It seems hard to believe, but just 1 Cadbury Creme Egg (UK version) contains 26.5g (over 6.5 teaspoons) of total sugar.
Most of this sugar is added sugar and not naturally occurring sugar (lactose) from milk. Take a look at the ingredient list and you will see sugar listed as the first ingredient. And other types of sugars are listed as the third and fifth ingredients (glucose syrup and invert sugar syrup):
Sugar, milk, glucose syrup, cocoa butter, invert sugar syrup, dried whey (from milk), cocoa mass, vegetable fats (palm, shea), emulsifier EE442, dried egg white, flavorings, colour (paprika extract).
If you or your kids are really looking forward to a Cadbury’s, we say go for it, as we do not believe in restriction. But the amount of candy and sugar involved with Easter can become overwhelming. Often the lead-up to Easter is full of daily sweets like these, not to mention Easter day and the days that follow after the Easter Bunny delivers.
So we came up with an easy, 4 Ingredient Sugarproof Creme Egg recipe as an alternative to lighten the sugar load. These still taste decadent and are fun, but are much healthier.
The extra dark chocolate coating is the perfect counterpoint to the sweet date “shell.” The coconut filling adds a satisfying contrast in texture and the orange zest “yolk” gives a spark of bright flavor. They have very minimal added sugar (1g from the 85% dark chocolate coating) and while the dates and coconut do contribute naturally occurring sugars, they also add fiber and other nutrients.
You can also do a 3 ingredient variation simply using peanut butter or other nut butter as the filling — so simple and delicious!
Making these Sugarproof Eggs is a quick and fun project to do over Easter/Spring break with kids. And if your and your kids’ palates are already set to where you enjoy more natural and subtly sweet tastes, you might find that you enjoy these eggs even more than Cadbury’s, which might seem cloyingly sweet.
We hope you enjoy them and we’d love to see your pics of them on IG or FB. Please tag us @sugarproofkids
Sugarproof Creme Eggs
Makes 1 dozen
Ingredients:
- 12 large, soft medjool dates (it’s ok if they have the pits/stones)
- ¼ cup (25g) dried/desiccated, unsweetened coconut*
- 3.5 oz (100g) extra dark chocolate, preferably 85%
- 1 orange for zesting, preferably unwaxed and organic*
Method:
- Slit the dates lengthwise and remove the pits. Open them up but leave the two halves attached.
- Fill each half with a small spoonful of dried coconut.
- Using a sharp paring knife, widdle/cut a small circular-shaped, thin slice of orange zest, carefully turning the knife in a circle as you cut. Ideally the diameter should be about 2 cm, so it will fit inside of the date. Repeat this 12 times using different patches of the orange. (Let an adult handle this step).
- Place one orange zest circle on one side of each date on top of the coconut.
- Close each date and gently press to seal it.
- Put about 2” of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and place a heat-safe small bowl on top. (Stainless steel works well for this). Put the chocolate in the bowl and melt it, stirring gently with a fork until it is completely melted.**
- Turn off the heat and carefully dip the dates in the chocolate one by one, turning them with two forks to coat them. Transfer them to a plate or sheet pan lined with parchment and allow to cool/harden. You can speed this up by putting them in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Enjoy!
*Peanut/nut butter variation: Substitute the coconut and orange zest with a small spoonful of your favorite peanut or nut butter (ideally with no added sugars)
**If you prefer to use a microwave to melt the chocolate instead, simple put the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for about 15 seconds to start.
NUTRITION FACTS PER EGG:
CALORIES 100 TOTAL FAT 5G PROTEIN 1G TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE 15G DIETARY FIBER 3G TOTAL SUGARS 11G ADDED SUGARS 1G
