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Whether you’re looking for a Good Friday sweet or an Easter Sunday treat, these simple and delicious recipe ideas will keep the kids content through Easter weekend and the holidays.
These are a creative and fun version of store-bought Easter eggs. You could use them on your Easter egg hunt or just make them with the kids over the weekend as added Easter treats.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Makes: 8
Ingredients:
300g dark or milk chocolate (or half and half so it’s not too sweet), broken into chunks
Mini chocolate eggs, jelly beans, Smarties (to go inside the eggs)
8 balloons
Method
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until completely melted and smooth then allow to cool for 5 minutes so it thickens slightly.
Line a tray with greaseproof paper.
Blow up the balloons to about 6-8cm in diameter.
Dip each balloon into the chocolate, leaving about 1-2cm clear of the knot. Allow excess chocolate to drip off then put the chocolate balloon onto the tray.
Leave to set for 20 minutes. Pop the balloons and remove them from the eggs, ensuring you get all the pieces.
Fill the eggs with the mini eggs, jelly beans, smarties or any other treat that will fit through the hole at the base.
Smash and enjoy!
The coconut and green colouring is to make “moss” to line your nests, so is totally optional if you don’t like coconut.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes (plus chilling)
Makes: 12
Ingredients:
¼ tsp water
2-4 drops green food colouring (optional)
½ cup flaked coconut (optional)
50g butter
200g dark or milk chocolate (or half and half so it’s not too sweet), broken into chunks
2 tbsp golden syrup
100g cornflakes
Jelly beans, mini chocolate eggs, mini marshmallows
Method
In a small bowl stir together the water and green food colouring. Add the coconut and stir well until it takes on the green colour. Spread on a baking sheet to dry.
Put the cornflakes into a large bowl.
Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat. Allow to cool a little before pouring over the cornflakes.
Stir the ingredients together gently using a wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into nest shapes in 12 cupcake cases on a muffin tray (or baking sheet) and put in the fridge to set.
Fill the cooled nests with the coconut moss, marshmallows, jelly beans and choc eggs.
A firm Easter favourite, although traditionally they are eaten on Good Friday. Delicious warm straight out of the oven or toasted, either way, spread amply with butter and enjoy.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes cooking (plus rising)
Makes: 8
Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
½ tsp salt
2 heaped tsps mixed spice
50g caster sugar
50g butter, cut into cubes
200g mixed dried fruit
7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
200ml milk
2 eggs
3 tbsp plain flour (for the crosses)
Honey or golden syrup (for the glaze)
Method
In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, mixed spice and sugar.
Rub in the butter with your fingertips then stir in the dried fruit. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and stir it in.
Gently heat the milk till it’s just above lukewarm. Beat the eggs into the milk then pour into the bowl. Using a blunt knife, mix the ingredients to a moist dough, then leave to rise for 5 mins.
Take the dough out of the bowl and cut it into 8 equal pieces, or 12 for smaller children.
Shape the dough into buns* on a floured surface and place well apart on a baking sheet to rise. Cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place until they are double their size again (45-75 minutes depending on the warmth of the room).
Once the dough has risen, heat oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7. To make the crosses, mix the 3 tbsp plain flour with water to make a paste. Pour into a plastic food bag, make a nick in one of the corners and pipe a cross on top of each bun.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until risen and golden. Trim any spilled cross mixture from the buns then brush all over with the honey or golden syrup and enjoy!
*You could make cute bunny buns instead of hot cross buns at this stage. Mould the dough into a more oval, bunny shape, and at the narrower end, cut ‘ears’ into the dough using a pair scissors. Round off the tips of the ears to make them more bunny like and mark eyes on the face then rise, bake and glaze as above.
