What’s not to love about Easter? Getting together with the fam, legitimately eating chocolate for breakfast, and of course enjoying some banging food!
We have rounded up some of our new favourite Easter recipes to mix things up this spring. Get stuck in!!
Easter Recipes With Major YUM! – Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns
140 mins. 8 people
INGREDIENTS
- 7g dry active yeast
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 120ml lukewarm water
- 420-480g of plain flour
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 40g brown sugar
- 180ml of lukewarm plant milk
- 65ml of rapeseed oil
- Zest and juice of one orange
- 2 tbsp of Mr Organic Dairy Free Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread
- Juice of one orange for glaze
- 2 tbsp of maple syrup
- 60g plain flour for crosses
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp of soya milk
METHOD
1. Combine the yeast, 1tsp sugar and luke-warm water in a jug and set aside for 10 minutes until the yeast foams up.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 420g plain flour, cacao powder, salt and brown sugar.
3. Once the 10 minutes have elapsed, stir the plant milk, oil, chocolate spread orange zest and orange juice into the yeast mixture, then pour the wet mix into the dry ingredients and combine.
4. Combine the dough into a ball, if it’s too sticky add a little more flour to the mix. Lightly oil the bottom of a mixing bowl and place the dough inside, cover with a towel and rest in a warm place for an hour.
5. Push out the air and knead on a floured surface. Separate the dough into 10-12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place them onto a greased oven dish and cover again with a wet towel. Let them rest for another 30 minutes.
6. In the meantime, prepare your glaze by combining the orange juice and maple syrup in a small bowl. In a separate bowl whisk up the plain flour, vanilla extract and soya milk for the crosses, then transfer the mix to a small piping bag.
7. Preheat the oven to 190C.
8. Brush the buns with the glaze, then pipe the crossed onto your buns. Transfer them to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden. Check after 20 minutes and only add more time if your oven requires.
9. Once removed from the oven, brush the remainder of your glaze across the buns whilst they’re still warm & enjoy them warm or cold – they’re especially great sliced and toasted and topped with your favourite Mr Organic chocolate spread!
Easter Recipes With Major YUM! – Juliet Sear’s Chocolate & Vanilla Traybake Recipe
This delicious traybake is simple to make and looks so appealing, with a lovely marble effect from using both the Carr’s Chocolate and Victoria Sponge Cake Mixes. If you want to make yours look extra special, you can pipe the mixed frosting shades over the top using large round, star and petal nozzles, or keep it simple and just add blobs of icing in a mix all over the top then spread, swirling it together to make a marble pattern to reflect the inside. Both ways are wonderful and just as tasty!
Serves: 16-20
Equipment needed:
- Bowls and wooden spoons (or you can use an electric mixer for the frosting, if you prefer)
- Piping bags and large piping nozzles (optional)
- 1 x traybake tin, greased and lined with baking paper on the bottom and sides (Juliet uses a 9 x 13”)
- Spoon or palette knife for spreading the icing and swirling the sponge flavours together
- Cooling rack
- Microwave safe bowl or saucepan & heatproof bowl for melting chocolate
Ingredients:
For the sponge:
- 1 x Carr’s Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix 425g
- 1 x Carr’s Heavenly Victoria Sponge Cake Mix 425g
- 6 eggs
- 200ml water
- 200ml oil or 200g butter
For the buttercream:
- 130g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 250g butter, softened at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 500g icing sugar, sifted
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190C (170C Fan/Gas Mark 5).
- Mix the cake mixes according to the pack instructions, then spoon alternating blobs of the mix over the traybake tin. Use a knife or end of a spoon to drag through the flavours up and down and across the batter to create a marbled effect.
- Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes until cake is cooked through, going golden arounds the edges and the centre is completely cooked through (Tip: Use a metal skewer or end of a sharp knife to push in the centre and it should come out dry and free of mixture when the cake is done).
- Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and remove the paper. Leave to cool completely and get your frostings ready.
- For the buttercream, either melt the chocolate in the microwave or use a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool.
- Beat the butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar gradually, mixing in slowly to start with until all the powder has mixed into the butter, then beat well until very pale and creamy, beating between each addition until your buttercream is smooth and soft.
- Halve the mixture and pour in the cooled chocolate into one of the bowls and combine thoroughly. If you want to keep it simple, just add mixed blobs of the frosting onto the cooled cake and then use a spoon or knife to flatten and swirl it into a marbled pattern.
- Alternatively, you can either pipe these two icings onto the cake with star, round or petal nozzles, or to give you three shades of frosting, take half of each flavour frosting out and mix together into a third bowl, to give you a lighter chocolate shade, then divide into any piping bags you like with mixed nozzles and pipe in a random style all over the cake as shown.
Easter Recipes With Major YUM! – Leftover Easter Chocolate Cookies
Makes 10 Cookies
Ingredients
- 120g unsalted butter, softened
- 180g demerara sugar
- 1 egg
- 300g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 200g chopped Easter chocolate + extra for topping
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Baking tray, lined with parchment
- Teaspoon
- Cooling rack
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan).
- Cream together the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl before the adding the egg and mixing until combined.
- Add in the flour, bicarbonate and salt. Mix together until a dough begins to form. At this stage, add in your chopped up Easter chocolate and continue to mix until the chocolate is evenly distributed.
- Weigh the dough into 80g balls and place on the lined baking tray (gently push some whole mini eggs into the dough balls now if you have them). If you only have one tray, bake these 4-5 at a time as they will need space to spread.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the tray and bake for a further 4-5 minutes until just golden. The cookies will continue to bake for a while as they cool.
- Let the cookies rest on the cooling rack until warm to the touch before topping with any other leftover chocolate you have to hand. The chocolate will melt from the warmth and solidify again by the time the cookies are cool enough to eat.
Easter Recipes With Major YUM! – Creme Egg Brookie Traybake
Makes 12 Brookies
Ingredients
- 250g unsalted butter, melted
- 300g granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 300g plain flour, split into 50g and 250g
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200g dark chocolate chips or a chopped up bar, split into 150g and 50g
- 6 Creme Eggs, halved
Equipment
- 2 mixing bowls (one should be microwaveable)
- Teaspoon
- Spatula
- 20 x 30cm traybake tin, lined with parchment
- Microwave
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160°C (fan).
- In the microwaveable bowl, melt 150g of the dark chocolate in 30 second increments, being careful not to burn it. Set to one side.
- In the other mixing bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar with the spatula followed by the eggs and vanilla. Mix until everything is combined.
- Pour 350g of this mixture into the melted dark chocolate and mix thoroughly before folding in 50g of flour. This is your brownie base – pour this into your lined tin and spread evenly using the spatula or the back of the teaspoon. Pop this in the freezer while you make the cookie topping.
- To make the cookie topping, add the rest of the plain flour (250g) and bicarbonate to the remainder of the butter, sugar and egg mixture. Combine with a cleaned spatula until smooth, then fold in the leftover 50g of dark chocolate chips/chunks. Take the brownie base out of the freezer and spread the cookie dough evenly on top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until risen and golden on top. Allow to cool slightly before gently pressing the Creme Egg halves into the baked Brookie.
- Once the Brookie has cooled completely in the tin, remove it and cut it into portions.
