Oh my goodness. You’d never believe how much chocolate my granddaughter, and I’m sure many other kids,received this Easter.
Especially those with two sets of grandparents and uncles and aunts close by, and this is addition to what the Easter Bunny dropped off.
In the olden days when I was a child, we were lucky to find a little half-inch chocolate chick and a four-inch bunny (hollow of course). And usually there were a handful of those awful, candy-coated, white centered eggs in the basket as well, which I never really liked but which none of my siblings would trade their chocolate for.
So, what do we do? Let them eat buckets of the stuff or, take a bunch and use it in other ways. Here are a couple or recipes to help use up some of that chocolate. Enjoy.
Brownies
150g good-quality plain chocolate (or 100g of cheapo milk chocolate Easter eggs and 50g dark chocolate!)
200g butter, softened
400g caster sugar-no that is not a typo….
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
3 large free-range eggs
130g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
Pecans,chopped chocolate, smarties, etc., optional
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (350 F)/gas mark 4. Break the chocolate into a bowl and then melt in the microwave.I do it for a minute, then stir, then in 30-second blasts, stirring in between.
Beat the butter in a mixer until creamy and soft. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and beat again until soft and fluffy this time. Add the eggs one at a time while still beating, then add the melted chocolate. turn the mixer off before adding the chocolate, or at least down to its lowest speed. Take it from me, melted chocolate is hard to clean off walls.
Sift in the flour and cocoa (I never normally sift, but I do usually with this one, to try and give it a bit of air-not entirely sure it makes any difference) and mix well. At this stage, you can add some extras if you like: chopped pecans/walnuts; chopped chocolate, or Smarties, etc. Spoon the mix into a lined brownie tin.
Mine is about 20-by-25-centimetres (10-by-12-inch) and spread it out evenly. Bake in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes-ish (sorry, being quite vague. I checked mine after 30 minutes and it still needed longer).
To test it, a skewer inserted halfway between the centre line and the side should come out just clean, but should still be a bit sticky in the middle.
Leave to cool for as long as you can bear until just warm, then remove from the pan and devour.
Triple Chocolate Muffins
3 cup plain flour
3 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs baking powder
1-1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips or leftover Easter chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup white chocolate chips, or Easter chocolate
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, or Easter chocolate
125 g butter, melted
1-1/4 cup milk
2 eggs lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 160 C (350 F) Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
Add the brown sugar and chocolate chips/Easter candy and mix well. Add melted butter, milk and eggs and mix well.
Fill each paper-lined muffin tin three-quarter full of the muffin mix and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until cooked.
