I love an excuse to bake and Easter is the perfect one.
Also, I can now eat chocolate again as I gave it up on the 8th of Jan until Good Friday! Horray.
So, here are two Easter bakes that I have made this Easter weekend.
They are super easy, relatively quick and even child friendly.
Let’s take a look!
Chocolate Easter Nests
Chocolate Easter Nests
I surely don’t even need to include a recipe for this Easter classic!?!
This Easter season special is great to do with kids and one of my favourite ‘cakes’ whenever I seem them on sale.
I had to use shredded wheat this time as we already had it in the cupboard but my preference is cornflakes, and of course I used Cadbury chocolate and mini eggs.
Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies
Cadbury Creme Egg BrowniesGooey goodness!
These brownies came out super gooey and were so delicious, especially warm!
I had this ‘Brownie in a jar’ mix from Christmas, that I hadn’t used yet and all you needed to do was add 125g of butter and 2 eggs (whisked together first). Super easy!
I then cut the creme eggs in half and pushed them into the batter, fondant side up.
A brownie recipe that I use alot is a BBC Good Good one, I’ll leave a link here .
I used to share snap shots of my life on her, things we had done to celebrate different occasions, fun days out, holidays, however, obviously this last year has been quite an unpresidented one.
I feel like I haven’t really shared much of what I have been doing because really we’ve all been doing the same haven’t we! Staying home, Locked down, on and off since Summer, working and just trying to stay safe.
But I thought to myself, why not share the celebrations we are still having, as wierd as they may seem in comparison to how it used to be, because it’s all we’ve got at the moment and we should still be grateful for what we can do during such a mad time.
Today is Mothers day and I have shared on here, for several years, our tradition of our Mothers Day, homemade afternoon tea.
This year was a very 2020/21 affair, via Skype, but it still involved Afternoon Tea so no complaints here.
We ordered the individual Afternoon Teas from a small local business (All Covid safe) and enjoyed them at our own homes via Skype.
They were delicious and it was nice to be able to continue the tradition, even if it was a little different to usual.
Most of our ‘Usuals’ seem a distant memory right now don’t they 😣 but, it’s also so important to embrace what we can do, communicate and spend time together however we can, whilst staying safe, because we can still stay in touch and stay connected, and we will all be back together properly one day.
It gets to everybody at some point, this wierd time we are a part of, but I’m so very conscious that there are people in such a worse situation than me, who have experienced some of the worst times during this pandemic.
If the worst part of this whole situation, for me is that I can only speak to people through a computer then I’ll be forever grateful. I know some people have it much worse.
It’s still ok to find it hard though and I hope you’ve had a little bit of light and joy come your way today!
Thick, fluffy, American style pancakes. Draped in Bananas and Biscoff spread.I’ve never been able to make these thicker, fluffy pancakes before so I was so happy with this delicious stack!!Savoury Ham & Cheese filled pancake toastie.This was so delicious and I was pleasantly suprised with this one.Traditional, thin crepe style pancakes. I always have these ones every year.Lemon, sugar & golden syrup.
As I said a few days ago, I have one more recipe for you! And it’s perfect for a special Christmas day occasion.
It’s a delicious, and relatively easy and quick, Salted caramel (do I need to say any more?) and chocolate tart.
It doesn’t require a lot of ingredients which is great! And apart from time for it to set it doesn’t take too long either. It only took me an hour or so one evening so its great as a fancy, last minute showstopper.
Don’t let the making caramel stage scare you… it’s not as horrendous as you’d think and, if you have a food thermometer this will really come in handy.
I will link both of the recipes that I used below.
I used pre made shortcrust. Remember to bake it blind for 15 mins before removing the baking parchment and beans (or whatever you have, I used dried pasta) pop it back in until it starts to turn golden.
I had some nice flakey salt that I added during the caramel recipe process (as stated but I doubled it) and I sprinkled more salt on, generously, once I had poured the caramel into my cooled tart.
Leave the caramel to set and then add your silky smooth ganache on top. Good quality Dark chocolate is the best.
As someone who likes baking, I enjoyed this recipe because it uses lots of different techniques that perhaps I wouldn’t bother to try usually.
And it looks impressive too!
This is going to be our Christmas day dessert, served with some thick double cream, YUM!
Especially because I feel like I haven’t done enough of these this Blogmas!
I do have another recipe up my sleeve, that I am hoping to make for our Christmas day dessert, so keep your eyes peeled for that one too 👀
Chocolate Orange is one of my absolute favourite flavours ever, but I also think its quite festive too.
I used a ‘Tasty’ recipe this time which I will leave a link for here
I obviously adapted it to make them Chocolate Orange flavoured.
I added some cocoa powder to make the cookie batter chocolatey, a little orange extract instead of vanilla and I used chopped up Chocolate Orange segments, instead of choc chips.
These don’t take long to make, honestly the longest part is refrigerating the mixture for a minimum of 30 mins before baking. They only take 15 mins in the oven.
This is how they turned out. The chocolate orange pieces were all gooey 😍
So, here are my top 5 ways to well and truly get into the festive spirit!
1. Listening to Christmas tunes
Whilst I’m still at work, and there are still lots of restrictions in place for going out, this is one of the things that has made me feel the most Christmassy.
We have been listening to them lots at work and in the car.
If a Christmas sing along doesn’t get you into the festive spirit, what will!!
2. Watching a Christmas film 📽
I LOVE Christmas films for adding a bit of festive cheer into your life.
Even more so as the cinemas are closed. I miss it more than I thought.
I shared some of my faves in a earlier Blogmas post so check them out here !
Grab some popcorn, your fave festive chocs, a hot choc perhaps? And you’ve got yourself a super festive afternoon.
3. Reading a Christmas book 📚
As soon as November hits I start the festive reads and I don’t stop until February.
If you love festive books as much as me then take a look at these ones, they are some that I’ve really enjoyed.
Books are a great escape from reality and perfect for a bit of festive downtime during the Christmas chaos.
4. Christmas Day Prep 🎁
I love wrapping presents, planning Christmassy activities and of course planning the Christmas eats too.
I know that this year is going to be a bit different in terms of Christmas, but its important to make the most of the situation we are in, enjoy what we can do and not focus on what we can’t.
And hey, you might even end up with a new fun tradition thanks to 2020!
I love stocking up on a few of our favourite Christmas treats, like mince pies and slowly picking up buffet bits and bobs, from various shops depending on what they have each year.
And wrapping presents for my loved ones always makes me feel super festive 😊🎁
5. Festive baking 🥧
I really enjoy baking and festive flavours (except you cinnamon 🤢) so I always look forward to baking at this time of year, especially when you can indulge a little more, guilt free, and try all your efforts.
I’ve been looking up some yummy ideas to inspire my baking over the next week or so!
Here’s a festive recipe I’ve already tried out. They were super yummy!
These came out so well, are super chocolatey (I always add extra chocolate 🤦🏼♀️) & look how cute they are!!
I’m not as great at the finer detail when it comes to decorating things like this but, even I could do this haha! and I love how they turned out.
These would be great for a Christmas buffet table (and yes I am still having one even though there won’t be many of us, because come on 2020 or not… it’s Christmas & who doesnt love a buffet!!)
Roseanne Byford 