Chocolatier for the day

Three years after a fun evening of chocolate making for Wellington on a Plate in 2018, I returned to Wellington Chocolate Factory yesterday for another chocolate making session. Chocolatier for the day is a hands-on event that will appeal to any aspiring Oompa Loompa. Kitted out in a stylish hairnet (no selfies!) and apron, each station was prepared with all we needed to create three handcrafted chocolate bars.

Ready to begin

Which is your favourite?

We started with a quick explanation of how things would work then began tempering some melted chocolate by hand. (No machines this time.) We could make three bars of either milk or dark chocolate so opted for one tray of each that we would divide and share later.

The wide range of appealing ingredients meant we could experiment with our flavour combinations. I remembered from last time that less is more when it comes to piling on the ingredients, especially when it's time to wrap the bars, so tried to be a little more restrained this time. We made tasty treats including mini marshmallows and sprinkles, broken wafers with freeze dried strawberries, and biscuit crumbs with crushed pistachio nuts in milk chocolate. We experimented with more savoury combinations in dark chocolate, including freeze dried raspberry with sea salt, chili flakes with pretzels, and crispy salted caramel.

Sweet milk chocolate delights

Savoury dark chocolate flavours

While we were waiting for our chocolate creations to set in the fridge, we were treated to a real hot chocolate and a more detailed explanation of the chocolate making process.

Real hot chocolate

Then it came time to wrap our bars by hand in beautiful coloured wrappers. Believe me: it's not as easy as it looks, especially the bars with chunkier toppings like marshmallows and pretzels. We opted to chop our bars across the middle and wrap them as a mixed selection, which means we're in for a pleasant surprise of two out of six possible combinations each time we open a bar at home. Clever thinking!

Another delightful Wellington on a Plate event hosted by the lovely team at Wellington Chocolate Factory. Check out their future tours and chocolate making sessions. They're interesting, tasty and lots of fun.

Chocolate masterclass at Baron Hasselhoff's

I love chocolate. The Hands-on chocolate masterclass at Baron Hasselhoff's caught my attention in the Wellington on a Plate programme. After enjoying the Wellington Chocolate Factory Find your inner chocolatier event last year, Baron Hassellhoff's seemed the next logical event. It was a great choice!

Baron Hasselhoff's (no relation) has been operating from the old L'affaire au Chocolat premises in Berhampore since 2012. We were warmly greeted by owners Clayton and Erin, a glass of Lindauer Special Reserve, the intoxicating aroma of chocolate and some delicious samples.

Almond mole bar inspired by a visit to Mexico

We headed into the kitchen and learned about the origins of cacao near Mexico, the introduction of chocolate to Europe and how it developed into the form we know and love today. We peeled husks off cacao beans, a process called winnowing, which is quite therapeutic in small amounts. We used a mortar and pestle to gring the beans into a paste. The kitchen smelt amazing!

Winnowing or shelling the husks from the cacao beans

Despite learning how to temper chocolate and acquiring much of the equipment needed to make chocolate, I've never actually done it at home so this masterclass was a good incentive to give it another try. Tempering is the process of heating and cooling chocolate to create form V crystals, resulting in a glossy finish and a crisp snap.

Clayton teaches us about tempering chocolate

Then it was onto making chocolate bars and truffles. Tempered chocolate was poured into a mould and then shaken on a vibrating table-type machine to get rid of the bubbles. We could choose how to flavour the back of our bar before leaving it in the fridge to set. Here is the selection we were offered.

If you can imagine it, it just might work

I followed the lead of someone else in the class and split my bar into two flavour profiles: freeze dried raspberries and marshmallows (sweet) and hazelnut chipotle chilli brittle and sea salt (savoury).

My chocolate bar creation

We learned how to dip sea salted caramel and coffee espresso truffles into tempered chocolate. This is not as easy as it sounds.

Chocolate truffles that taste better than they look

Finally, we wrapped our chocolate bars in a personalised chocolate label and bagged up our truffles to take home. I bought some other goodies to enjoy later.

Chocolate for breakfast? Don't mind if I do!

A huge thank you to Clayton and Erin for such an enjoyable evening. I love how they shared their expertise and enthusiasm for chocolate and am excited for everyone else who has booked in to visit Baron Hasselhoff's at their upcoming sold out events.

Find your inner chocolatier

I've long been a fan of the Wellington Chocolate Factory. Their story of how they locally produce bean to bar organic fair trade chocolate is as legendary as their salted caramel bars at Christmas time. Find your inner chocolatier offered a magical hands-on Welly on a Plate experience at this inner city chocolate factory.

Did I mention how delicious the factory smells from the moment you walk in the door? The event began with a private tour of factory. We learned about what bean to bar means for their production line and sampled cacao beans and four different types of chocolate from around the world.

Chocolate sampling

We were shown various machines and gadgets, each one playing an important part in the chocolate making process. There is a window into a small room to the left of the entrance. This is the ageing room, where the chocolate blocks are left for around three months to age before it is tempered and crafted into bars.

Chocolate is left to age, much like wine and cheese

Then, we got to don aprons and sexy hairnets to have a go at making and wrapping our own specialty bars. The machines have names, making them as much a part of the team as the rest of the staff. Betty was busy preparing raspberry milk chocolate for us to dollop into chocolate bar moulds. Luckily she knows the exact amount needed for each mould and will dollop this in when you press and hold the foot pedal. The side tables vibrate. They remove the air bubbles that form and help to distribute the chocolate to the edges of the mould, which is a far more efficient way to do this than dropping a chocolate mould repeatedly on the bench at home.

Betty is tempering raspberry milk chocolate

Tui stands next to Betty and tempers dark chocolate to be made into salted caramel brittle bars. Dark chocolate flows more freely and was much quicker filling these moulds. The bars are flavoured by sprinkling sea salt and caramel crumble on top before leaving to set. I rebelled and made hokey pokey bars. (I'm completely over salted caramel.)

Dark caramel brittle blocks

After a short time setting in the fridge, it was our turn to hand wrap our chocolate bars to take home. It's actually not as easy as it looks to get perfectly straight edges, especially with chunky caramel pieces sticking out the back. (I'm not too good at wrapping presents, either.)

My finished products

We got to take home our four delicious bars and their full range extends to eight varieties. If you're in the Cuba St area, pop around the corner to the Wellington Chocolate Factory and step into a world of chocolaty goodness. I hear their hot chocolates are also magical.

The full Wellington Chocolate Factory range

Santa sleighs

Santa's Little Helper has had a very busy December so Christmas baking was scaled back this year. Still, she couldn't resist these cute Christmas table settings that are easy to make and lots of fun.

All it takes to assemble these sleighs is a roll of sellotape, coloured ribbons and a hot glue gun. They're the gift that keeps on giving as you munch your way through what's left of the Christmas season.

Any selection of flat-packed chocolate or lollies will work, as long as they're a similar width and of descending lengths. I used large Whittakers slabs (peanut and milk chocolate), mini Kit-Kats, Milky Bars, Whittakers mini slabs and topped with a mini Moro bar. Just stick each together with double-sided tape or sellotape, then use a hot glue gun to attach the candy cane sleighs underneath. Secure with a ribbon and tie a bow at the top.

Santa's sleigh

The wooden reindeer were swiped left over from a Christmas party we'd been to earlier this month. I'm told they were ordered from overseas, but the sleighs would work just as well without Rudolph's assistance.

Meri Kirihimete!

Craft chocolate and soda night

Tucked away upstairs at the start of what is known as the Hannahs Laneway is a tiny soda factory that is taking on the Wellington food world. Six Barrel Soda Co make sodas and soda syrups that you'll find in bars, cafes and restaurants all around the region. It has been a pleasure seeing their business grow and develop from its humble beginnings in Newtown four years ago.

Six Barrel Soda Co sodas

Not too far away is The Chocolate Bar, a boutique bean to bar chocolate maker. There are very few bean to bar chocolate factories in New Zealand (Whittaker's is one and Wellington Chocolate Factory is another). They sure do take their chocolate seriously.

The Chocolate Bar

Both these wonderful businesses came together to host a Wellington on a Plate event this week, the sold out Craft chocolate and soda night. Hosted by Luke from The Chocolate Bar and Tegan from Six Barrel Soda, we got to sample ten (10!) different chocolate and soda combinations. It was a great way to taste our way around the world of New Zealand made craft chocolate, discover some new soda flavours and learn more about the process of bean to bar chocolate making.

Each chocolate and soda 'course' was introduced with a description of the beans used, their origin and tasting notes.

The first of ten chocolate and soda combinations

Wellington Chocolate Factory Peru 70% with orange and dandelion soda
This chocolate promised hints of apricot and honey. It turns out we started with one of the best tasting sodas of the evening.

Ocho Samoa 70% with creaming soda
Who remembers creaming soda? Yummy! Not as thick (creamy) as I recall but still delicious. The chocolate was made by Ocho in Dunedin, who source all their beans from the Pacific Islands. It had a really pleasant nutty, caramel finish.

Ocho PNG 66% with hibiscus soda
Much like PNG origin coffee beans, I didn't like the bold up front flavours of this chocolate. Also, the hibiscus soda was too sweet for me.

Hogarth Craft Chocolate Akesson Estate with raspberry and lemon soda
Hogarth Craft Chocolate is a new chocolate maker based in Nelson. This 70% chocolate using beans from Madagascar had a lovely raisin and raspberry aftertaste. It went well with my long time favourite Six Barrel Soda flavour, raspberry and lemon.

Ocho Beekeeper with lime soda
I'm not much of a honey fan but this 70% bar with manuka honey, bee pollen and puffed amaranth was really good. It also went well with my favourite citrus flavour, lime.

Wellington Chocolate Factory Dominican Republic with ginger ale soda
This dark bar was rich and with undertones of burnt marmalade - or so we were told. I couldn't quite taste it for myself but knew that I really liked the chocolate. I was also reminded that I still don't like ginger ale.

Wellington Chocolate Factory Bougainville Bar with pinot noir soda
There's quite a story behind how these cacao beans were sourced from Bougainville. The chocolate tasted raisiny and was worth the journey. The pinot noir soda was a little bit different: non-alcoholic, for one thing. Given that I don't care for either the wine or this soda, it seems reasonable to assume that pinot noir grapes are not for me.

Hogarth Craft Chocolate Conocada with cola soda
This chocolate was made with the same Dominican Republic beans as two others we sampled but the flavour palette for each was quite different. I liked the hints of caramel and toffee. The cola soda tasted a million miles away from Coca-Cola but is still not a flavour I like.

White Rabbit Cacao Dominican Republic with sarsparilla soda
Another chocolate bar made with the same Dominican Republic beans by a boutique chocolate maker in Bannockburn, near Cromwell. I don't remember much about this chocolate apart from its smooth finish. The flavour was completely overpowered by the cough mixture soda.

Hogarth Craft Chocolate Gianduia with coffee soda
We'd saved the best for last. I loved this soft, creamy gianduia chocolate with 30% Nelson hazelnuts and 70% Venezuela cacao. As for the coffee soda ... I'll stick with the real thing.

A big thank you to Luke and Tegan for a delicious and enjoyable night of sampling. We also got to take home one of my favourite bars from the evening to savour later, Wellington Chocolate Factory's Dominican Republic 70% single origin.

Wellington Chocolate Factory bars to take home

Chocolate Christmas puddings

At this time of year, our team celebrates Christmas by making and giving small homemade gifts to each other. I made eight mini chocolate Christmas puddings for team members as my homemade gift this week. Now, I'm not a fan of Christmas cake, although I can be partial to a bit of Christmas pudding. The best thing about this recipe, though, is the puddings are deliciously overloaded with chocolate. Mmmm.

The instructions below are for assembling the puddings in several stages. (I've bolded the key steps.) You'll need some Jaffas for the holly berry and green fondant to make the leaves, or substitute whatever you have available. You may find these recipes helpful:

• Decadent chocolate cake
• White modelling chocolate

Some tips and hints:

• You can bake the chocolate cakes in advance and freeze until you need them. Triple wrap in plastic wrap before freezing or double wrap and freeze in a zip lock bag. Defrost in the fridge.
• If the cakes get stuck in the Texas muffin pan, let them cool completely and refrigerate until firm then try again.
• Make the white modelling chocolate a day or two in advance so it will be pliant enough to roll. I'm told a pasta maker is handy for rolling the chocolate thinly. 
• Keep cool (but not refrigerated) once assembled to prevent the various bits of chocolate from melting.
• Wrap individually in cellophane bags or present as individual desserts on a side plate. Most will be big and rich enough for two people to share.

Chocolate Christmas puddings

1. Make one quantity of the decadent chocolate cake recipe. Instead of baking in a cake tin, grease and line two 6-hole Texas muffin pans (12 large muffins). Pour ~100 ml of mixture into each hole. Don't overfill the muffin pans; you want the tops to be flat so you can turn them upside down to become the bottom of the pudding. Cook on one oven shelf for approximately 1 hour 15 mins.
2. Remove pans from oven and loosen the sides of the cakes with a blunt knife while still warm. Leave to cool in pans.
3. Cover top and sides with chocolate buttercream. (Any recipe that makes ~500 g of buttercream will do.) The widest part of the cake will be the bottom of the pudding.
4. Roll chocolate fondant thinly and cover top and sides of puddings. Make sure the fondant is smooth along the bottom seam, but you don't need to cover the bottom.
5. Roll enough modelling chocolate to thinly cover about two-thirds of the pudding. Shape to look like drizzled custard and drape over the fondant.
6. Use an ivy/holly plunger cutters to cut three small green fondant leaves for each pudding. Add a jaffa on top to create a small bunch of holly.

Chocolate Christmas pudding

White chocolate mud cake

Every baker needs a go to chocolate mud cake recipe. Mine is the decadent chocolate cake that has never once let me down. But what about white chocolate? Well, I think I've found it. I've made this white chocolate mud cake twice now and it's worked perfectly both times. It's super easy and made by hand - you don't even need a cake mixer.

I decorated this cake as a surprise present for my friend's 40th birthday today. There is a layer of passionfruit buttercream hiding beneath the fondant. Her delighted reaction to the inside and outside of the cake confirmed that I'm onto a winner with this recipe.

White chocolate mud cake

Ingredients

• 250 g butter, chopped
• 200 g white chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups (330 g) sugar or caster sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup (140 g) self raising flour
• 1 3/4 cups (245 g) plain flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 t vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Lightly grease and line a 20 cm cake pan.
2. Melt together butter, white chocolate, sugar and milk in a medium sized saucepan over a low heat. Keep gently stirring to combine but do not let the mixture boil.
3. Sift flours together and blend in chocolate mixture with combined eggs and vanilla essence.
4. Pour into pan. Bake for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours until cooked when tested. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Frost with buttercream frosting or white chocolate ganache. Decorate with white chocolate curls or fondant.

Jelly tip resurgence

New Zealand is currently experiencing a jelly tip resurgence. Although it has been a decade or threee since I've had a jelly tip ice cream, last month's rumours of a new Whittaker's chocolate flavour instantly spiked my sense of nostalgia. The much anticipated jelly tip block hit the shelves last week and almost immediately looks set to sell out by the end of this week. 850,000 bars in just two weeks? That's got to be some kind of record.

At the same time, Griffin's has also released a version of the classic ice cream in the form of jelly tip chocolate biscuits. Both products were made in collaboration with Tip Top and feature the same raspberry jelly filling on top.

A taste test was in order. Both products were procured last week and demolished in just a few short sittings. The verdict? Whittaker's Jelly Tip block is a clear winner. The combination of milk chocolate, white chocolate and sweet raspberry filling was just right, never quite spilling over into sickly sweet territory. Surprisingly delicious! The Griffins Jelly Tip biscuits were too sweet for even this sweet-toothed girl to handle. The biscuit base was nice but not enough to tip the balance from pleasantly sweet to sugar overload. It seems you can have too much of a good thing. I wouldn't buy the biscuits again.

Either way, these jelly tip products are a delightful way to reminisce a kiwi childhood. Try them while they last - but get in quick. My local supermarket has already run out of their jelly tip chocolate supply so I may need to do some shopping around later this week if we are to indulge one more time.

Chocolate soufflé

As a baker, I've never been brave enough to tackle making a soufflé. These finicky savoury or sweet dishes are renown for puffing up and overflowing during cooking before spectacularly caving in on themselves. It turns out my fears were unfounded - well, at least for the recipe I eventually tried. Success on the first attempt is almost unheard of for me but this one was almost brag-worthy.

I found this recipe for chocolate soufflé for two on the Crunchy Creamy Sweet dessert baking blog. I like how they are made in mini cocotte dishes but found that the recipe has a missing step, so I've revised it here and converted it into metric. I made the soufflés using Whittaker's 72% Dark Ghana chocolate and Heilala vanilla extract, which resulted in a full, rich flavour. It's an oven dessert so a good one to have pre-prepared, then put in to cook while you're serving dinner - a yummy 'sometimes treat' for winter nights.

Chocolate soufflé

Ingredients

• 1 T cocoa
• 90 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 30 g butter, melted
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• dash (1/8 t) of salt
• dash (1/8 t) of cream of tartar
• 2 T caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease two mini cocotte dishes or 250 ml ramekins with additional butter. Sprinkle bottom and sides with cocoa powder, tapping off excess. Set aside.
2. Melt chocolate and butter together. Whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Add egg yolks to cooled chocolate mixture one at a time and whisk to combine. Add vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
4. In a clean bowl of a stand mixer, with a clean whisk, beat egg whites with salt, cream of tartar and caster sugar on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Keep checking the peaks. As soon as you see the stiff peaks form, stop.
5. Add 1/3 of meringue into the chocolate mixture. Gently fold until just combined. Repeat twice until the mixture is fully combined and no streaks remain. Do not over fold.
6. Spoon the mixture into prepared cocotte dishes. At this stage, you can cover the dishes and refrigerate until ready to bake.
7. Place cocottes on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Chocolate soufflé

Rustic buttermilk chocolate cake

It's been a big baking weekend. Numerous batches of hot cross buns, birthday cakes and party food has seen my kitchen buzzing quite a lot recently.

My mouth watered at the sight of this rustic chocolate cake. I love baking with buttermilk and baked this cake twice this weekend, once as an 8" round cake and once as an 8" ring. Both took similar times to cook but neither rose evenly. I also discovered that its soft, crumbly finish meant that it would have been better served layered with chocolate ganache or topped with whipped cream than shaped into a birthday cake and decorated with fondant. Oh well - it still tasted amazing!

I found the layout of the original recipe quite confusing, so here is my simplified version of it with metric measurements.

Rustic buttermilk chocolate cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup hot strong coffee
• 85 g dark chocolate
• 1 3/4 c (245 g) flour
• 3/4 c (60 g) dutched cocoa
• 1 3/4 c (385 g) sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 1 c buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 8" (20 cm) round tin.
2. Pour hot coffee over dark chocolate and stir to melt. Set aside.
3. Combine sifted flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda with salt and sugar.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla essence, canola oil and buttermilk to combine.
5. With your mixer on a slow speed, gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add the coffee mixture next and mix slowly until just combined. (Do not over-mix.)
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. This is a very thin mixture.
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Serve frosted with ganache or whipped cream.

Rustic buttermilk chocolate cake
- pre-frosting

Chocolate buffet

There are many ways for a foodie to celebrate their birthday in Wellington. Markets, specialty food shops and a long list of excellent dining options. For those born in early September, the obvious choice is the chocolate buffet at the Amora Hotel. Last night, we joined a group celebrating a friend's birthday by overloading on chocolate and having dessert for dinner.

The buffet tables were heaving with small and perfectly formed chocolate desserts. Check out the menu here. We were offered hot chilli scented chocolate shots on arrival. There was also a crêpe station, a chocolate fountain and a stash of Kapiti ice cream to choose from. *drool*

It's hard to know where to begin when faced with so many options. We grabbed plates and worked around the first half of table, helping ourselves to one of everything with great gusto. Opera cake, black forest gâteau, profiteroles, tiramisu, raspberry dark chocolate marquise, Kirsch chocolate tart and Guinness chocolate mousse to begin.

First course

I checked out the crêpe station for my second course. The berry compote was a refreshing change to all the surrounding chocolate, as was the black doris plum and crème fraîche ice cream. However, we were there for chocolate so I added some chocolate mud cake slice and rocky road for good luck.

Second course

By this stage, we were labouring and the pace was seriously slowing. After soooooo much sugar in just one hour, the fruit from the chocolate fountain was appealing, as was the chocolate pear crumble with caramel sauce. I couldn't manage an almond coated rum ball or chocolate profiterole, even though I wanted to try them both. They stared at me from the plate, looking confused, forlorn and abandoned. The only thing missing was a chocolate after dinner mint at the end, but I probably would have struggled to eat one even if they were available.

The chocolate buffet is on until 14 September, so book quickly and prepare to indulge!

International Chocolate Day

It's International Chocolate Day. Oh my! Think about it: a whole day dedicated to the world's most perfect food in all its forms. What's not to like?

I'm a little late coming to the party today, only learning about this important international celebration mid-afternoon when 3.30-itis was about to strike and the only offerings at my desk consisted of spearmint Eclipse mints and a mandarin. They did nothing to stop my sudden chocolate cravings, so I spread the news among my colleagues and we collectively started drooling at the thought of International Chocolate Day. Mmmmm.

So, what can be done to celebrate this occasion at the last minute? Well, I topped up my supplies of baking chocolate at the supermarket this evening but can't see myself eating any of it tonight. Hmm, that sounds pretty lame. I might have to settle for making a real hot chocolate with the Bohemein dark chocolate trick hidden in my pantry. Ahhhhh.

How are you celebrating International Chocolate Day?

Toffee milks

Toffee milks
sold unwrapped in dairies

Here's a blast from the past. Who remembers toffee milks? These were staple lollies growing up in New Zealand in the 80s. You'd buy them individually at the dairy for 10 cents and they sat in an open box before being wrapped in a paper bag that didn't quite cover the top, much like the original peanut slabs.

Back when you could buy 1 cent lollies, a 20 cent mixture provided abundant treats and a 50 cent mixture could last for days, spending 10 cents of your meagre pocket money on a single toffee milk was a sizable investment  but one that was entirely worth it. These chocolate covered toffees were notorious for numbing teeth if you bit directly into them but would soften in your mouth and last for ages if you did it just right.

Toffee milks had other uses, too. At our school, they were great gambling currency for knucklebone competitions. This craze swept our school (around the same time as dodgeball, elastics and skipping) in the mid-80s, so much so that the school had to relax its "play outside at lunch time" rules and gave us one classroom with carpet to play in each day. I guess they figured it was better than us all scraping our fingers trying to play outside on concrete.

We would play each other for toffee milks and you could only start a game if you could prove you had a toffee milk to give the winner if you lost the 1-1 bout. A few people tried promising IOUs; sometimes these were a safe bet as they often meant the competitor wasn't very good so you were sure to win but not always guaranteed they'd front up with your prize. I'm quite proud to say that I was really good at knucklebones and, along with one other girl, regularly accumulated a stash of toffee milks I had won in the pocket of my school uniform. Between us, we did pretty well ... and I was thrilled to beat her in a one-off Champion of Champions match.

The other day, a colleague and I spied a jar of toffee milks on the counter at Superfino. We talked about how much we'd loved toffee milks as kids, ordered our coffees and I rushed back to work for a meeting. Shortly afterwards, I found a toffee milk waiting on my desk. Just like that I was taken back to 1985 when I always had a packet of knucklebones ready to go in one pocket of my school uniform and a bag of toffee milks in the other! Yes, Whittaker's toffee milks easily make it onto the list of #myfavouritethings.

Whittaker's Big Egg Hunt

The Whittaker's Big Egg Hunt has begun. Hidden around the country in our three main centres are 100 decorated eggs measuring 1 metre high. Each egg tells a story and they have been decorated by New Zealand artists and designers. Just download the Big Egg Hunt app to your smart phone, turn your data (and GPS) on and you can go 'collecting' eggs. Today, I joined the hunt around Wellington.

There are so many beautifully painted eggs. I started out spotting a few on my way around town between errands today, then quickly abandoned my plans and got caught up in the excitement of looking for another egg, then the next one and the next ... before I knew it, I had 22 eggs collected on my app before deciding to go for a clean sweep of all the eggs in the CBD. Such a fun way to spend a Sunday in autumn.

Here's a selection of my favourite eggs (that I managed to get a decent enough photograph of on my phone). I plan to learn more about each of the eggs, finding out more about who designed each and what they wanted to create.

After criss-crossing 9 km of the city, I had collected 26 of Wellington's 30 eggs! There are four outside of the CBD and I may search for one or two more during the next few weeks. I also managed to score a handful of peanut slab vouchers along the way. Yum!

The eggs are in and around Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch until 22 April. They are also up for auction on Trade Me, so you can bid on your favourite egg with proceeds going to The Starship Foundation.

White Christmas crunch

Here is a super-easy Christmas treat recipe that kids (big and small) can make and enjoy. It came from a colleague who insists it doesn't have a name, so I've called it White Christmas crunch. There are no set quantities so anything approximate will work. It has a lovely, crunchy texture. The key is to work quickly before the chocolate starts setting.

White Christmas crunch

Ingredients

• 400 g white chocolate melts
• 1/2-1 cup rice bubbles
• 3-4 crushed peppermint candy canes

Method

1. Melt chocolate. Stir in rice bubbles.
2. Spread mixture on baking paper to make a flat layer.
3. Sprinkle top of mixture with crushed candy canes, pressing in lightly if necessary.
4. Set in the fridge then break into small pieces to serve.

White Christmas crunch