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Easter Weekend = Less Sugar + More Fun!

Easter Weekend is around the corner...

... and to be honest, it usually fills me with dread! All too often it becomes about how many chocolates my Little Six can shovel into her mouth at once. 

[Look, there is a reason we have sweet taste buds - so we can taste sweet things right? So I’m not about to deny my Munchkins the opportunity of using these taste buds every now and then. I just don’t want them to overdose on c.r.a.p just because it’s Easter Bunny time. I would also prefer to not expand MY Love-handles over the next four-day feeding fest, either.]



You guessed it! I decided to make the treats myself (I can actually hear my husband groan - he's not exactly thrilled at the idea of being Sugar Free - I'm working on it though!). Since going (I mean, Me and the Kids, so far) Sugar Free I’ve had to become seriously inventive and pro-active.

So I got a ‘bee in my bonnet’ and sourced some Sugar Free Chocolate, and, for me, bought a few slabs of 85% and 90% Lindt Excellence to play around with. I also threw some salted Macadamias and raw Hazelnuts in the trolley, and unsweetened desiccated coconut. I was Going To Make My Own - Ta daaa!

Onward home to play with chocolate…


I put all of my lovely molds, that I’ve been collecting, on the table, along with my selection of ingredients, and of course The Chocolate. Oh, and some Peanut Butter too, just because I was feeling particularly daring. And I began melting and mixing and, well, playing really.

Here’s what I did…



For the Grown up truffles (Mommy's): Place each in their own bowl
  • Few blocks of the Lindt 90% Excellence Chocolate, melted with a small knob of butter
  • Few blocks of Sugar Free Milk Chocolate, melted
  • A blob of crunchy Peanut Butter, softened
  • Hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
  • Sprinkling of coconut
  • Salted Macadamia, chopped



I got my sexy chocolate mold ready and…


  • Poured three molds with plain Lindt 90% till the top, then pushed in half a salty Macadamia nut, till covered.
  • Poured three molds till half with plain Lindt 90%, then topped up with Sugar Free Milk Chocolate for a fancy two-tone effect.
  • Poured next three molds with Peanut Butter mixed with Hazelnuts and Sugar Free Milk chocolate till half way, and then topped up with plain Lindt 90%.
  • Poured last three molds with Lindt 90% mixed with Sugar Free Milk Chocolate and desiccated coconut altogether and poured to the top.



Left them in the fridge to set, then popped them out of their silicone mold. I think they look quite super, like a shop bought truffle. I wont be feeling left out this weekend, AND I wont be feeling guilty either.



For my Six and Two I melted some Sugar Free Chocolate. I mixed in some crunchy peanut butter to half the mixture, and the rest I left plain. Then poured mixtures into a star silicone mold and popped a cake-pop stick in and left to set (hiding) in the fridge...all whilst Six was at school and Two was sleeping.



Then it was wrapping time (so the bunny can hide them in the garden and they wont get dirty, or melt under my cream cushions in the lounge)…



Plain packaging with two coloured ribbons (pink for Six, and green for Two) - easy enough. Oh and Mummy’s treats are labelled, and tied with white string, so there’s no confusion - no, the Bunny doesn’t forget Mummy!



The only other sweet I have bought for them are those tiny little speckled eggs for the little ‘laying’ chicken they have from last year which I placed in teeny tiny cupcake holders and wrapped in plastic (with coloured ribbons).


The hunt is also going to be different this year. In the absence of sugar, I’ve stepped up the fun factor. The Bunny will hide the homemade packaged chocolates I made in various spots around the house/garden, but I’ve added in other treats as well (that are not edible) to hide. Treats like bubbles, play dough, coins, baby carrots (yes, left by Bunny) and a puzzle for each child, with the pieces separated into little packets and distributed around the different hiding spots.



There will be a treasure map for them to follow (to encourage reading) with instructions (like “Hop on your left leg three times, then turn around and shout ‘I love Mommy’) with a homemade treat and/or a toy at each hiding spot.

At the end of the hunt, there will be the grand prize.

And then instead of a massive frenzied gorge on chocolate the whole day, there will rather be puzzle time and play dough playing with (hopefully) much calmer and contended children.


I’ll let you know how this all works out *holding-thumbs-and-fingers-crossed*.

Till then... Much love and Happy Nibbling

xox

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