Do-it-yourself candy manufacturing

Published 10:47 pm Sunday, March 28, 2010

Plastic extrusion tooling not required: Yes, you can make chocolate Easter eggs at home — complete with the creamy yellow “yolk” filling.

Each egg packs more than 500 calories (thanks to the recipe’s two sticks of butter and 3 pounds of powdered sugar), so unless you’re willing to go for a 45-minute run after eating just one, be prepared to loosen the belt a few notches.

For a lower-calorie Easter treat, we have a make-at-home Peeps recipe. But it does require ingredients available only on the black market in certain former Soviet-bloc states.

Baksheesh: President Barack Obama on Sunday made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, where he pressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to crack down on the country’s endemic corruption.

Apparently, the message didn’t get through. When Obama returned to his armored limousine, Karzai was there, squeegee and rag in hand.

Obama invited Karzai to visit the United States, where he’ll meet with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for a seminar on American-style corruption.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff