Playful yummy bakes for modern home bakers
Easter is the time for celebration, togetherness and of course many many delicious Easter desserts. If you’re looking for some cracking ideas, you’ve come to the right place. From mini eggs Easter cakes, Easter nests, carrot cake cupcakes, blueberry lemon drizzle bars, hot cross buns …
Easter is the time for celebration, togetherness and of course chocolate. Mini eggs for me are the Queen of Easter chocolates. I know I’m not alone in this but I get so excited the first time I spot them on the shelves after Christmas. Delicious, …
This is a delicious, simple, homely recipe that really makes me happy. Blueberry lemon drizzle bars. A comforting, rustic recipe that’s perfect for a casual teatime treat.
Sweet and tart jam (with extra fresh blueberries for added zing) with comforting lemon shortbread. Yum. A simple cookie bar recipe that I know you’ll make over and over again. Such a crowd pleaser of a dessert, made with a handful of store cupboard ingredients. Think, tear-and-share of the cookie world. So yummy.
300g plain flour
200g softened unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ jar blueberry jam (try to get the best one you can; I really like Bonne Maman)
75g blueberries
Zest 2 lemons
100g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
Makes 8 generous bars
Line an 8 inch rectangular tin with baking paper and leave to one side.
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
Using a food mixer or a hand held electric beater, combine the sugar and butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Add in the flour and gently mix until just combined and forming small breadcrumb like balls.
Leave about ¼ of the mix to one side for the crumble topping and tip the remaining shortbread into the tin and using your hands lightly press it in, filling evenly across the whole tin.
Take about ½ jar of the blueberry jam and gently warm in a microwave for a few seconds so that it is easier to spread.
Then using a knife lightly spread the jam over the shortbread base.
Add the fresh blueberries to the jam layer.
Then take the last of the crumbly shortbread mix and dot around the top of the cookie bar, leaving spaces for the raspberry jam to peak out when it’s baked.
Leave in the fridge to cool for about 30 mins to an hour before baking. This will help the butter in the shortbread to firm up and help it bake nicely. If you have time, you can also make this the night before and bake in the morning if that’s easier.
Place the shortbread near the bottom of the oven to cook for about 25-30 minutes. The top should be lightly golden and the bottom cooked and crumbly.
Leave the cookie bar in the tin to firm up and then after 10-20 minutes, transfer the sheet to a cooling rack.
Once completely cooled, cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.
To make the drizzle, sift the icing sugar and add in the lemon juice a little at a time until you have a drizzle consistency.
Spoon onto the bars and leave to set for an hour.
Shortbread keeps really well, so it will keep covered in the fridge or an airtight container for about a week.
Looking for other yummy shortbread recipes? Try our Raspberry shortbread crumble bars
Love blueberries and want more inspiration? Try our Blueberry and lime scones or Lemon and blueberry cupcakes
I love Easter. It’s a time of celebration, spring flowers, time with the family and most of all chocolate. Chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is so much choice out there but mini eggs are my top favourite Easter treat and so this mini …
Lemon and honey crepes, so zesty, fresh and light. A delicious springtime dessert or brunch. I love crepes and although there is plenty of room in my life for thick American style pancakes, sometimes, particularly around pancake day, it’s so special to stick with the …
Lemon drizzle baked doughnuts are full of spring time flavours. If you love a lemon drizzle you’ll love this playful and delicious bake. This is a light baked doughnut full of lemon and topped with a zingy lemon icing and drizzle topping. Light, fresh and full of citrus. Such a winner and a perfect bake for Easter.
No mixer, just a bowl and spoon needed to make these goodies. If you have special doughnut tins that’s great, if not, using a muffin pan and decorate with the icing– it’ll still be just as delicious.
250g self rising flour
120g caster sugar
2 large eggs
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
180ml milk
Zest 2 lemons
450g icing sugar (sifted) Plus extra 75g icing sugar and hot wat
4 tbsp lemon juice (approx 1 ½ lemons)
Yellow food colouring (optional)
Plus extra 75g icing sugar and hot water approx 1 tbsp for the white drizzle (optional)
If you like you can add the zest from another lemon to the tops of each doughnut for extra flavour.
Makes 12 baked doughnuts
Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (200°C in fan oven) Gas Mark 7.
Line the doughnut tins with baking spray and flour and leave to one side. If you don’t have baking spray, pop a bit of oil onto some kitchen towel and wipe across the inside of each doughnut mould.
Weigh out the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) and sift into a large mixing bowl. Then add the caster sugar. Stir to combine then leave to one side.
Measure the milk into a jug. Crack in the eggs and add the vanilla extract, lemon zest and oil into the liquids. Stir to combine.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry, gradually to avoid lumps. (Don’t worry too much if there are a few lumps, it’s a bit like making muffins, better not to overmix and have a light batter than to have a super smooth consistency and have heavy doughnuts.)
Pour the mixture into a jug then fill each mould ½ full (the mixture rises quite a bit).
Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 7 minutes. (It honestly doesn’t take long at all – you just want the mixture to be springy to the touch and just coming away from the sides).
Leave to cool for 5/10 minutes in the tin and then using a knife gently go around the outside of each doughnut to loosen and take out of the tin. They should come out easily. Leave on a wire rack to cool.
Measure and sieve out the icing sugar (this can sometimes feel quite time consuming but you really need to, nobody wants lumpy icing). Then gradually add the lemon juice from the lemons you zested earlier. . The lovely thing about this type of icing is that if it’s a little thick, just add more water or lemon juice and if its too runny add another tablespoon of water. It’s very forgiving that way. No stress here. The consistency you’re after is pretty thick; just pouring off a spoon. Too runny and it will just run off the sides.
If you want to add in a few drops of yellow food colouring at this stage. I like to add a little because it creates a lovely lemon colour which contrasts well with the white drizzle if you choose to add it. Gel food colouring is so great. It adds so much colour even with the smallest amount and compared to liquid colouring doesn’t water down your icing. I always use ProGel, it works so well.
Using a spoon, coat each baked doughnut in the icing and place back on the cooling rack.
Once you’ve iced all of the doughnuts, you can fill a piping bag with some additional water icing and drizzle it over the iced doughnuts and then add some extra lemon zest to each.
The doughnuts are best eaten on the day they are made and will keep in an airtight container for 2 days.
Love lemon and want more baking ideas? Try our Raspberry ripple lemon mousse or Lemon and blueberry cupcakes or Lemon ginger carrot cake cupcakes
Want more baked doughnut recipes? Try our Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts
A giant mini eggs pop tart, now this says treat day Easter breakfast to me! So yummy and a completely indulgent, over the top fun brunch treat to celebrate the season. If there was every an occasion for chocolate for breakfast it’s Easter. In my …
Who doesn’t love an upside down cake? So many happy memories coming in from school to a pineapple cake my Mum made, such a treat. This is a playful twist on this classic. A citrus upside down cake bursting with oranges to celebrate beautiful winter …
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day but it can often feel the most rushed and least satisfying when you’re preparing for a busy day. Chocolate orange nutella pop tarts add a much needed burst of excitement for my morning routine. They’re such a treat and something that can be prepped the evening before so no stress. They keep really well for a few days after too, so you’ll have plenty to keep you going during the week when time is tight.
These really are so delicious. Great for chocolate orange lovers. The flaky pastry pop tarts are bursting with lots of orange zest which is so lovely with the nutella filling. If you’ve got a sweet tooth the icing will be your favourite part, gorgeously chocolaty for an extra indulgent hit and scattered with hazelnuts for crunch. Totally scrummy and seriously addictive.
340g plain flour
2 large eggs
170g unsalted butter (fridge cold)
30g icing sugar
Zest 2 oranges
Pinch of salt
1 jar of nutella (you’ll need a few tbsp for each pop tart and extra for the icing)
200g icing sugar
1 tbsp nutella
3-4 tbsp water from recently boiled kettle
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp instant coffee powder
Chopped hazelnuts to sprinkle on top
Makes 8 pop tarts
(You can easily ½ the quantities if you don’t want such a big batch)
First, let’s make the pastry.
This is really simple. Pop the flour, salt, cold butter, icing sugar and orange zest in a food processor. Blitz for a few seconds until you have a mixture that looks like fine breadcrumbs. The butter should be in very small pieces, distributed amongst the flour mix.
Then crack in 2 eggs and blitz until the pastry begins to come together in one large ball.
Remove the dough, divide into 2 and then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 190°C alongside a baking tray the same size that you’ll use to bake the pop tarts. This will help them cook evenly and give you a lovely crispy base.
Take each piece of dough then on a floured work surface, thinly roll out the pastry into a large rectangle. Trim the pastry so that you have pretty straight edges and then divide the dough into even rectangles. Do the same for the other piece of dough. If you have any offcuts, save them and repeat this process until you’ve got everything ready.
Make sure that you have an even number of rectangles – enough for tops and bottoms of the pop tarts.
Take about a few tbsp of nutella and spread it onto the middle of your pastry. Get a mug of water and, using your finger, wet the sides of the pastry. Then take another rectangle and place on top, pressing down the sides to make sure no sauce escapes when you bake them.
Take a fork, and seal the edges of the pastry. Take a sharp knife and add three score marks in the centre of the pastry, to help any steam escape in the oven.
Put the pastry onto a lined baking tray. Repeat for the rest of the tarts.
Brush the tops of the tarts with milk or egg wash then bake. The lovely thing about this recipe is you can do all this the night before then bake them fresh in the morning if you like. They’ll sit very happily in the fridge.
Bake for about 15-17 minutes until the pop tarts are cooked well underneath and are a lovely golden brown.
Once cooked, leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the icing.
Put the icing sugar, cocoa powder, nutella, salt and coffee powder into a bowl then gradually add the hot water until you get a pouring but not too runny consistency. Stir together. Add the water gradually a tbsp at a time to help get the right consistency but if it does get a bit too runny, you can just add more icing sugar.
When the pop tarts are cool enough spread a little of the icing on top of each, letting it fall down the sides a bit as it sets. Roughly chop a handful of hazelnuts and sprinkle over the tops of the pastry.
Leave for about 30 minutes for the icing to set a little. Enjoy.
These are best eaten on the day that they’re baked, but will last a few days stored in an airtight container.
You could also freeze un-iced pastries by tightly wrapping in cling film, which will keep for about 3 months. Then you could defrost in the fridge overnight and decorate when needed. Alternatively you can flash freeze unbaked pastries, store in a bag and then bake for an extra 10 minutes whenever you want one.
Looking for other breakfast pastry ideas? Our Cranberry pop tarts are so yummy. Our Chocolate pancakes are also super delicious.
Love nutella and want more recipe inspiration? Try our Nutella mince pies for a seasonal treat. Or our Chocolate nutella muffins – with a crunchie topping
Cranberry pop tarts. These are such a fun and completely delicious treat, particularly in the winter when cranberries are in season. It’s a great recipe for when you’ve got leftover cranberry sauce that you don’t know what to do with. The tart and zingy cranberry …