Eggtastic Take 2 - Cadbury's Caramel Egg Cookie Bars

Keeping to the Easter baking theme I also made Cadbury Caramel Egg Cookie Bars. I found these via the Six Sister's Stuff website (www.sixsistersstuff.com) which has some tasty recipes which are worth checking out.

The actual recipe is on the Something Swanky website and can be found here. It's an American recipe but I just used a conversion website to make it a bit easier!

You will need:
2 1/8 plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I used Bicarbonate of Soda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 dozen mini caramel Cadbury Eggs (annoyingly the packets I bought only had 9 eggs in them so I made do with 18!)

What to do...(is really very simple!)
1) Mix all of the ingredients together (except for caramel eggs) - I used a normal electric whisk.
2) Add 1 packet of the caramel Cadbury Eggs into the dough.
3) Press the dough (it really is like a cookie dough so won't pour. You need to scoop out with your hands. Messy - but fun!) into a greased or lined 9in x 9in pan.

4) Squish the remaining pack of caramel Cadbury Eggs.

5) Press the eggs into the dough.

6) Bake at 350F (approx 170C) for 40-45 minutes until cooked and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

7) Enjoy!

If you're inspired to indulge in some Easter inspired baking here are a couple of other recipes that have caught my eye...
Milk Chocolate Cadbury Mini Egg Brownies (http://www.bakeaholicmama.com/2013/02/milk-chocolate-cadbury-mini-egg-brownies.html)
Easter Lamb Creme Egg Animals (http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2013/03/easter-lambs-creme-egg-animals.html#more-5945)

Happy Easter!

Eggtastic - Cadbury's Creme Egg Brownies

So, Easter is fast approaching and I decided today was time for a little Easter inspired baking. I had seen the recipe for these Cadbury Creme Egg brownies on Facebook (you can find the recipe here on the Cadbury Creme Egg Facebook page and decided to give them a go (much to my husband's delight!) 

You will need:
185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 large eggs (I used medium and it still turned out fine)
275g golden caster sugar
6 Cadbury's Creme eggs (halved) 

The method is as follows...
1) Preheat the over to 160C and grease a 20cm square baking tin (I used a rectangular one and it was absolutely fine).
2) Melt the butter and chocolate together (either in a microwave or in a bowl over simmering water).
3) Break the eggs into a large bowl and add the sugar. Using an electric whisk on the highest setting (you will be there forever doing it by hand!), whisk the eggs and sugar together until they are thick and creamy. It can take 3-8 minutes and should have doubled in size by the time it's ready.
4) Pour the cooled chocolate and butter mixture over the eggy mouse and gently fold together until it looks like this...

5) Sieve the cocoa and flour into the eggy chocolate mixture and gently fold in.
6) Pour into a lined baking tin and cook for 15 minutes.

7) While the mixture is cooking cut your Cadbury's Creme Eggs in half (This can be tricky! I read somewhere that freezing them helped which I did do and I think made a difference. Luckily my husband proved a dab hand at halving them!)

8) After the brownie mixture has been in the oven for 15 minutes remove it from the oven and gently press the Cadbury's Creme Egg halves into the mix, spacing them apart evenly.

9) Return to the over for a further 5-10 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

10) Leave to cool before removing from the tin and cutting into slices.

11) Enjoy! (With the drink of your choice...)

They have gone down very well here!

Going bananas... Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

I'm not normally one for mid-week baking but today I have been on a course so was home before 6 o' clock (usually unheard of!) and decided it would be a good opportunity to use up some over ripe bananas. I'd seen    this recipe for Nutella Swirled Banana bread and decided it would be good to give it a go.

The ingredients are bananas (over ripe), granulated sugar, brown sugar (I used light), Nutella, plain flour, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

You mix the ingredients together and then divide the mixture in half. You then mix the Nutella into one half of the mixture. To finish you spoon alternative spoonfuls of the mixture into a loaf tin before swirling gently with a knife.

It took a looooong time to cook. The instructions said one hour but every time I checked it the skewer still came out wet. In the end it was in for an hour and a quarter and came out a little bit dark on top. This is how my finished version looked. It was a big hit a work but I though it was a little bit dry and not overly chocolate-y. Next time I'd leave it in for less time and up the Nutella.

Happy baking,

Dil :-)