Easter chocolate treats – free from gluten, egg and dairy

The choice of Easter confectionery that fulfils special requirements (such as vegan or being free from certain allergens) is extremely limited, due to the way most chocolate is manufactured. So why not make your own? Pop your finished chocolate into a food-grade cellophane bag and close it with a ribbon for a professional finish.

[NB: please see lists below for alternative milk and white chocolate, and some suggestions for other sweets].

Makes four shapes
100g milk chocolate
25g white chocolate
Sweets, dried fruits and/or nuts

1 Break up the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl within a saucepan half-full of water on a medium heat. When the chocolate has melted, give it a stir, then use it to make shapes:

2 To make an egg, wipe a serving spoon with vegetable oil and place some jellybeans in the middle. Raise the handle so the hollow is horizontal. Pour in the chocolate. When it has set, dip the spoon into a bowl of hand-hot water for a few seconds. Slide the egg shape out.

3 For the flat shapes, oil some Easter biscuit cutters and lay them on baking parchment. Pour in the chocolate. Stud each chocolate shape with treats such as dried fruit, nuts, marshmallow and sweets to create eyes, ears, noses and tails. For example, make a rabbit using almonds for ears and a hazelnut as a tail. I made the eye from a piece of raisin and nose from a piece of goji berry. When the chocolate has set, gently pull at the edges of the biscuit cutters to release the shape.

Confectionery to look for

Most of these will be available on the high street; see websites for stockists.

Moo-free: milk chocolate alternative, labelled dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, vegetarian and vegan (moofreechocolates.com).

Dairy-free white buttons: labelled as dairy-free, gluten-free, Halal, Kosher, vegetarian and vegan (dairy-free.co.uk).

Plamil: mint, dark, milk chocolate alternative and no added sugar chocolate. Gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and made in a nut-free factory (plamilfoods.co.uk).

Freedom mallows: Gelatine-free marshmallows. Labelled as vegetarian, dairy-free and nut-free (freedommallows.com).

Fabulous Fudge Factory: dairy-free fudge. Labelled as dairy-free, gluten-free vegetarian and vegan (fabulousfudgefactory.co.uk).

Jelly Belly: jelly beans. The standard 50g box is labelled gelatine-free, gluten-free and nut-free (jellybelly.com).

Haribo: the 10p Happy Cola Minis packs are labelled free from gluten, nuts, milk and soya (haribo.com).

Kinnerton: has a nut safety promise on many products (kinnerton.com).

Willies Cacao: milk, dark and white chocolate made without soya lecithin (williescacao.com).

Susanna Booth is a food writer and food stylist based in London; widecirclecooking.com