note on the next step)

-At least 1 Kinder JOY egg (this is the kind we have in America. They are plastic eggs with chocolate on one side and a toy on the other side. They're not the same as Kinder SURPRISE eggs, and that's why you're making this!)

-Surprise filling of choice (I used jelly beans and trail mix as a little-kid-safe version and a Lego Minifigure for the "toy-version". You could use any candy or small toy that you want, but use an edible filling for young children so that they don't choke on a small toy)

-(optional) about 2 tsp cocoa butter or coconut oil, to make the melted chocolate runnier (it's especially helpful to use this if you can't get higher-quality chocolate)

Supplies:

-2 plastic, microwave-safe bowls (you could also use silicon, but DON'T use glass or ceramic, as those materials hold in heat and will overheat your precious chocolate while you're melting it)

-Food processor (or a knife and a LOT of patience)

-Thermometer, optional, for keeping an extra-close eye on the melting chocolate

-Frying pan, any size

-Plastic wrap, for wrapping the toy (if using)

-Aluminum foil

BIG IMPORTANT NOTE!

You must use the best quality chocolate you can find!

I tried to make these eggs with less-expensive chocolate, and it turned out terrible.

The reason why higher-quality chocolate works so much better is simple: a higher cocoa butter content.

Cocoa butter is the fat that holds chocolate together and helps it to melt oh-so-well. Cocoa butter is the most expensive part of the chocolate, though, so factories usually try to get away with as little as possible to make it cheaper to produce. They add things like sugar, hydrogenated oils, and milk solids to take the place of cocoa butter; but these ingredients don't behave the same as cocoa butter when melting. If you try to melt cheap chocolate chips, it will be way too thick unless you heat it way beyond temper, which turns out horrible (more on tempering later).

Use chocolate that had "cocoa butter" as the first ingredient for the best results. Darker chocolate usually has a higher cocoa butter content, since there's less sugar in it than is in milk chocolate. White chocolate is even harder to melt, so I used white chocolate "melting wafers", which didn't have much cocoa butter in them (they used palm oil instead). These worked well for this recipe, though.

If you can find it, add in store-bought cocoa butter to the chocolate as you're melting it. This will make pretty much any chocolate better. If you can't find cocoa butter, a good substitute is pure coconut oil. Coconut oil melts at 76° F (24° C), though, so I would suggest keeping chocolate containing coconut oil in the refrigerator, especially if it's hot in your area.

Pulse the white chocolate chips in the food processor until finely chopped, then dump it into one of the plastic bowls and set aside.

The purpose of the chopping is to make the chocolate melt as easily and evenly as possible.

Chop the white chocolate before the dark chocolate to prevent any dark bits from getting into the gorgeous white chocolate.

If you don't have a food processor, you could use a sharp knife to finely chop the chocolate, but that takes more patience than I have, so I went with the food processor.

Repeat the same process with the dark chocolate and dump the dark chocolate into the other bowl.

Take out about 1/3 of the chocolate bits from both bowls and set aside for later.

Tempering chocolate, Here we go!

This is an incredibly important detail whenever melting chocolate.

I used the "microwave-method" for tempering my chocolate, but you could also use a double-boiler if you would like.

(If you're adding in the optional cocoa butter or coconut oil, do so now. Use about 1 tsp.)

Microwave the white chocolate (the 2/3 portion) in 10-second bursts, stirring in between each burst. The key to beautifully-tempered chocolate is to NOT overheat it. If you're using a thermometer, keep it below 86°F (30° C).

(If you're curious how temper works scientifically, here's a link to a video that explains it quite well and gives tips.)

Once the chocolate is mostly smooth, add in the remaining 1/3 of the white chocolate and stir, then microwave for 10 more seconds and stir.

Now you're going to repeat the same process with the dark chocolate. Add in the optional 1 tsp cocoa butter/coconut oil (if using), then microwave in 10-second bursts, stirring, and taking care to not overheat above 95° F (35° C). Ideally, you should keep it below 90° F (32° C).

Add in the reserved 1/3 of the dark chocolate and stir, microwave for 10 seconds, stir.

Now you have tempered chocolate!

Open up the Kinder JOY egg and take out the toy and the chocolate (and put the chocolate in your belly!)

Wipe out and clean the chocolate side with a DRY paper towel (do not use any water, as that will make the melted chocolate seize up and be ruined).

Put a dollop of the melted dark chocolate in the "egg-shell" and swirl to coat.

Coat the insides of both halves of the egg, then put them open-side-down on a plate and refrigerate for about 5 minutes, or until hard and set.

Once the dark chocolate layer is hard and set, put a small amount of the melted white chocolate over it, spreading with a fingertip to evenly coat the entire inside. Place both halves open-side-down on a plate and refrigerate for another 5 minutes.

If you want to, you can make an "inside-out" version with white chocolate on the outside and dark chocolate on the inside!

If you're using a small toy as a filling, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap (add a sticker of you would like).

Again, I would recommend using an edible filling for young children to prevent them from choking on a small toy.

(Edible filling ideas: m&m's, trail mix, jelly beans, Skittles, Reese's minis, Sour Patch Kids, small cookies, etc.)

Take the hardened eggs out of the fridge and gently remove from the "shell".

Press gently on the rounded side of the egg half to pop it out.

Heat a pan on the stove at low heat, then briefly lay the egg halves (open-side down) on it to slightly melt, then pick them up, fill with the "surprise", and quickly press the halves together, sealing the surprise inside.

Once the egg's edges have set up a bit, wrap the egg in a small square of aluminum foil (shiny side out).

Print out the Kinder Surprise Egg labels from the download and cut out the label in a little square, as pictured.

Use two small strips of tape on either side of the label to tape it onto the egg wrapper.

All done!

Unwrap the egg when you're ready to eat it and enjoy your homemade Kinder Surprise egg!