Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket with Peanut Butter Yogurt

This Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket with Peanut Butter Yogurt is made with a secret ingredient to prevent the balloon from popping! Sweet dark chocolate is filled with savory peanut butter yogurt.

A Great Idea Improved Upon

As with many great ideas, the inspiration for this Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket with Peanut Butter Yogurt came from someone else. The idea for this recipe came from the Food Network. I was watching an episode of The Kitchen when they were making chocolate Easter bowls.

It looked easy enough: melt some chocolate, let the chocolate cool slightly, and dip a balloon in to get an egg shaped bowl. Then, let it cool to set. Pull the balloon out, and you’re done. Except I found this process to be unsuccessful.

What happens to a balloon when you dip it in warm chocolate? It pops, of course.

The problem with this method is that even after letting the chocolate sit for a few minutes, it is still warm. Maybe I just wasn’t patient enough to have one be successful.  I didn’t want to wait for the chocolate to cool completely because it would harden. I also didn’t feel like blowing up balloon after balloon and losing a bit of chocolate with each unsuccessful one.

Not to mention it was messy!

Since I was determined to have a chocolate egg basket no matter what, I came up with a easy solution. I believe that I have improved upon their simple recipe with one simple ingredient.

The Secret

The trick to not breaking your balloon is…

Coconut oil!

I have used coconut oil for many recipes with chocolate including Chocolate Truffle Eggs with an Almond Date Nest and Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas, to name a couple. Coconut oil is liquid in warm temperatures, and solidifies when cooled, so I knew it would be a great addition to this recipe.

I use it daily, so it is always in my pantry. I put it in smoothies and fat bombs like one of my favorites, Coconut Fat Bombs. I also use it as a moisturizer. You could say that it is my oil of choice! So of course I would think of it when coming up with a solution to my balloons breaking.

How to Make A Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket

After melting the chocolate, I added coconut oil and let the mixture cool. Then, I dunked my balloon in the liquid chocolate, and put it in the freezer to set.

After the first dunking, I realized it was not going to be strong enough for my purposes. So I added more layers of chocolate to make it thicker by using a spoon to pour more chocolate over the first layer. Since it has a base of chocolate from sitting on parchment paper, it was easier to pour more chocolate over it than dunk it in the chocolate again.

Depending upon how sturdy you want your egg basket, you may want to add several layers. I ended up doing three layers.

A Match Made in Heaven

For my chocolate egg basket, I filled it with vegan peanut butter yogurt, which is from a Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirl Dessert Dip that I made awhile back.

I then sprinkled dark chocolate chunks and salted roasted peanuts on top. Sweet rich dark chocolate with savory peanut butter yogurt and salted roasted peanuts, yes please! They truly are a match made in heaven.

This Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket with Peanut Butter Yogurt is made with a secret ingredient! Click To Tweet

 

Now Fill Your Basket

Besides vegan peanut butter yogurt, this chocolate egg basket is perfect to fill candy in. There’s no waste and no Easter baskets to store for next year.

I suggest storing it in the freezer so it won’t melt. Vegan ice cream would go great with this as well. That way the egg basket stays crunchy longer, and melts into the ice cream as you eat it.

Now it’s time to make your own. Have fun!

The biggest tip I can tell you is to let the coconut oil and chocolate cool completely (at room temperature), and do at least a couple of thick layers for a sturdy basket. Pulling out the balloon can be tricky, but if you have a sturdy basket, it should come out easily.

You may be able to get two baskets out of the amount listed. I wanted a really sturdy basket, so I only made one.

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Vegan Chocolate Egg Basket with Peanut Butter Yogurt

Makes 1-2

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or baking chunks + more for garnish
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1-2 water or regular balloons
• Vegan Peanut Butter Yogurt
• salted roasted peanuts, chopped

Instructions

1. Pour several inches of water in a double boiler or saucepan. Bring to a simmer.
2. Put chocolate in the top double boiler pot or in a heat safe bowl above the saucepan of simmering water. After it melts completely, remove from the heat. Add coconut oil and stir into the chocolate so that it melts and combines. Let cool completely at room temperature.
3. Dip a balloon in the chocolate mixture so that several inches of the balloon is covered and set it on parchment paper. Put in the freezer to set.
4. For a sturdier chocolate basket, use a spoon to pour another chocolate layer over the first. Then freeze again. You may want to add a third layer depending upon how strong you want your basket.
5. Fill the basket with peanut butter yogurt. Sprinkle chocolate chunks and roasted peanuts on top.