Rocky Road Easter Bunnies
The origins story of the rocky road comes from travellers in Australia trying to use up spoiled candy by mixing it with local nuts and chocolate, it’s a bit of this and a bit of that kinda recipe which I love, not a lot of measuring required and an easy thing for kids to get involved with. If you’re going to freestyle your filling ingredients try and make sure you include a range of textures and flavours – something chewy (dried fruit), marshmallows, something crunchy, something sweet, something tart and something nutty.
As featured on the Zoe & Morgan journal, this is our Little Bird easter version using easter bunny moulds we got online from Homestyle Chocolates, but you could also use and moulds that suit!
Makes 6 - 8 medium bunnies depending on your mould size.
Chocolate base
1/4 cup cacao butter melted
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
¼ cup pure maple syrup or raw agave
Pinch of sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
1 cup small dandies or other vegan marshmallows (you could use big ones but you will want to chop them up)
2/3 cup of Fresh As freeze dried raspberries
3/4 cup raw pistachio nuts or macadamias (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1/3 cup organic unsweetened sour cherries
2 tablespoons of cacao nibs
Method
To make the chocolate base, place the cacao butter & coconut oil in a metal bowl and place that bowl on top of another bowl or pot that contains hot water to allow it to gently melt. Once they are melted add in the cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt and gently mix until combined and then let it sit for 5 mins.
Get out your bunny moulds and makes sure they are cleaned and well dried (you want to avoid getting in water on the chocolate) then place them on a flat tray/board/plate that fits in your fridge to make it easy to transfer them to the fridge for setting.
Next get your filling ingredients out and ready to use.
Then stir your chocolate base mix the bowl to make sure it’s well combined and place around 2 tablespoons of chocolate base into the bottom of the moulds then sprinkle with some of the filling ingredients, we used 5-6 small marshmallows, a few coconut chips, 3-4 sour cherries, 3 freeze dried raspberries lightly crushed, a teaspoon of nuts, then place in the fridge for 5 mins to set.
Once the chocolate has set add in another round of filling ingredients in similar amounts to the first round (this will depend on the size of your mould) you want to be generous on the filling ingredients so that every mouthful you’re getting those bursts of flavours and textures.
Top the filling ingredients with the chocolate base until it reaches the top of the mould, then sprinkle with a few more marshmallows, freeze dried raspberry lightly crumbed on top, a sprinkle or nuts and a few chocolate nibs.
Place back in the fridge to set, depending on the thickness of your mould it might take around 30 mins.
Once set, remove the chocolate bunnies from the mould and store in the fridge in an airtight container or package them up in biodegradable cellophane bags with a ribbon to give out as presents. (Just remind people to keep them in the fridge)
Notes
You could use a good organic chocolate chopped and melted instead of making the chocolate base.
If you have left over chocolate and ingredients just mix them up in a small bowl together and place them in a small container that’s lined with baking paper, set in the fridge and chop into pieces.