Tag: easter eggs

Recipe: Easy Mini Egg Cookies

I know it doesn’t sound likely, but it is possible to get too many Easter eggs. This year we’ve somehow managed to stockpile all of the mini eggs in South Manchester. In an effort to do something slightly different with them, other than just eat the whole bag in one sitting, we baked a batch (or two) of mini egg cookies, and by ‘eck, they were tasty!

These cookies are a lovely thing to bake over Easter with children. You might have to double up on the recipe though, because the cookie dough seems to mysteriously disappear whenever I bake these with the small boy!

Recipe: Easy Mini Egg Cookies

Easy Mini Egg Cookies

Ingredients (makes 15 cookies)
125g butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
100g Cadbury Mini Eggs, chopped up
225g self-raising flour

Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C.

In a large bowl cream your butter and the two sugars. Once they are well combined, add the egg and chopped up pieces of mini eggs. Tip in the flour and keep mixing until it forms your cookie dough.

Take a baking sheet and either grease the sheet well or cover with a piece of baking parchment (I used baking parchment). Using a set of scales, take the dough and weigh into 40g balls, this helps ensure all your cookies are the same size.

Place the dough balls on the baking sheet making sure there is room for them to spread out. You might need to use two or more baking sheets. Squash each dough ball down a little with the back of a fork. If you can, chill the cookies in the fridge for half an hour before you bake them. This stops them spreading too much in the oven.

Recipe: Easy Mini Egg Cookies

Bake the cookies in your pre-heated oven for 10 minutes until they’re just turning golden round the edges. Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet to firm up for a few minutes before putting them on a wire cooling rack.

Leave your cookies to cool for as long as you can stand to, then enjoy with a cold glass of milk. They’re really very, very good and the perfect way to use up any leftover mini eggs, should that ever be a thing in your house!

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like to try these salted peanut and caramel cookies.

Recipe: Easy Mini Egg Cookies

Review: Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

AD/GIFTED The new range of Mini Eggs from Beech’s Fine Chocolates aren’t mini eggs as we know them, but small chocolate eggs which are excellent to scoff, or to decorate cakes with. With Easter rapidly approaching, I was sent some of their Mini Eggs to put to the test.

Review: Beech's Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

The Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs are available in three different flavours; dark chocolate fondant mini eggs; dark chocolate mint crisp mini eggs and milk chocolate caramel crunch mini eggs. Each pack contains six egg halves and costs £2.99 each.

Regular readers will know that I’m a keen baker, and these Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs absolutely cry out to be used to decorate cakes and sweet treats with at Easter. They are a half egg, so have a flat side which makes them ideal for topping cakes and bakes with. I made a chocolate peppermint crunch and used the dark chocolate mint crisp mini eggs as decorations and my finished bake looked great. Plus the mint flavour really worked with my bake.

I tasted them all (for the sake of thoroughness) and my absolute favourite were the milk chocolate caramel crunch mini eggs. I’m not sure if it was the milk chocolate or the crunchy caramel pieces inside which did it for me. Either way the combination really hits the spot. My husband is a massive mint chocolate fan, so he liked the mint crisp eggs the best.

Review: Beech's Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

Beech’s Fine Chocolates are made near Preston and many of their chocolates are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and are palm oil free too. The fondant and mint crisp eggs are vegan, and the caramel crunch are vegetarian.

They’re a lovely grown up alternative to the traditional chocolate Easter eggs; they would make a nice treat to have after dinner with coffee. They’re not sickly sweet like some Easter eggs can be and they’re nicely priced; so would make a nice gift for a discerning chocolate lover this Easter.

For more information about Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs, or to buy online, visit their website. 

Disclosure: We were sent a selection of Beech’s Fine Chocolates for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Easter Weekend: Cadbury Easter Eggs and tall tales

We were sent a selection of Cadbury Easter Eggs and a copy of The Tale of The Great Easter Bunny in return for this post.

Hurrah! The Easter weekend is finally here! We’ve been busy getting ready for our own Easter Egg hunt. We are also excited to be spending a long weekend together as a family. Easter is a really special time of year for us; we have a weekend full of family traditions ahead of us and of course the biggest tradition of all – eating lots of Cadbury Easter Eggs!

Twenty years after Cadbury first published The Tale of The Great Easter Bunny; singer-songwriter and mum of two, Frankie Bridge from The Saturdays has adapted this famous Easter story book for modern readers. To celebrate this, Cadbury have made it available as a free download on their website, the perfect Easter story for little egg hunters!

Easter Traditions: Cadbury Easter Eggs and tall tales

The story follows the adventures of brother and sister Jack and Molly. They discover a series of mysterious clues and embark on an exciting Easter Egg Hunt with their parents; Tom and Sarah. What the family don’t know is that there is a secret, hidden rabbit-hole at the bottom of their garden. Is that where the Easter Bunny really lives?

I will be reading this lovely story to my son on Saturday night so he can go to sleep getting in the mood for our Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning. If you want to join an Easter egg hunt; Cadbury have partnered with the National Trust again this year. There are over 300 hunts to choose from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; guaranteeing a fun-filled Easter for everyone!  To find the nearest hunt to you, visit cadbury.co.uk/Easter.

Of course, for us, Easter wouldn’t be Easter if the Easter Bunny didn’t pay us a visit and hide lots of Cadbury Easter Eggs around our garden. Easter egg hunts are the most fun, and you get to eat what you find too! Happy Easter!

Easter Traditions: Cadbury Easter Eggs and tall tales

We were sent a selection of Cadbury Easter Eggs and a copy of The Tale of The Great Easter Bunny in return for this post.

Easter Treats – Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

Making and baking is one of my most favourite things to do with my son. Over the half term we went away with some friends, and with three children to entertain I thought I’d take along some simple crafts and kitchen makes to do with them. This was a brilliant idea, the kids loved our daily craft sessions and I got bonus points from the other adults for keeping them entertained. One of the things I packed was a Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads kit from choconchoc.

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

This self-contained kit was brilliant to take away with us and had pretty much everything we needed. The Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads kit from choconchoc costs £12 and includes a large bag of milk chocolate buttons, a paper chef’s hat, a bag of sweets to decorate with and the moulds for the chocolate eggs. The kit is suitable for ages 6+ with adult supervision.

I have tried to make chocolate eggs before, with little success. I liked the simplicity of this kit and I had high hopes that it would be both easy and successful. Or at least more successful, which it was!

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

To make, you carefully melt the chocolate. I did this in a glass bowl over a pan of water. I stirred it and stirred it until it was melted, then called the children over. After liberally greasing the moulds as instructed, I got the children to dollop the chocolate in the moulds and spread the chocolate about a bit. So far, so good. I left the eggs to set for a few hours and then went back to them.

For the life of me I couldn’t remove the egg from the moulds, so I scraped the chocolate out, re-melted it and greased the moulds very thoroughly. Again the eggs wouldn’t come out. I must have been doing something wrong, I’m not sure what.

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

In the end I lined the moulds with cling film and tried again. This worked really well but didn’t produce a smooth egg. The egg was wrinkled which I actually quite liked. I stuck the two halves of the egg together with some melted chocolate and once that had set we stuck the sweets on with more melted chocolate.

The children were absolutely thrilled with the egg. It looked a bit rustic, but they’d made their very own chocolate egg and it tasted fantastic too. The quality of the Belgian chocolate in these kits is fantastic, it’s really creamy and rich and makes excellent eggs. Or should that be eggcellent eggs?

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

Despite my failings as a chocolatier, I would absolutely get this or similar choconchoc chocolate kits again. The kids had a brilliant time making and eating them and I really liked how easy it was to make.

This self-contained kit was brilliant to take away with us and had pretty much everything we needed. The Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Head kit would be a excellent thing to do with the kids over the Easter break.

For more information about the Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Head from choconchoc, visit their website. You can also find choconchoc in John Lewis, Booths and Waitrose.

Easter Treats - Make and Melt Chocolate Egg Heads

We were sent this chocolate egg kit from choconchoc for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: Sambro Paw Patrol Craft Egg

When you think of Easter, one of your first thoughts is probably about chocolate eggs. In recent years there have been a few changes to the eggs kids might find left by the Easter bunny, and not all of them are now made of chocolate. 

It’s also nice to be able to give something that won’t be gobbled up in five minutes, especially as my son usually gets given a lot of chocolate eggs. We’ve been gifting a combination of chocolate eggs and play eggs for the last few years, much to the delight of my son. This week we received the Paw Patrol Craft Egg from Sambro to put to the test.

Review: Paw Patrol Craft Egg

The Paw Patrol Craft Egg is ideal for little artists who enjoy being creative and who like to have fun creating, painting and drawing. The Craft Egg is a great way to encourage and develop their creativity and imagination. Plus it will also keep your little ones busily entertained for a while.

Review: Paw Patrol Craft Egg

He was incredibly excited when he saw the Paw Patrol Craft Egg sat waiting for him on the table.  I helped him peel the wrapper off (which is tricky and will probably need a grown-up and a pair of sharp scissors) and then he opened up the egg.

The Paw Patrol Craft Egg contains:

  • 4 Marker Pens
  • 4 Crayons
  • 2 Ink Pads
  • 2 Stampers
  • 2 Finger Paint Pots
  • 10 Paw Patrol Colouring Sheets

Review: Paw Patrol Craft Egg

He was absolutely delighted with his Paw Patrol Craft Egg. Once we’d unpacked it and looked at everything inside, he diligently sat colouring the pictures in and stamping them with his new Paw Patrol ink stamps. He happily crafted and coloured away for over an hour. 

I think he will come back to his craft egg several times over the next few days. He has already coloured in the ten pictures which were included, but with the paint, felt tips, crayons and ink pads included, I am sure he will create a number of artworks over the Easter break. 

The Paw Patrol Craft Egg from Sambro costs £5.99 and is a good alternative to the traditional chocolate egg. There are a number of different craft eggs to choose from which include Minions, My Little Pony, Shimmer & Shine and Disney Princesses. The Paw Patrol egg is available in pink or blue. They are available from a range of retailers, but I’ve seen them online in both Amazon and Ocado.

 

Check out our giveaways over on our competitions page.

Review: Paw Patrol Craft Egg PLUS Win a Minions Craft Egg

How to organise your own Easter Egg Hunt

One of my favourite things to do on Easter Sunday is to set up an Easter egg hunt for my son. He’s 6 now, but he still believes in the Easter bunny and I have no wish at all to shatter his illusions. Easter egg hunts are pretty easy to put together and lots of fun to take part in.

Easter Traditions: Cadbury Easter Eggs and tall tales

Here are my top tips for setting up an Easter egg hunt.

Step 1:
Buy some Easter eggs. I like to get a selection of sizes and colours to hide in the garden. Make sure you buy enough to share fairly equally between the Easter egg hunters. I tend to get a couple of medium sized eggs and then some smaller ones for the hunters to seek out. You don’t have to stick to Easter eggs, you can also mix things up and add some Easter sweets too.

Step 2:
Count the eggs and sweets before you hide them and try to make a mental note of where you’ve hidden them.

Step 3:
On Easter Sunday I am usually tasked with distracting the boy whilst my other half scurries around the garden hiding the eggs in obvious and not so obvious places. If you can do this just before the hunt without anyone noticing you’ve got a better chance of finding everything and it’s less likely that the local wildlife will find your goodies and eat them for you.

Step 4:
Don’t forget your bucket or basket to put your Easter bounty in.

Step 5:
Go hunting! Have fun, don’t forget to take some photographs. See if you can find an egg and get away with keeping it all to yourself.

Since last Easter we’ve got a new puppy and she is into absolutely everything. If you’ve got a new puppy, or an older dog it’s worth remembering that chocolate is very bad for them. So sadly our puppy, Penny will not be able to join in with the Easter egg hunt. She will have to stay on her lead just to make sure she doesn’t snaffle any goodies she shouldn’t have.

Will you have Easter egg hunt at home? What are your top tips for a successful hunt?

How to organise your own Easter Egg Hunt

If you enjoyed this, you might like to try painting your own Easter eggs.

Easter Crafts for Kids (and grown-ups too!)

Easter has “crafts” written all over it. There are so many Easter crafts to make, from Easter cards to Easter bonnets and beyond. Easter has the benefit of having a long Bank Holiday weekend as well as a couple of weeks off school for the holidays. That means there are an awful lot of hours to keep the kids occupied, crafting is a great way to fill an hour or two, especially if they just need a bit of quiet time, concentrating on a task and creating something lovely.

We got cracking with some Easter Crafts over the weekend. We all sat down and decorated these Egg Mosaic Baubles from Baker Ross. The pack contains everything you need to decorate four of the polystyrene eggs, including the eggs, a selection of sticky squares, ribbon and plastic pins.

Easter crafts

It’s quite fiddly to peel the backing off each individual square, so I peeled them off in rows or blocks, stuck them on the back of my hand and peeled them off as I needed them. The small boy didn’t like the idea of doing neat rows, so he stuck his on randomly, which I really like, and for some reason it made me think of Tetris the computer game.

Once the eggs were covered in the mosaic stickers I pinned the ribbons in place and hung them on a plant. I think they’re quite lovely and the certainly brighten the place up. The small boy is always so proud of his crafts and can’t wait to show them off to anyone who will look.

Later that day I was flicking through a craft magazine when I saw something I recognised. The Spring Blossom Tree kit from Baker Ross. Inspired, I got the kit out of our crafts box and made my first (and rather lovely) blossom tree.

easter crafts

The instructions are really clear and easy to understand. The tree, blossom and stand are all made from foam pieces, you stick the glittery blossom onto the plain coloured blossom and stick that onto the tree, and the stand just slots together. It’s very simple and very effective. I’m a sucker of cherry blossom, whether it’s made of foam or not.

We’ve got lots more Easter crafts and things to do over the next few weeks, so do keep an eye on our Instagram feed for new ideas and inspiration!