The lost art of making Easter sugar eggs

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Sugar eggs are a creative and traditional way to get in the Easter spirit at home.

These panoramic sugar eggs are giant sugar cubes made in the shape of an egg and filled with a colorful Easter scene inside!

Ashley Augustine grew up making these eggs ahead of the Easter weekend and it is something she still has today, “My fondest memories are sitting around making shells um growing up.”

Because of this, she says she started a business to bring them back but that you can also make them at home.

“It use to be really famous in like the 50s and 60s, every bakery made them, but not many people make them anymore,” said Augustine.

The homemade sugar eggs can be eaten if it is right away but Augustine says that most people keep them and use them in children’s Easter baskets, or use them as decorations or centerpieces.

“These last for decades,” said Augustine.

INGREDIENTS

Sugar Shell: Pure cane sugar
Egg mold
Royal Icing: Confectioners sugar, meringue powder (cornstarch, egg whites, sugar, gum arabic, calcium sulfate, citric acid, cream of tartar, silicon dioxide & flavoring),
Natural and artificial food dyes
Coconut grass: Shredded coconut (Coconut, sugar, propylene glycol, salt, sodium metabisulfite) and food dyes.
Mini eggs: gourmet jelly beans, candy imperials, candy-coated sunflower seeds By request, some eggs may contain inedible resin figurines, pewter charms, silk flowers, or other accessories. Please respect these as a decorative heirlooms.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. In a large bowl, add 5 cups of sugar and 5 teaspoons of meringue powder, whisk to incorporate then add about 6 teaspoons of water and mix together using your hands until it’s the consistency of wet sand.
Take the wet sand and pack the egg mold. Pack the sugar tightly to avoid cracks in the finished egg (kind of like a sand castle). No need to coat the mold with anything, the sugar will release on its own like wet sand being turned out of a bucket. Once the mold is filled you will want to scrape the excess sugar off with a long angled spatula.
Using a piece of cardboard or baking sheet, place the mold against the platform and flip the mold over. Slowly lift the mold off releasing the sugar egg from the mold and leave it on top of the cardboard or pan. (Almost how you would dump a sandcastle out).
Use an oval cookie cutter to make an indent in one of the sugar egg halves (this will be the window). Don’t press too hard or you’ll break your sugar egg! This will create a weak spot in the egg so you can make a window after it’s baked. Only do this to one of your halves the other will need to be solid. Then use a spatula or spoon to cut the bottoms a little so it can have a more flat base so the bottom part of your egg can sit upright.
Bake in the oven at 150 degrees F for around 15 minutes then leave it to cool for around 10 minutes.
Use a spoon or a sharp knife to trace along the line you made early with the oval cookie cutter and gently dig your way around until you can scoop out the center and have an opening. Then place on a cooling rack for 15 minutes to allow the inside to dry.
Decorate your egg with frosting, jelly beans, or other small Easter candies that will fill the inside of the egg mold shape.

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