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, …
Easter is most definitely the time to indulge in chocolate but if you want a fast no bake sweet treat this is the one for you. Mini eggs really are Easter to me. I get so excited spotting them in the shops for the first time each year.
This cheats fudge is so easy. A few ingredients, a little colour and a lot of mini eggs and you’ve got something pretty special to share around. They’d make fab homemade gifts too.
This easy-peasy cheats fudge needs no need for sugar thermometers, which really takes the stress out of things, particularly if you’re getting a few treats ready for a party. A recipe that you stir together on the hob and then pop in the fridge is such a go to for me.
450g white chocolate
1 tin condensed milk (I always use Carnation for this)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Food colouring (I used purple, pink and yellow for this recipe)
2x 80g bags mini eggs
Makes approx 15 squares of fudge
Line a 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper and leave to one side while you make the fudge
Carefully chop the mini eggs into shards to add to your fudge later.
Chop the chocolate into small pieces and pop into a saucepan. Pour over the condensed milk and add the vanilla extract and salt.
Over a low heat, gradually combine the ingredients until the chocolate has completely melted and the fudge has thickened. Keep stirring all the time with this one, white chocolate can be tricky to work with and you don’t want it to catch and burn on the bottom.
When the mixture is ready, turn off the heat and spoon in large dollops of the mix into three small bowls, ready to add the food colouring. You’re after about a 50/50 split, leaving half the remaining mixture plain to swirl in with the colours.
Add a few drops of gel food colouring and mix to create your purple, pink and yellow. I often use Pro Gel food colouring for this type of thing. Gels work well because they give you a vibrant colour without adding lots of liquid to your sweets.
In the lined loaf tin, spoon on the different coloured fudge, alternating so that there will be a good colour contrast when you cut the fudge. Put half of the plain and coloured fudge mixes into the tin and gently swirl with a toothpick or skewer. Then add in half of the mini eggs, so you will have pieces all throughout the fudge.
Add the remaining mix. Then ripple again and add the remaining mini eggs to the top, pressing down lightly.
The mini eggs chocolate fudge will take a few hours to set in the fridge and then it will be ready to cut into squares.
Once cut, the fudge is best stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place and will last about a week. It can be stored in the fridge, but you may find that the edges of the fudge dry out a little over time.
Looking for more Easter ideas? Try our Giant mini eggs pop tart, Mini eggs Easter cake, Mini eggs Easter cake or Easter hot chocolate
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 …
Easter baking is so much fun and just like Christmas it’s a great time to give little presents to celebrate the season. Hot cross buns sweets are a playful and delicious twist on the classic buns and make excellent, unique gifts. These fun cookie dough …
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 …
Easter is definitely the time for indulgence and that of course means chocolate. Chocolate on top of chocolate. This hot chocolate is as yummy as it is simple to make. A mixture of milk and dark chocolate makes this extra yummy and then you can …
Growing up, millionaires shortbread was my FAVOURITE party food and my Mum would make it for special occasions. What is not to like about this; crumbly and rich shortbread, unctuously thick dulce de leche and chocolate. AMAZING. I was mooching around the kitchen a while ago and had just ordered some novelty Easter egg cutters (you really can buy anything now) and I thought these Easter Egg millionaires shortbread would make a really fun twist on this classic for the celebrations. These cookies make a beautiful showstopper and let’s be frank, any excuse to use mini eggs around Easter and I’m all in.
Let me know what you think.
150g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
pinch of salt
397g tin of dulce de leche
100g dark or milk chocolate
50g white chocolate
1 regular sized bag of mini eggs for decoration
Makes approx 6-8 sandwich cookies (you can easily double the recipe if you are cooking for a crowd)
Preheat the oven to 170°C or GM3.
Using a food mixer, combine the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light, pale and fluffy.
Then gradually add in the sifted flour and pinch of salt to the mixture. With the mixer on low, gently mix in the flour until it just begins to clump together. You do not want to overmix the dough here, this will make the shortbread more like a biscuit and you want it to be short and crumbly when it cooks and just melt in the mouth.
Gently flour a worktop and rolling pin and roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick and cut out rounds of dough using an egg shape cutter. Make sure to cut out an even number as they will be sandwiched together at the end.
Transfer all of the cut pieces of dough to a baking tray and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to chill down before cooking.
Cook in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes until pale and lightly golden brown around the edges.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Take half of the shortbread and smooth out approx 1 tsp of dulce de leche to the middle of the cookie. Don’t spread it to the edge of the cookie, the weight of the top cookie will nudge the filling out and you don’t want it to drip over too much.
Put the filled cookies into the fridge for about 15 minutes while you prepare the toppings.
Melt the dark or milk chocolate. The best way to easily temper chocolate is to use the microwave. Finely chop all the chocolate. Add half to a bowl and gently melt in the microwave in short 20-30 second bursts. Check the chocolate each time and when just melted remove and stir in the remaining chocolate. The residual heat from the melted chocolate will melt the remaining and then you will be ready to gently spread the chocolate across the top of each cookie.
Once you have covered all of the cookies, place them back in the fridge while you prepare the white chocolate and mini egg decoration.
Melt the white chocolate in the same way that you did with the dark/milk and when ready pour into a small piping bag to drizzle on your decoration. You can decorate the Easter egg cookies how you like and if you don’t have a piping bag, simply use a spoon to drizzle on patterns and add crushed mini eggs as you like.
These will keep in an airtight tin in the fridge for a few days but are best eaten on the day that they are made.
Looking for other Easter treats to make? Try our Easter Nest Doughnuts or perhaps for something different Mini egg ice-cream
On the hunt for fun Easter gifts? Check out our Fun Easter gifts for kids – Easter gift guide or for those that don’t fancy chocolate – Unique Easter gifts – for people that have had enough of chocolate (whatt??)
‘I don’t like chocolate’ might just be one of the most controversial things you can say, something at the very least that will stop a conversation cold 🙂 Easter is such a fun time of year, we’ve waved goodbye to winter and pastels, daffodils and …