Easter Baskets ...

I made a heap of baskets for edible presents for the last Christmas for our friends and they went down such a treat with them, that I thought I'd have a go at Easter Baskets this year and this is what I came up with....

The completed Easter Basket with home made Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies, Chocolate Bubble Eggs, Homemade Ginger and Apple Cordial. Store brought bakers delight hot cross buns and tiny cadbury milk eggs

The big hit was these Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies. Absolutely fantastic. I tested them on my workmates on night shift and I kid you not .. they were gone in less than an hour. 

The Cadbury Creme Egg Baking process - 1st attempt (my photo)

Here is the recipe for them so you can try them out yourself ....

AMAZING CADBURY'S CREME EGG BROWNIES!

185g unsalted butter 
185g best dark chocolate 
85g plain flour 
40g cocoa powder 
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar
6 Cadbury’s Crème eggs cut in half.

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease a 20 cm square baking tin.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate together either in the microwave or in a bowl over boiling water.
Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes. You will know it's ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume.
Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, and then gently fold together.
Hold a sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and sift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold in to the mixture.
Pour into the baking tin and cook for 15 minutes then take out of the over and gently press the cadburys crème egg halves into the mix, spacing them apart evenly. Put back in the over for another 5-10 minutes.
Leave to cool before removing from tin and cutting into squares.

I used a 12 cup square baking tin and cooked them in their own little square instead of putting them in a square baking tin which worked quite well. You just have to check on them every now and then and push the mixture back into the square with a fork.

The first stint of baking - my ovens a bit of a pedantic old thing, so I cooked them for 20 mins in the first stint and then 10 mins in the second stint, and at the top of my oven so they wouldn't burn. 

My brownie houses (my photo)

There is a fantastic basket ware place in kirrawee called Master basket ware and they have so many cool little boxes, bags and all sorts of things to put your goodies in. I picked up these boxes and cellophane bags. Made my own little label for them, as seen in the first photo and put them in my baskets.

I also made some yummy Chocolate bubble eggs which I called Chocolate Crackle Easter Eggs...

Chocolate Bubble Eggs (my photo)

Here's the recipe for these ones:

Chocolate Bubble Eggs

Makes 16
Prep: 15 Mins (plus refrigeration time)
Cook: 5 mins (you'll need to purchase some Easter egg moulds - I picked up some tiny ones from our local discounted home wares/cookware store off taren point road

1 and a 1/2 cups (225gms) dark choc melts (I used cadbury milk cooking chocolate)
25g Copha
2 and 1/2 cups rice bubbles
1/4 cup dessicated coconut

1. Place 1 cup chocolate and copha in a saucepan over  medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 mins or until melted and smooth. 

2. Place rice bubbles and coconut in a large heat proof bowl. Add melted chocolate mixture. Stir gently until well combined.

3. Using 1 tablespoon of mixture at a time, fill each mould, pressing down firmly with the back of a metal spoon to level (important otherwise the eggs won't sit flush together). Refrigerate for 30 mins or until set. 

4. Place remaining chocolate in a heatproof microwave - safe bowl. Microwave on medium for 1 min , stirring every 30 seconds with a metal spoon until smooth. (I used zapped it for 50 secs and then stirred it, and if any lumps the heat melted it naturally in the bowl while I was sticking the sides together). Carefully turn out eggs from moulds. Spread 1/2 teaspoon melted chocolate over the flat side of 2 egg halves. Gently press together to secure. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with remaining egg halves and melted chocolate. 

5. Refrigerate eggs for 30 mins to set. Place eggs in a cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon ready for Easter.



The bottle full of liquid in the middle of the basket is Ginger and Apple Cordial which was really simple to make.  I've attached the recipe to the link below as it was from the taste site which have some fantastic cordial recipes

Apple and Ginger Cordial from Taste. Com

I picked up some bottles from the same home ware store where I got the Easter moulds from and put them in vintage bottles with my home-made labels on and polka dot ribbon. Really cute. 

We delivered the baskets to friends yesterday and the look on their faces made it totally worth while when they received them :)

How did your Easter Friday go? Despite making all these goodies, I've been good and tried not to eat too many of them myself which was great. We went to a friends house yesterday and had a great seafood feast which was lovely. Today I'm off to work again for a late shift, armed with another batch of brownies for all those who missed out last time. Hope you have a lovely rest of your Easter ...