Sure, you can just run to the store and buy chocolate Easter eggs for your kids' Easter baskets or for your dinner party guests. But there's nothing quite like the taste --and the fun-- of homemade Easter eggs. The Easter egg recipe below is just perfect. It's simple, tasty, and easy for the kiddos to help with. It's also totally adaptable to your tastes... add whatever flavors, coatings, and fillings you like. Have fun with it!

This is also an easy recipe to make all year round. Shape them differently to make truffles or candies for Christmas, staring eyeballs for Halloween, or anything you like!

Check out our homemade Easter candy page for some more great recipes for candy Easter eggs!

"Choose Your Flavor" Easter Egg Recipe

These tasty little eggs are as different from plain chocolate Easter eggs as they could be. Creamy, delicious, and easy to assemble, you'll have a ton of fun making and tasting these chocolate Easter eggs. You can play around with all kinds of add-ins and flavors to get as many different kinds of eggs as you want. Some of our favorites are:

• Maraschino Cherry and Almond with Milk Chocolate
• Tiramisu: Rum extract, cocoa, and instant espresso powder with dark chocolate
• Macadamia Nut and White Chocolate
• Dried Pineapple, Coconut, and White Chocolate
• Candied Ginger, Dried Mango, Vanilla, and White Chocolate
• Raisin Spice with White Chocolate
• Mint Chocolate-Chip
• Chocolate & Peanut Butter with Chopped Peanuts

Can't find dipping chocolate or just prefer to use what you've got lying around the house? You can substitute 3-5 cups of semisweet chocolate chips and 3-5 tbsp. of shortening melted together, instead, to make the chocolate coating. Or combine the chip flavoring of your choice with shortening, allowing you to coat your Easter eggs in a peanut butter, butterscotch, or chocolate mint flavored coating! Dipping chocolate is a bit easier to work with, but chips are a bit tastier and give you more variety.

This chocolate Easter egg recipe makes about 4 dozen.

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Ingredients:
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (8 oz.) brick cream cheese, at room temperature
2 lbs. powdered sugar (about 7 1/2 C. unsifted)
Add-ins of your choice (see suggestions and quantities below)

Dipping:
3-5 C. semisweet or white dipping chocolate
*How much chocolate you need will depend on thickness of coating and size of eggs

Add-in Ingredient Suggestions (quantities per 1/4 recipe):
1 C. peanut butter
1 C. Nocilla
1 C. unsweetened flaked coconut (plain or toasted)
1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 C. mini chocolate chips
1 C. mini butterscotch or peanut butter chips
1 C. chopped candy bar pieces (Reese's cups, Snickers, Heath bar, etc.)
1/2 - 1 C. chopped maraschino cherries
1/2 - 1 C. chopped dried fruit (raisin or crasins)
1/2 - 1 C. chopped nuts (your choice)
1 tsp. mint extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. rum extract
2 tbsp - 1/4 C. instant espresso powder

Instructions: 1. With an electric mixer, combine butter, vanilla extract, and cream cheese until well combined.

2. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, stir in powdered sugar until you get a dough.

3. Divide the dough into as many parts as different flavors you intend to make. Dividing into four parts is easiest, as the quantities you see in the add-ins above are each for a 1/4 of this recipe. To make the add-in quantities above work, use each kind or combination in 1/4 of the dough. If adjusting quantity of dough used, adjust amount of add-in accordingly.

4. Mix in add-ins as desired according to quantities above.

5. Refrigerate mixture until it firms up slightly, 30-60 minutes.

6. Shape into eggs. These are rich, so you won't want to make them too big. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate until quite firm, an hour or longer (longer is better).

7. When eggs are set, melt chocolate in microwave or over a double boiler, stirring often. Thin out with shortening if needed (too-thick chocolate is hard to work with).

8. Dip into chocolate and lift out with two forks, allowing excess chocolate to drip away.

9. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate to set, about 30 to 60 minutes.

10. Decorate outside as desired with melted, colored white chocolate, nuts, sprinkles, colored sugar, etc.

11. Store your chocolate Easter eggs in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

In addition to these great chocolate Easter eggs, we've got lots of great Easter desserts, dinners, and other recipes on our main Easter page.