What’s not to love about Easter, religious or not, there is a 4 day weekend and an abundance of chocolate, I’m in!
Below is a recipe I’ve adapted from BBC Good Food. Dark chocolate can be expensive, I’ve found this one in Tesco, it doesn’t have a super high percentage of cocoa solids but it does deliver on taste and I’ve found it really good to cook with, at 75p for 150g it’s a bargain!
Recipe
2 x 90g bag of mini eggs
185g unsalted butter cut into small cubes
185g dark chocolate broken into pieces
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar
small amount of melted choc or nutella to stick on your eggs
1) Put 16 mini eggs to one side and put the rest in the freezer
2) Place the butter and dark chocolate into a glass bowl and melt over a saucepan (approx a quarter full) of water. Or loosely put clingfilm over the bowl and put in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature
3) Turn oven on to 160C Fan/180C conventional/Gas mark 4 and line a 20x20cm tin with non stick baking paper.
4) Sieve the cocoa powder and flour into a bowl and give a quick stir
5) Break your eggs into a large bowl and tip in the golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer (stand alone or handheld) on maximum speed whisk them together until they look thick and creamy, pale and double its original volume. This will take between 3 and 8 minutes depending on how powerful your mixer is. If you lift the beaters, the mixture that runs into the bowl should leave a trail on the surface for a second or two.
6) Pour your cooled chocolate mixture into your sugar and egg mixture and gently fold together using a spatula. Don’t rush this part, you don’t want to knock all the air out. Make sure you scrape from the bottom to ensure you have folded in all the mixture You will eventually have mottled brown colour.
7) Sieve your cocoa and flour straight into the chocolate mixture. You need to fold this in. You may think it’s gone wrong as it initally looks very floury and univiting but I promise before long it will start to look fudgey.
8)Take your mini eggs out of the freezer and and stir in. Pour your mixture into your prepared tray and place on the middle shelf for 25-30 mins. There should be a shiny papery crust and the sides will be coming away from the edges and you don’t want a wobbly centre when you give the tin a shake. These make ooey gooey brownies, if you prefer yours a bit more cakey, leave them in the oven for longer.
9) Leave to cool in the tray, then cut into 16 pieces and place a mini egg on top, sticking it with either a little melted choc or if you have nutella handy, dip and stick!
10) These will keep in airtight container for 2 weeks, but if you eek them out for that long you have way more will power than the residents and friends of Moose Cottage!
The baking moose 