Bite into these sourdough Easter eggs and you'll find out they are empty! That's right! The eggs have air, space, a hole in the the middle. That's thanks to the magic (well, the heat of the oven) melting marshmallow in the center of the eggs. The eggs are made with a slightly sweetened chocolate sourdough that's wrapped around a giant marshmallow. I use "s'more's marshmallows," but any large marshmallow will do. After baking, the eggs come out slightly crunchy on the outsides, and, inside, the eggs are soft and coated with a sweet, sticky film--the melted marshmallow! I dust the unbaked eggs with a little /raw sugar for extra crunch rather than glazing or frosting the eggs. You could certainly decorate the chocolate eggs with glazes or frostings (sprinkles?), if you'd like a fancier/sweeter egg. Enjoy!
Sourdough Chocolate Easter Eggs -- Makes 8
1 cup of starter/discard
1 large egg
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of baking cocoa
1 cup of white whole-wheat flour (or use all-purpose)
In a large bowl mix together all of the ingredients listed above until well combined and you have a very thick, dough-like batter. Let the mixture sit for at least an hour (4-5 hours is fine, too). When you're ready, add to the mixture:
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
Knead the mixture for 3-5 minutes, adding about 1/4 cup of additional flour if necessary. You want the dough to be moist but not too sticky to knead. Separate the dough into eight portions and roll each portion into a ball. Flatten each ball into a disk. Lay on each disk:
1 large marshmallow (you'll 8 marshmallows, plus any you might eat)
Seal the marshmallow into the dough and shape the dough around the marshmallow into an oval, egg shape. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the dough eggs on the parchment, spacing them at least a couple of inches apart. Spritz the tops of the eggs with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle them with raw/turbinado sugar, if you'd like. Let the dough eggs rise until they increase by about a third in size.
Regular Oven: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the eggs for about 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Some of the marshmallow filling will run out of the eggs onto the parchment. Don't worry. That will happen if the hot marshmallow finds a space to exit the egg (that's also why you want to use parchment paper). Let the eggs cool. You can also dust them with confectioner's sugar before serving them or decorate the eggs with frosting, sprinkles, etc..
Air Fryer: Cut small pieces of parchment to fit your air fryer basket. Place two shaped dough eggs on each piece of parchment and let them rise. When the eggs are ready to bake, put one dough-topped piece of parchment in your air fryer basket, spritz the eggs with non-stick cooking spray (to hold the sugar in place), and air fry the eggs at 360 degrees for about 10 minutes. Some of the marshmallow filling will run out of the eggs and onto the parchment (which is why you want to use the parchment). Remove the eggs from the air fryer basket and repeat the cooking process with the remaining dough.
