Easter Brownies

Take a brownie, fill it with loads of extra chocolate stuff. Job done.

It’s Easter Sunday so it’s that time where lent has finally come to an end and everyone pretends they haven’t been sneaking a crafty Mars Bar when nobody’s looking. It’s finally acceptable for all this people who gave up the wonderful chocolate for lent, to go absolutely cocoa crazy.

So that’s what we did. We made a really decadent brownie and filled it with the standard Easter chocolates, Cadburys Mini Eggs and Creme Eggs, which I might add were very difficult to find on Good Friday. The eggs combined with extra chocolate chunks have resulted in hands down the best brownies we have ever made (and we’ve made a lot of brownies)

Whether you challenge yourself through lent for religious reasons or just because you need to stop eating so many crisps it’s good to be able to reward yourself at the end.  And the same goes for celebrating Easter, I feel that although the religious elements may have been lost on our younger generation it always seems to be a time where people are brought together.

So whether you are spending time with your family and friends or just having a chocolate binge, enjoy it! You’ve earned it.

Ingredients

• 185g unsalted butter 
• 185g dark chocolate 
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder 
• 3 large eggs
• 275g golden caster sugar 
• 50g milk chocolate chunks
• 50g white chocolate chunks
• 4 creme eggs
• Handful mini eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/160 fan/gas mark 4. Using a shallow 20cm square tin and cut out a square of non-stick parchment to line the base.
2. Cut the butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and put into the bowl with the butter. Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Simmer on a low heat until the butter and chocolate has completely melted, stirring occasionally. Leave to cool.
3. Crack the eggs into another large bowl and add the sugar. With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until it looks thick and creamy. This can take 3-8 minutes but you will know when it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and double its original volume.
4. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, and then gently fold together with a spatula. Fold together in a figure of eight until the two mixtures are one and colour is a mottled dark brown. This will mix the two together without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.
5. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. Put the mixture into the eggy chocolate mixture. Gently fold this powder in the same figure of eight motion as before. Stop doing this just before you feel like you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing. Add the milk and white chocolate chunks and the mini eggs and again fold into the brownie mixture.
6. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared tin. The brownie will need about 25 minutes to bake. Half way through you will want to add the creme egg halves. 
7. Leave to cool in the tin until completely cold. Cut into squares.

Have a good Easter, Rob & Jordan-Anna