EasterComments Off on Easter chocolate nests with little chicks
It was inevitable. It’s almost Easter, I have small children, I love novelty. What did you expect? I’ve upgraded my mini Easter nests recipe. This time they’re bigger, the nest is more nest like as it’s made of All Bran rather than Shredded Wheat, and… well a chick has hatched. These are altogether a better grade of Easter nest.
Place 12 cupcake cases into a 12 hole cake tin. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl. I used the bain marie method to be sure the chocolate didn’t burn or seize up. Just be careful not to let any water get into the chocolate or allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water in the pan. Once completely melted remove from the heat and add the All Bran. Stir really well until combined, giving a good dig about at the bottom of the bowl.
Spoon equally between the 12 cases, using the spoon to make a little dent in the middle of each ‘nest’. Add three eggs, then a little pastry chick. Leave to set completely (takes 4 hours ish) before eating.
If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pastry chicks then do sub with marshmallow chicks or similar from the supermarket.
I may love Easter more than Christmas as Christian school holidays go. I know this might be controversial. Hear me out. (Most reasons are chocolate and present buying related for those wondering if this is a rather unusual Christian themed blog post):
There’s more chocolate about on a volume basis. Okay most of it is plain and shaped like an egg, but that reduces the risk of eating a strawberry crème so frankly, I’m okay with it. Plus excess chocolate eggs, bunnies and the like can be ceremoniously melted down on the last day of the Easter hols to be made into brownies for Mummy to enjoy at elevenses. If you snooze with the egg eating, the bunny gets it).
There is less expectation, so of course less stress. If you burn Christmas dinner the family will talk about it for years (and you will have to smile and laugh light heartedly and pretend you find it funny being the butt of the joke when really you want to cry and hide under the stairs and drink some gin), but if you serve raw lamb/burn dinner to a crisp or forget to make gravy on Easter Sunday no one cares a jot. They really don’t. They just shrug and ask what’s for pudding. Perhaps this is the problem with Christmas Day. Everyone knows what’s for pudding and most people don’t even like it.
No turkey curry to ‘get through’. Food should not be an endurance test.
Present buying is cheap as chips, or, well, Easter eggs. No child expects more than an egg at Easter. (Do they? I hope not…)
Present buying is executable in one shopping trip to the local supermarket. Bung one egg per child in the trolley and done.
Present buying is reserved for people under about 15 only. You do not need to buy your husband or wife or mother or father an egg. Even if Hotel Chocolat do very nice novelty grown up Eastery chocolate gifts. Resist. Just eat the eggs of a small child you own or know.
Present buying uses little imagination. All you have to think is ‘Would Charlie watch Star Wars or Scooby Doo if given the choice?’ Once you know the answer you pick the egg. If you don’t know the child well then buy a Buttons one. Or don’t buy one at all. Personally, I feel if you don’t know what TV programmes the kid likes you clearly don’t know them well enough to spend money on them. What a simple rule for life.
Gifting small inexpensive presents mean there’s less chance of being made to teach small people to ride their new bikes/scooters etc. Yes, what a misery I am but really, I like to save these kind of endeavours for the summer. I feel the cold terribly you know.
Easter weather is unpredictable. One year (I think it was 2013) we had snow at Easter in Leicester. Yes, snow! My sons have never forgotten it. They made a snowman and drank marshmallow spiked hot chocolate and made glittery Easter eggs at my pal Anuszka’s house who is altogether more fun than me and also more tolerant of glitter. Unexpected weather brings out the best in Brits. We love it. Christmas is always grey and a bit rainy.
Less present wrapping (ie/ none) means you can use the time better to make an elaborate pudding like this trifle. I dare you to make it. It’s good.
I made this trifle using the Kenwood Chef Sense which is available here. The full video of the recipe is below and can also be viewed here, plus some top tips from me on separating eggs here plus an easy way to make trifle sponges without lining tins here.
Juice the lemons using the Kenwood attachment and pour into a jug. Make the liquid up to 570mls using cold water then remove 100mls to soak the gelatine in. Once soaked for 10 minutes heat the gelatine and water in a small pan on a low heat until the gelatine has dissolved. Then add to the rest of the liquid along with the dried raspberries. Stir and leave for 30 minutes then strain through a sieve to remove the raspberries. Leave to set in the fridge.
To make the cakes:
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Beat together the flour, castor sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, zest of the lemon and milk in the Kenwood using the K beater for about 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Divide between 4 cupcake cases and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until well risen, golden and a toothpick comes out of the centre clean.
Poke holes in the cupcakes. Heat the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small pan until dissolved and then pour over the cupcakes. Leave to cool.
To make the curd:
Place a pan of simmering water over a medium heat and place a heat proof bowl over the top, being careful that the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice into the bowl and whisk. Stir until completely dissolved then add the eggs and whisk intermittently for 10 minutes until the curd has thickened. Chill in the fridge.
To make the custard:
Heat the cream and milk in a large pan until the edges are just beginning to bubble. In the meantime whisk together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Once the liquid is ready whisk into the thick egg mixture stirring all the time then transfer back to the pan and heat on the hob, stirring with a wooden spoon until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon. Chill with the top covered in clingfilm (touching the custard) to stop a skin developing.
To assemble:
Slice the cakes and layer in a 2.2 litre trifle dish. Pour the Limoncello over the top and then cover with the lemon curd. Add a layer of fresh raspberries then add the almost set jelly. Leave to set in the fridge. Then add the cold custard. Lastly whip the cream to soft peaks with lemon zest using the whisk attachment of the Kenwood and spoon over the custard. Sprinkle freeze dried raspberries to decorate.
I’m becoming one of those women who has an opinion about everything. Yep. You know the type who interrupts someone mid sentence to say ‘you want to know what I think about that?’ and then starts wittering on until the other person looks bored, regardless of whether said person even wanted to know what I think or not.
I think it’s to do with spending too much time alone of late, my hips have given way (in a pregnancy related fashion) and I can’t stand the pain of getting out and about. It’s only been a week of self imposed (almost) solitary confinement but it doesn’t agree with me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter why. It’s just not good. I’m going to try and limit the airing of my strong opinions to this blog as I think the written word can handle a little more vitriol than the spoken one.
On to my opinion of the day. Cadbury creme egg recipes. If I see one more creme egg brownie picture in my facebook feed I’ll scream. It’s time to break out, try something new. I know they’re good, I know! But a change is as good as a rest. And these babies are a little less guilt inducing. They’ve got oats in them for goodness sake! Slow release carbs combined with an Eastery sugar fix. Here goes:
Pop the mini creme eggs into the fridge to make them easier to cut in half later. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line a 20 x 20cm tin with non stick baking paper. Melt the sugar, butter, golden syrup and chocolate spread in a large saucepan over a low heat until molten. Then add the rolled oats and remove from the heat. Stir well until really well covered then press evenly into the prepared tin. Bake for about 20 minutes until the top of the flapjack appears golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Whilst the flapjack is cooling melt the milk and dark chocolate in a bowl in the microwave in 30 second bursts being careful not to burn it. (You can use the bain marie method if you prefer.) Then stir the vegetable oil into the chocolate. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then pour over the flapjack and push carefully into the corners with a spoon. Carefully cut the mini creme eggs in half, then place onto the flapjack. I tried to mentally divide the flapjack into 9 squares and place the eggs in the centre of each square so as not to further disturb them when cutting later.
Leave to set at room temperature for a couple of hours then slice with a very sharp knife. Dip the knife into boiling water before each cut for a really crisp finish.
Can I moan a little first? This Easter is yet another holiday that has been ruined by illness. So far the boys have had ear infections, viral infections and now one has chicken pox. Seriously, I for one have had enough of this nonsense, let alone them poor little mites. I know this is not in any way related to this Easter recipe but I need someone to listen. Even if it’s virtual. I’ve been in confinement with illness and bugs for too long… so my dear parents came over today and I made these. Sanity restored.
Enough whinging. So here she is, my grand dame of Easter recipes. I give you my white chocolate and cranberry hot cross buns. Well worth the wait and various stages.
All comments gratefully received. Here are some other Eastery recipes you might like too:
Egg wash made from an egg with a pinch of salt stirred in
‘Cross’ paste made from 70g strong white flour mixed to a pipeable but stiff paste with cold water
Glaze made from boiling 60mls water with 50g caster sugar
Okay. Here we go. Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, olive oil and caster sugar until everything is evenly distributed. Then add the warm milk and mix again. Then add the egg, beaten and mix again. Now you need to knead until shiny and elastic – probably about 10 minutes by hand or about 4 in a mixer. I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer as this is a VERY sticky dough – it’s enriched with milk and eggs which mean it’s hard work by hand. It isn’t impossible but I am just warning you. A dough scraper might be useful if you do do this by hand. And remove all rings.
Once shiny and elastic (but still sticky) cover in clingfilm and leave to double in size. Once doubled add the clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Mix well whilst knocking back the dough then scrape onto a floured work surface and divide the dough into as many pieces as you wish to make buns. I managed 11 oddly.
Flour a baking tray lightly and then take your piece of dough, dip it in a little of the flour on the work surface so it doesn’t stick to your hands – then squash it in your hand and pull the edges into the middle, like you’re folding something exciting into the centre. Pinch these edges together and then place the bun pinched side down on the tray. Continue until all the dough is used and leave about a 1cm space between each bun. Cover loosely in clingfilm and leave to proof until double the size.
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Make the flour paste for the crosses by mixing 70g strong white flour with a little water until you have a stiff paste. It needs to be pipeable but not too thin that it drips down the buns. Once the buns are double the size brush them in egg wash then pipe a cross onto each bun. The buns will be touching by now through the proofing process so it’s actually easier to pipe along all the buns in one direction and then turn the tray and do the same – rather than pipe each cross individually. Pop into the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes but keep an eye on them as enriched doughs, especially ones with sugar in, have a tendency to burn easily. Also your buns might be bigger or smaller than mine so will likely have a different baking time. They’re done when browned and risen.
Whilst they’re baking make the glaze by boiling 60g water with 50g caster sugar. Had I thought about it at the time I might have added a little orange water or even lemon juice to this mixture but I didn’t. When the buns are ready grab them from the oven and brush with the still warm glaze. Beware using too much as it makes for soggy bun bottoms by dripping under the buns and pooling on the baking tray. When cool enough to touch pull the buns apart and transfer to a rack. Eat slightly warm with chocolate spread or toasted with salted butter. Or in bread and butter pudding.
You can totally substitute different chocolates/dried fruits/spices etc – let me know if you do and how it turned out? Happy Easter! x
Most of the time I don’t want anyone to mess with my Cadbury creme egg. Oh no siree. I want it plain and unadulterated. A little tear of the foil with my fingernail, a timid peel, then a scramble to get the egg out; naked.
We all know the way you eat your egg says so much about you. Me? In the way I seem to approach everything in life, I start off trying to be demure – positively French about it in fact. Nibbling away in a ladylike fashion. Then the girl from the Midlands in me rises to the top and I shove the whole thing in my mouth. And then I reach for another. I’ve never been good at rationing.
So here I am messing with the mighty Cadbury creme egg. I think I’ll make an exception for this dessert though. It’s Eton mess without any Old Etonians or raspberries. I do love a raspberry, but it’s Easter so the creme egg rules.
All comments gratefully received. Here are some other Eastery recipes you might like too:
2 x 157g bag of Cadbury creme egg splats (if you can’t get hold of these use any milk chocolate broken up into messy pieces – this is about mess)
4 Cadbury creme eggs
Firstly imagine someone were carrying some eggs, whipped double cream and honeycomb in a large bag and then dropped it quite violently – this is the thought I am channeling to make this dessert. You need to make the honeycomb at least an hour ahead but when it comes to assembly this is a last minute thing. Honeycomb and moisture (like the moisture found in double cream) are not best pals. Honeycomb starts to go soggy quickly so assemble and serve. Luckily this is so quick and easy to assemble that shouldn’t be an issue. Oh and store your honeycomb in a tin and not in the fridge. The fridge makes it weep.
To make the honeycomb line a roasting pan with foil making sure it goes up the sides. Then melt the sugar, syrup and butter in a large saucepan on the hob for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Don’t stir – swirl the pan if bits of it are catching. And whatever you do, don’t touch the contents of the pan – it will get very very hot. Once golden brown add the bicarbonate of soda and stir quickly with a wooden spoon – it will fizz up. Then pour straight into the lined tin. Don’t bang the tin or touch the honeycomb as it is A & E hot. Put the pan in the sink and fill with hot water but stand back as it will fizz and spit a bit. Leave to set for a few hours then once cool either smash up with a rolling pin or whizz up in a food processor.
Now assemble your Cadbury creme egg mess. Layer honeycomb, Cadbury creme egg splats and whipped cream at least twice in a glass or sundae dish then top with a broken Cadbury creme egg and some honeycomb shards. Serve and sit back and enjoy, for Easter comes but once a year.
Decorating, in my experience, is also best left to the professionals. I still shudder when I recall my attempt at late 90s dappling using a bathroom sponge and a tester paint pot. That Changing Rooms programme has a lot to answer for.
I once had the pleasure of being made up by a professional (cheap client with no budget for extras = Holly plays housewife at a dinner party in the background of an advert) and though sceptical at first, the make up artist in question took years off me, and all without the use of chemicals/injections. The lady was a goddess.
It seems food styling should be left to the professionals too. Look at the picture the food stylist took of my Apostle scone loaf, then if you can bear it, watch the video of the one I made. That’s all I’m saying.
Anyway, the point is that the scone loaf tastes lovely. It really is the taste and smell of Easter. Best eaten fresh with a little butter, maybe some clotted cream or even some marmalade. (Though pretty good toasted for breakfast the next day too.)
Preheat the oven to Gas 7/220C and check the rack is in the centre of the oven. Lightly grease a baking tray with a little butter or margarine. Mix the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and zests in a large bowl. Rub in the margarine or butter with your finger tips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir the almonds, cranberries, ginger, apricots and raisins in well so they’re all coated in the flour mixture.
Pour the milk over the mixture and pull together with a blunt table knife. Once combined use your hand to pull the scone together. The less handling the better when making scones so don’t mix or knead vigorously.
Place the scone dough on your tray and shape with your hands into a loaf shape about 1 inch thick. Score the top with a sharp knife, about a quarter of the way down, in a zig-zag fashion to make 11 triangles (one for each Apostle, to break off easily.) Bake immediately for between 20 – 25 minutes until golden all over. Dust with icing sugar if you wish.
On the whole miniature versions of things don’t do it for me. Half pints. Funsize chocolate. Express massages. Minibreaks. Happy Meals. However, when it comes to cupcake versions of large cakes I make an exception. They tickle me.
It’s your choice whether to adorn with marzipan balls, tiny chocolate eggs or both if you can’t decide. Makes 12.
– Either an extra 150g marzipan/a packet of tiny chocolate eggs
– A little icing sugar for rolling/shaping marzipan
Preheat the oven to Gas 5/190C. Place 12 cupcake cases into a tray. Heat the ginger wine in a small pan together with all the dried fruit until the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Place the remaining cake ingredients into a bowl and mix together with an electric handheld mixer until smooth and creamy. Stir in the soaked fruit and then divide between the cupcake cases. Level with your fingers and bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes until slightly brown, well risen and a toothpick comes out of the centre of the middle cupcakes with clean. Cool out of the tin, on a wire rack.
Once cool, brush a little jam onto each cake and then roll and cut out circles of marzipan (using icing sugar to aid rolling and a round cutter) to place on top. Then either add 11 small balls of marzipan to the top of each cake or 11 tiny chocolate eggs. Fix in place with a dab of jam.
If you fancied watching me chatterbox away about these cupcakes then there’s a little film below to watch. It’s 6 minutes long though. Gosh, I can talk. And no, it’s not my kitchen.
I’ll never make a hand model. Apart from my gargantuan knuckles (which in the wrong light make my hands look distinctly transvestite-esque), they are also covered in scars. Mostly kitchen war wounds, selflessly gathered on my many missions to feed the masses. Some are less heroic. I have a particularly Scar Face style one gained whilst washing up wine glasses in a drunken fashion. I often get an urge to tidy after a few drinks. It’s odd, I know.
One of my many scars was acquired making Christmas fudge. The boiling fudge spat at me and Oh My Goodness, it hurt. This fudge is for those who like fudge but also reserve the right to consider a hand modelling career at some point in the future. Quick to make, oh so moreish, and all without a sugar thermometer in sight… makes a great Easter gift too.
Ingredients:
200g marshmallows
70g butter, cut into cubes the size of a thumb nail
Place the marshmallows, butter, dark chocolate, ground cinnamon and orange zest into a saucepan. Heat on a low hob until completely dissolved, stirring regularly. Don’t be tempted to hurry it by turning up the heat – the chocolate will burn!
Remove from the heat and add the raisins and ginger, stir well and pour into a tin (approx. 24cm x 24cm) lined with greaseproof paper. (Don’t wait about as it starts to set sharpish.) Push small sugar eggs into the top if you wish (try and leave some clear lines to aid cutting) then refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into squares and serve. I warn you, this stuff is addictive.
Is it normal to consider moving house for a baking related reason?
I made hot cross buns the other night. They were not as good as the shop bought ones. Big fail. But it’s not my fault you see. It’s the house. It’s too cold for proper proving. Cue strop about how rubbish the house is and that WE MUST MOVE. If only to bake perfect hot cross buns once a year. Perfectly sensible.
Anyway, as the housing market is slow and Mr B is a lot more level headed than his dear wife, I had to come up with an alternative way to get my hot cross bun kick. I am pleased to announce that hot cross biscotti are:
Easy to make.
Quicker to make than buns.
Require no proving.
Are delicious dunked in Earl Grey tea.
Make the house smell suitably Eastery.
Have an amusing name that make them sound hot under the collar and angry.
Keep for 2 weeks (!)
Make you feel a bit sophisticated and Italian when you eat them.
Can be given ready made or in a cute ‘just add an egg’ glass jar as an alternative to the usual chocolate Easter egg type gift. (Yeah, right – think that might go down badly with a lot of people…)
Anyway, I like them (which is saying a lot for a candied peel hater) and so does Mr. B. Charlie likes them too. If I weren’t so hell bent on feeding my second born son entirely healthy food I think he’d enjoy gnawing on them to ease his teething pain.
Ingredients:
50g blanched and toasted whole almonds
1 large egg
100g caster sugar
1 tsp orange blossom water (Frankly, you can omit this but I bought some on holiday last year and am damned if I’m going to let it sit unused in the cupboard.)
130g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 cloves ground up
1/4 tsp ground ginger
50g raisins
15g mixed peel
Preheat the oven to Gas 4. If your almonds aren’t already toasted then pop them in a non stick pan and give them a quick blast on the hob. No oil. Watch them like a hawk. In fact, don’t leave the pan. They go from pale innocent looking things to burnt pellets in seconds. Once browned tip the nuts onto a piece of kitchen roll to cool.
Using an electric hand held mixer cream together the egg, sugar and orange water. Keep going until it’s thicker than when you started and a little paler. Add everything else and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is combined.
Turn the mixture onto a tray lined with baking paper (the white stuff not the brown stuff) and shape into a log. It’s quite sticky so you may need to put a little sunflower oil on your hands to do this. Then put your biscotti log in the oven for around 20 – 25 minutes until it’s brown in colour and your kitchen smells of Easter time supermarket bakeries.
Take it out of the oven and leave on the side for about 5 mins. Then move it gingerly onto a board (it’s still hot) and using a knife with a zig zag edge, cut into thin biscotti size slices. I’d say about 1cm. Put these slices back onto the baking paper lined tray, this time lying flat on their backs and then back into the oven for about 10 – 15 minutes until they’re golden coloured. Be careful of the smaller biscotti made from the ends of the logs. They have a tendency to burn so grab them from the oven a little earlier. This recipe involves a lot of attentive cooking come to think of it. Maybe not for an absent minded day otherwise you could have burnt almonds AND biscotti on your hands. Not good.
They like anything miniature (probably due to their own half pint size.)
They like anything that pretends to be something else.
I’m talking about Matey bubble bath that looks like a sailor, rucksacks that look like dead cows slung across their backs, beds that double up as trains and chocolate mice. I have to say I’m with them on this particular like.
So here’s a recipe remembered from my childhood, except I’ve made it even more mini than it was in the 80s. I hope you like it. Charlie and his little friend only got a couple each as I snaffled the rest. They are kind of canapé size after all…
Ingredients (to make 12):
30g butter (I used that light butter spread but only ’cause damned Tesco substituted 5 tubs of this for the 5 blocks of butter I ordered… who on earth did my shopping? Anyway, I now need to use it.)
10g golden syrup – this is about a heaped teaspoon.
100g milk chocolate broken into squares
40g mini shredded wheat cereal crumbled up between your fingers
half a bag of mini mini eggs, I used these from Asda but I have to say I used them for their look and not their very sugary, tooth enamel damaging taste
12 of those little tiny petit four cases
So quick and easy it’s tempting to eat the lot before it gets to the cases and make another batch. Obviously I didn’t do that though. That would be akin to eating spaghetti hoops from the saucepan.
Melt the butter, golden syrup and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat until the lot has dissolved into a chocolatey shiny mess. Then add the shredded wheat and stir with a metal spoon until all the strands of ‘nest’ are covered. Using a teaspoon fill the petit four cases with the nest material, making a small dip in the middle of each nest for 3 little eggs to be pushed into. Leave to cool and in the unlikely event that these last beyond about an hour, store in a tin and not in the fridge. They go soggy in the fridge you see.
I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
[Read more]
Just sign up to receive my latest blog posts straight to your inbox: Simply click here.
P.S. To sign up for my free monthly newsletter just click here. It has a baking SOS, recommendations on bits of kit I can’t live without, my kitchen catastrophe of the month, a sneak preview of a recipe coming up on this blog and a letter from me telling you what I’ve been up to.
Remember to check your inbox for a confirmation email and also to add my email recipesfromanormalmum@gmail.com to your contacts. Otherwise I could go to spam.
Holly Bell 