Easter

Kulich (Russian Easter Bread)

Today I’m sharing my take on a Kulich – a little different as I’m making individual ones rather than one large one. I find the smaller ones are more enjoyable and can be shared more easily amongst friends and family.

I won’t lie, it had been some time since I made one of these last time, probably about 6-7 years. However, I was going through my old notes and found a full written recipe and method, so thought now would be the ideal time to share the recipe with you.

Although this may not be the most traditional recipe available, it’s a pretty stable and easy recipe. A Kulich is a traditional Russian Easter bread, it’s enjoyed by many countries which has an orthodox christian population. It’s notably consumed between Easter and the pentecost – it’s very similar to an Italian panettone but a kulich is heavier and more dense.

Anyway, lets get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bread Dough:

150g strong white bread flour.

125g plain flour.

1/2 tsp salt.

1 tsp ground cinnamon.

7g dries yeast.

100ml milk, tepid.

50g butter.

50g granulated sugar.

2 eggs.

50g raisins.

1 tsp almonds, chopped (I used flakes but it all works).

Glaze:

225g icing sugar.

3 tbsp milk (or as many as needed to get the desired consistency).

100s and 1000s.

Method:

To get started on the recipe, y0u’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lightly oiling a bowl with some flavourless oil and get stay equipment you may need, such as a mixing bowl and dough hook. When the time comes, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the dough, take a mixing bowl and place in both the flours and salt – mix them together until they are well combined. No go ahead and add in the remainder of the ingredients and then mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium high speed. The dough won’t really pull away from the sides of the bowl like a usual dough, as this is enriched and much stickier to handle.

Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm, then leave it somewhere warm and allow to prove. It should double in size, almost touching the top of the bowl – the amount of time this takes will vary due to factors like climate and humidity.

Once the dough has doubled in size, you can go ahead and knock it back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first prove.

Now is the perfect time to process the dough, so simply scale into 100g balls of dough and round them off into more rounded shapes, then place into your individual cases, cover loosely with closing film and allow to have the second prove, just until the dough has domed and is touching the top of the case – this is how you know its time to finish them by baking.

Simply, remove the clingfilm from on the dough and then place into your preheated oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until they’re well coloured on top.

Once baked, remove the Kulichs from the cases, I used disposable ones but you can use silicon if you’d prefer. Cool on a cooling rack and once cool enough make the icing glaze.

For the icing, simply place icing sugar into a bowl and add enough milk into the icing sugar, so you have a thick but spreadable consistency, this is best made as you intend to use it.

Pipe the icing over the top, allowing to drip down the side a little but not majorly. Finish each with a generous sprinkling of 100s and 1000s or similar sprinkles.

Enjoy – best enjoyed on the day or the day after.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing my take on a batch of chocolate bread pudding – this is super simple and decadently chocolatey, what’s not to love?

You may not have seen my latest recipe, which was for a batch of triple chocolate hot cross buns – that’s what we need for today’s recipe. For the best results, use day old or slightly stale hot cross buns.

This may not be the traditional bread pudding but it’s an intensely chocolatey version – perfect for those who like a lot of chocolate – perfect for over easter, right?

I only made a small batch, seeing as this is very rich and a small portion is more than adequate. This may be the recipe you need to try, why not give it a try over easter and share with friend and family.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g triple chocolate hot cross buns.

600ml whole milk.

30g cocoa powder.

100g white chocolate chips.

100g milk chocolate chips.

100g dark chocolate chips.

100g light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line a deep sided 8 inch square cake tin.

To start on the recipe, take a large mixing bowl and place in all the roughly chopped bread and then pour over the milk. Combine the two by using your hands and rubbing them together, until the are combined enough that theres no large lumps. This may take about 5-7 minutes but you want to make sure the milk is fully incorporated into the bread as any bits that aren’t fully worked in will show and ruin the perfect texture in the end results. It should be a mushy consistency.

Next you can go ahead and add in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, then mix these in until they are fully incorporated, just mix everything together using your hand.

Lastly, add in your eggs and light brown sugar and mix them in until its fully incorporated.

Go ahead and grab your lined cake tin and pour in the mixture – level it out to ensure a consistent bake. As an optional finish, sprinkle over a small amount fo light brown sugar.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

When available, place the bread pudding into the fridge to chill overnight – this enhances the flavour and makes it easier to slice up.

You can slice these up however you like but I went with squares as this is very rich and a little goes a long way.

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is juts a few weeks away, so why not get ahead with your Easter baking and make these Cadbury Mini Egg cookies? These will go down a treat with everybody!

The cookie dough is a simple vanilla one, but when you add in the mini eggs you not only get the chocolate and vanilla combination but you also get a pop of colour from the mini eggs – it’s a win win in my opinion. If you make these cookies, you should get around 12 cookies!

Now,I’m not sure if Cadbury mini eggs are available all over the world but in the UK they are one of the treats that show Easter is near (even if that is in January… Yes, I found mini eggs in January), I use Cadbury mini eggs, mostly because they’re a classic but also the colour doesn’t fade while they are in the oven. Feel free to use whichever mini eggs you can get a hold of.

I just wanted to let people know that this recipe like the next few was recorded before the coronavirus really impacted the UK, so I was able to buy ingredients pretty freely. I didn’t want people to think I wasn’t considering the current situation, stay in and keep safe!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Light brown sugar.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt.

100-120g Cadbury mini eggs (plus extra to decorate).

Method:

Before you get into making these cookies, I recommend you do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining a baking tray with parchment paper and preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start, take a large mixing bowl and place the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat them together on a medium-high speed until the mixture is lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once lighter and fluffier, you can go ahead and give the mixing bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in while mixing.

Go ahead and add in the egg and vanilla, then mix until they have been fully worked in. You may notice a change in consistency, this is normal, don’t worry.

Now you can go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in while mixing.

Grab your sieve and place it not the mixing bowl and pass the plain flour, baking powder and salt through it. This is just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. You can also go ahead and add the mini eggs into the bowl as well.

Then mix on a medium speed until the dry ingredients have been incorporated and the mini eggs are equally distributed in the cookie dough.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.

Take your lined baking tray, a cookie scoop and the cookie dough and start to tray up!

For each cookie, take two scoops of cookie dough and roll them together and place onto the baking tray. This next step is optional but it helps the cookies bake a little more uniform. Grab a large circular cookie cutter and just round off the balls of dough a little.

Once you have a tray full of cookie dough, place into your preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown round the edges.

Once the baking time is finished, you can take them from the oven and finish them off with some more mini eggs (because is it possible to have too much chocolate?).

Now that they’re baked, you can allow them to cool on the baking tray or transfer onto a cooling rack, either will be fine. Once cooled, enjoy or you can freeze them, whichever works best for you.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Cheese and Bacon Hot Cross Buns

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is only a few weeks away and with the country being on lockdown due to the coronavirus, why not stay in and make a batch of hot cross buns? I promise, they’re pretty easy and don’t require a lot of ingredients.

How is the self-isolating going? Family or friends driving you nuts yet? Why don’t you get in the kitchen and make a batch of these hot cross buns up! They are different to the traditional hot cross bun, as they are savoury. A ‘traditional’ hot cross bun is made with mixed dried fruit and spices, where as this one has cheese and bacon – quite the difference, huh?

The flavours are simple, mostly because you can add too many flavours to a bread and it simply ruins it but feel free to add whatever you like to the dough.

There is one thing I wanted to say about this recipe and the next few coming up. They were recorded before the coronavirus really started to impact everyday life and when you could go to the supermarket and buy whatever you needed (hope you panic buyers are happy with what you’ve got). I didn’t want anyone to think I was being insensitive with what I was making, especially now that ingredients are getting harder and harder to find.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

50g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warm.

100g Cheddar cheese.

75g Bacon, cooked and chopped small.

Cross paste:

Bread flour.

Water.

Method:

Before you get into making the buns, you’re best to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, lightly oil a large mixing bowl and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and a spatula.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the flour and salt and give it all a good whisk together, just until the two ingredients are fully incorporated.

Go ahead and add the remaining ingredients, except for the cheese and bacon into the bowl and then start to mix it on a low speed (the second or third lowest is ideal) and mix for 5-6 minutes or until a clear dough forms.

Then you can go ahead and add the cheese and bacon and mix for a further 1-2 minutes, or until they are fairly distributed within the dough.

Flour your work surface with some bread flour and then place the dough on top of it. Give the dough a brief knead, just until the dough is smooth and elastic. Bring it into a ball shape.

You can then transfer the dough into your lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film and leave it somewhere warm to proof for roughly an hour or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to knock the dough back. Start by lightly flouring your work surface with some bread flour and place the dough onto it and press down the dough to remove the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof.

Now it’s been knocked back, you can bring it back into a ball shape and cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming on the dough.

Take the weight of the dough and divide it by 12, then scale the dough up into 12 equal portions and round the balls of dough up into a smooth and well shaped ball then place onto a lined baking tray.

On the tray, you should be able to place 12 buns easily, stick to using the 3 across by 4 down layout. Leave an equal amount of space between the buns as they will batch while proofing and baking.

Now if the ideal time to preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f and to make the cross paste. To make the paste, simple add a small amount of flour into a bowl and add as much water as required. Mixing well in between, make sure the paste is thick enough to hold its shape but is loose enough to pipe easily.

Cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for roughly 45-60 minutes or until they are well risen (if they’re batching, thats a good thing).

Place the hot cross buns into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until well coloured (not like mine, which caught a little due to having a grocery order delivered. I timed it perfectly but the delivery driver came early fgs!).

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Creme Egg Blondies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’m glad I can finally share these Cadbury creme egg blondies with you today!

I made these a short while back and ever since, I’ve been wanting them again. They are sweet, chocolatey and perfectly dense and gooey – what more could you possibly want from a blondie?

I’ve taken my easy blondie recipe and amended it to suit the Easter theme a little better. I simply take some white chocolate spread and colour it with some orange paste to represent the ‘egg yolk’ in the creme egg and have some kept white to swirl throughout the blondies and make sure you cut up your creme eggs, I like to quarter mine but you can make them bigger (using halves for example).

These blondies are ideal to make if you’re stuck in quarantine and well worth the time you will be investing… Who doesn’t want this sweet confection? Might as well leave this isolation with a cavity or two.

I feel that I have to let you know that this recipe was made before the panic buying phenomenon happened in the UK, so I was able to get ingredients pretty freely. I understand that because of the current situation, you may not be able to find all the ingredients you need and I understand that.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

200g White chocolate.

130g Butter.

160g Granulated sugar.

190g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

3 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

80g White chocolate spread.

80g White chocolate spread (coloured orange).

Creme eggs (as many as you need, either halved or quartered).

Method:

Before you get into making the blondies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, line your 8 inch square tin and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you intend on using. I recommend colouring your white chocolate spread now, to save time and get the job done.

Into a heatproof bowl, place your butter and white chocolate and melt them over a bain-marie (which is over a medium heat), try your best not to get the mixture too hot. If this happens, the mixture may split.Once the butter and chocolate are melted, add in your sugar and straight away whisk it in, until it has been fully incorporated.

Next you can add in the plain flour and salt, passing them through a sieve first, just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Mix on a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated, try your best not to over mix.

Now you can add in all of your eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until everything is smooth and the consistency has become looser in consistency.

Take your lined cake tin and pour your blondie batter into the tin and level it out as best you can.

Grab your both of your white chocolate spreads and warm them in the microwave to make them a little more fluid. Then take dollops and place on top of the blondie batter and just swirl it around until you have a marble effect.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes and then remove from the oven and place on the creme eggs. You can then go ahead and place them back in the oven to bake for a further 10-15 minutes.

Once they are fully baked, allow them to cool down fully before you try and remove them from the tin. Once completely cooled down, place the tin into the fridge (this is to help them be as dense and fudgy as possible) overnight or until the following day.

Then you can cut them up into slices, I went with 8 generous slices but you could also make them into 16 smaller squares. However you choose to cut them up, they’ll still taste the same!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Mini Egg No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is just a few weeks away and considering that you may have family and/or friends around you and don’t have time to be slaving away in the kitchen, today I’m going to be sharing my recipe for a super easy and colourful no-bake cheesecake.

Don’t get me wrong, I love baking but sometimes you don’t want to be in the kitchen for hours on end making something. That’s why I’m sharing my recipe for this Easter edition of a no-bake cheesecake – it includes 3 colourful layers of vanilla cheesecake, with freshly whipped cream and Cadbury mini eggs.

There is another reason this cheesecake may be ideal, it uses no electrical equipment. Meaning no matter what you have, you should be able to make this. All you need, at the very least is a 6 inch cake tin, whisk and a large mixing bowl.

If you have a stand or hand mixer, feel free to use it for convenience. I also recommend using a small cranked palette knife, to help spread and level the mixture out once its in the tin.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Base:

125g Digestive biscuits.

50g Butter, melted.

Cheesecake:

300g Soft cheese.

75g Icing sugar.

1/2-1 tsp Vanilla extract.

200ml Double cream.

Topping:

200ml Double cream.

1tsp Vanilla extract.

25g Icing sugar.

Methods:

Before you get into any element of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, preparing your cake tin with a circle of parchment paper (this is optional) and get any equipment you may use ready.

Base:

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to work on the base first.

Take your digestive biscuits and place them into a food safe bag, then take a rolling pin and gently press it into the biscuits until they break down into a crumb or sandy looking consistency. Make sure that the mixture is completely in crumb form, otherwise when the butter is added, it won’t be distributed fairly.

Transfer the biscuits crumbs into a small/medium bowl and then go ahead and melt the butter, either in a saucepan on the hob or in the microwavable safe bowl. Add the butter directly into the biscuit crumbs and mix the two together until fully combined – it will resemble wet sand.

Take your 6 inch cake tin and pour the mixture straight into it, then compress it down using something like a clean and empty jar or similar until its compressed and level, then place into the fridge to chill while you make the cheesecake filling.

Filling:

Start by taking a large mixing bowl and placing the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisking them all together until they are fully combined. You may notice that the mixture has a loose consistency at this point but don’t worry, this will change as we work through the recipe.

Go ahead and add in all of the double cream and give it a very good whisk until the cream has been fully worked in and the mixture has reached a stiff peak consistency. This may take a bit longer if you’re doing it by hand, a hand or stand mixer is ideal for this stage but not essential.

Split the cheesecake filling between 3 separate bowls and add your colourings, I went with purple, blue and pink but feel free to change the colours to suit you.

Whisk the colourings into the cheesecake filling, ensuring they are a solid colour, with no marbling. I recommend using colouring pastes, as they work best and won’t alter the consistency of the filling.

Remove the cake tin from the fridge and place your first layer of cheesecake filling into and level it off as best you can using a cranked palette knife or the back of a spoon may also work well. Repeat with the remaining layers, I started with the purple, followed by the blue and finished with the pink.

Place the cheesecake into the fridge and allow to chill for 6-8 hours or overnight, whichever you can do. The longer it can chill, the better end result.

Topping:

Take the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and place them into a large mixing bowl and whisk them all together until the cream is at stiff peaks and holds its shape. Try your best not to over whisk the cream, otherwise it will be granular and unpleasant to taste.

Place the cream into a piping bag fitted with your piping nozzle of choice, I went with a open star nozzle.

Assembly:

Once the cheesecake has had its time in the fridge, feel free to take your plate or cake stand of choice and place the cheesecake onto it.

Take the whipped cream an start to pip rosettes onto the top edge of the cheesecake, how close you pipe them together is completely up to you, I piped mine right next to one another.

To finish place a mini egg on each rosette, I followed a colour pattern but feel free to make it however you want to, it’s really easy for you to personalise.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Traditional Hot Cross Buns

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Seeing as Easter is just around the corner, why don’t you give these easy hot cross buns a go? I promise, they’ll beat the ones you can buy at the supermarkets.

If you like hot cross buns, this is the recipe for you. Although these are more traditionally eaten on Good Friday, you can get a practice batch or two made so you can serve up the perfect ones when the time comes.

If you don’t know what a hot cross bun is, I’ll give you a brief rundown. They are basically a sweet bun, which is spiced and studded with dried fruit. They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday to celebrate the end of Lent – the cross on top of the bun is to represent the crucifixion of Jesus.

When you consider all of what’s going on in the world at the moment, making a batch of these up to be enjoyed with your friends and family, may just be the best idea, especially if you’re in isolation.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Buns:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warm.

175g Dried fruit.

2-3 tsp Ground mixed spice

Cross paste:

Small amount of flour.

Water (as much as needed).

Method:

Before you get into the baking, it’s best to do some prep. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, getting your equipment such as your mixer ready and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Into your mixing bowl, place the strong bread flour along with the salt and mix the two together until they are well combined.

Next, you can go ahead and add in the yeast, butter, granulated sugar, egg, water and ground mixed spice.

Mix on a low speed until a clear dough has formed. Then you can go ahead and add the dried fruit and mix until it’s fairly distributed into the dough (try not to over mix as it may crush the fruit).

Flour your surface with bread flour and pie the dough a brief knead, then go ahead and round it off and place into an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm.

Allow the dough to proof for about an hour or until roughly doubled in size. If possible, place the dough somewhere warm, it will help the yeast work.

While you’re waiting for your dough to proof, you can have a little tidy up and wash up the dishes. It will save you time later on plus it doesn’t hurt to be organised.

Once the dough has proofed, flour your surface and knock the dough back. This is simply the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof.

Shape the dough off into a ball shape and weigh it. Take that weight and divide it by 12, so for me it was 90g per bun. Scale off dough off at 90g each (make sure to keep the dough covered, to prevent it skinning over).

Round the balls of dough off, so they are more rounded and bun shaped, if that makes sense. Place onto a standard size baking tray, which has been lined and place them in a 3 across by 4 down format, this way, they’ll batch up a little while baking.

Give the dough room to proof up, so make sure the spacing between the balls of dough is roughly equal. Now is the perfect time to consider preheating your oven to 220˚c/430˚f.

Cover them with some clingfilm and allow to proof up a second time for around 30-45 minutes or until they have proofed up to be touching/batching.

While the buns are proofing, now is the best time to make the cross paste (which is really easy). Into a mixing bowl, place a some bread flour and add a small amount of water and mix until a thick but pliable paste is formed. I recommend adding a little water to start with as you can always add more but can’t take away.

Place the paste into a piping bag, not fitted with a nozzle (you’ll just snip the end off later, once it’s needed.

Once the buns are proofed, remove the clingfilm from on the buns, then you can take your piping bag with the paste in, and cut a small hole in the end. Pipe a line through the centre going horizontally and vertically.

Place the buns into the preheated oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until they are golden brown.

While they are in the oven baking, you can quickly make the glaze. Into a bowl place equal parts boiling water and honey and give it a mix until combined. You’ll want to have this made just in advance as it goes on the buns while hot.

Now that they are baked, remove from the oven and straightaway brush the glaze over, then allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool fully.

That’s how you make hot cross buns, pretty easy right? with a little time, you can have these Easter favourites homemade. Is there anything better than homemade bread?

So, that’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Easter Oreo Brownies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

As part of my Easter collection of recipes, today I’m sharing my recipe for these super easy Easter Oreo brownies.

I’m not sure about you, but when they start releasing all of the Easter themed sweets and chocolates, I’m a sucker for trying them. That’s where I noticed these Oreo filled eggs – similar to a Cadbury’s creme egg but an Oreo filling, which doesn’t taste too bad. If you are looking for these Oreo eggs, you can find them with all of the other easter treats in the supermarket.

The recipe I’m sharing is for my classic brownies, which are quick and easy to make, perfect for when you’re short on time.

When it comes to adding the Oreos and eggs on top, I decided to add mine before they went into the oven. As you can tell, the filling of the eggs coloured and didn’t look the best but tasted absolutely fine. I recommend that you add the biscuits and eggs when there’s about 5-10 minutes remaining on the baking time.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients

280g Butter, melted.

90g Cocoa powder.

450g Granulated white sugar.

4 eggs.

180g Plain flour.

8-10 Oreos, roughly chopped.

Topping:

4-5 Oreo Eggs, quartered.

4-5 Oreos, chopped roughly.

Instructions

Start by doing some prep. Weigh up your ingredients into small bowls, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line your 9×13 inch baking tray with some parchment/greaseproof paper.

To start on your brownies melt the butter either in a small saucepan over a low/medium heat or in the microwave until its fully melted, either method will work well.

Into the saucepan/bowl melted butter, add the cocoa powder and mix it all together until it’s well combined and smooth in consistency. Transfer the mixture to a bowl if needed.

Now go ahead and add in all of the granulated sugar and mix until they are combined. The texture will change, becoming more granular but this is normal and will change later in the recipe.

Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. As you incorporate the eggs, the consistency will change to become more liquid-like. Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, add in your vanilla and mix to incorporate.

Into the bowl, add in flour but pass it through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the flour and add in the chopped Oreo’s and mix them together until everything is well combined and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient.

Transfer the brownie batter into your lined 9×13 baking tray and level it out as best you can using a small cranked/offset palette knife (or the back of a spoon will work just as well).

Once level, add your Oreo egg’s and chopped Oreos onto the top of the brownie batter, then place into the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven, seeing as all ovens are different to one another).

Once fully baked, allow to cool down in the baking tray for a while, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Eventually, once they have cooled down, cut your brownies into squares or rectangles and enjoy!

Cadbury Creme Scotch Eggs

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

You read the title right, Cadbury creme scotch eggs. These are sweet, not savoury and are the perfect indulgence to treat yourself to over Easter this year!

This weeks post and YouTube video is a collaboration with my friend Dolores (aka The Baking Diva).

If you advent heard of these before, I will give a quick run down as to what they are. It’s a whole Cadbury’s creme egg, wrapped with a chocolatey cake and buttercream mixture and finished with even more chocolate, roll the balls in grated chocolate and enjoy them. They are fairly rich and very indulgent – perfect as an alternative to easter eggs, especially for a chocoholic (we all know at least one).

Before you get started on this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all your ingredients into bowls and line your baking tray/tin with some greaseproof or parchment.

The only baking component of this recipe is the chocolate cake and it’s super easy to make. For the cake, we’ll be using the classic creaming method – this is where you cream together the butter and sugar together, then gradually add the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients. To start, place your butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat for a couple of minutes until they are well combined and have gone lighter in colour and consistency, then you can start to add your eggs and vanilla, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. Give the bowl a good scrape down, then you can add your dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first. This is just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mixture (cocoa powder is prolific for having lumps).

Once you have sifted the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, start to incorporate them on a low-medium speed to start, add a tablespoon of milk at a time if your mixture is a little thick. Make sure that all of the ingredients are incorporated fully, you want the cake batter to be clear (not a trace of a single ingredient is visible), then give your bowl a good scrape down just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

I then transferred my cake batter into my lined cake tin, I used a 7×10 inch baking tray but use something around this size and just watch how long it needs in the oven. All ovens are different and take various times to bake, so use my times as a guideline. spread and level out the cake batter as best you can, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.

While your cake is baking in the oven, feel free to wash up any equipment you’ve used and get started on the buttercream. To start the buttercream, place the butter into your mixing bowl and beat it on its own for a couple of minutes until its lighter in colour and consistency, then add in your first half icing sugar and cocoa powder and give a good mix until they are worked in, then give your bowl a good scrape down and add the remaining half of icing sugar and give that a good mix until its fully incorporated, give the bowl another good scrape down then add in the melted chocolate – this is optional but I like the flavour it adds. Mix that in until it’s fully incorporated and then set aside until it’s needed later on.

Once your cake is baked and out of the oven, allow it to cool completely before you intend on using it. While you wait, wash up any bits ad pieces that may need washing and you can also grate your chocolate ready for when you need it in a short while.

Once your cake is cooled down, you can then cut the cake in half and start to crumble it into crumbs, this is easy todo, just rib the cake in-between your finger tips until there are no large lumps left in the crumbs, then add in around half of your buttercream mixture and just rub the two together (like you were making pastry, rubbing the butter into the flour style). You may need to add more cake or more buttercream, it just depends on how much of each you placed into the bowl originally. Once you’ve got the buttercream and cake well combined it should be a thick but pliable consistency.

Now that you’ve got all of your components made, you can star assembling. Take a Cadbury’s creme egg and a good amount of the cake mixture and place the creme egg into the cake mixture, try to cover the egg as equally as possible using the cake mixture, then roll it between your hands to make it a more round, then roll in the grated chocolate and set onto a plate or stand and enjoy them.

These are really indulgent and are a treat that’s perfect for Easter, so if you have an event coming up that Easter themed, these will go down a treat. I will leave the Youtube video below!

Ingredients:

Cake:

200g Butter

200g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

170g Plain flour.

30g Cocoa Powder.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

Buttercream:

150g Butter.

300g Icing sugar.

20g Cocoa powder.

50g Milk chocolate, milk.

Grated Chocolate:

100g Milk chocolate, grated.

Easter

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