Panoramic Easter Eggs - Part 2 of 3 - Making the egg shells

Making the sugar egg shells got off to a very rocky start this morning. I broke the first three halves that I made. The next four stayed intact and I was finally thinking I was getting the hang of a very delicate process. Then I talked to my mom on the phone and found out that the reason I was having so much trouble is that I was using the wrong size mold. Apparently, the large sugar eggs I remember from when I was little only looked as big as they did because I was so little. Now that I am using the right mold, everything is going much easier. So, when you try this, make sure you use a 4 1/2 x 3 x 3 1/4 in mold. If you would like to use a different size, you will have to adjust the cooking time as well, so I suggest that you at least start with this mold until you get the hang of how it should feel. The mold I used came from Wilton and is the medium sized mold in this three piece set.

To make sugar eggs, you will need:

4 1/2 x 3 x 3 1/4 in egg shaped candy mold
aluminum foil
tape
thick piece of cardboard
thin piece of cardboard (cereal and cake mix boxes work well)
metal spoon
mixing bowl
1 C sugar (per egg)
1/2 tsp water (per egg)
small amount of extra water

Start out by taping the aluminum foil around the thick piece of cardboard. This will be your cookie sheet. DO NOT use an actual cookie sheet for this recipe. It will make the bottom of your egg harden too quickly. Mix the sugar and water together with your hands, breaking up any clumps as you mix. The sugar will stick to your hands, but not actually feel wet. When you are finished, it will look like you have a bowl full of snow.

Firmly pack the sugar into your mold. You will have enough sugar to do half as many eggs as the recipe stated. After you hollow out the centers, you will reuse that sugar for the other half. Once the sugar is packed and smoothed flat, put your thin piece of cardboard over the mold, and flip the mold over while keeping pressure on the sugar through the thin cardboard. Place the thin cardboard on top of your homemade cookie sheet and slide the mold off onto it. If the egg breaks while you are doing this, you are probably using too thick of cardboard. Use a knife to cut the nose off of your egg. You can cut off as much or little as you like, just remember that the less you cut off, the smaller your peep hole will be. And make sure you cut about the same amount off of the top and bottom molds.

Use the knife to push the sugar you cut off back into your mixing bowl. Then put your cookie sheet in a preheated 200 degree oven for 15 minutes. When you pull the eggs out, let them cool for a few minutes. They do not have to be completely cool. Flip one over and use your metal spoon to hollow out the inside, scooping the sugar you remove back into the mixing bowl. You want the remaining shell to be about the thickness of a pencil. When you have hollowed out all of the soft sugar, you will need to hollow out the nose of the egg. To do this, dab a small amount of water on the area you want to remove and then scoop gently with your spoon. Make sure you don't use too much water - the softened sugar will fall apart easily and if you remove too much by accident, you will have to start all over again. You can always dab on more water later if you don't soften enough of the opening the first time. Repeat for all remaining eggs.

 Put the eggs back on the cookie sheet (hollowed side down) and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Repeat for other half of eggs. You might need to add a bit more water to the sugar mixture if it seems dry. Just remember that you didn't add much water in the first place and some of that is still in the mixture.

You are now ready to decorate! Your egg(s) may not line up exactly, but once they are decorated, no one will ever be able to tell...