Sweet as Chocolate: Rachel Allen has three gorgeous recipes to use up your extra Easter eggs
With Easter fast approaching, I’m starting to think of delicious ways to use up leftover Easter eggs.
It has not always been a tradition to give and receive chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday. In the week before Easter, the Church did not allow eating eggs, so chicken eggs were kept, decorated, and given to the children as gifts.
In Switzerland, it is not the hare that brings you the Easter egg, but the cuckoo and, in many parts of Germany, the Easter fox.
If I have a surplus of chocolate after Easter Sunday, I put it in cakes, tarts, buns, cookies and anything else I can dream up.
The following recipe for the double chocolate chip cookies is the most popular cookie recipe at our house and we hope it will become a favorite of yours too. Crispy, chewy, buttery, and intensely chocolatey, you can use dark, milk, or white chocolate, or all of the above. The finished raw dough will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. I roll it into a sausage shape and then store it wrapped in parchment paper. It freezes well, so if you need some cookies, cut 7mm to 8mm thick slices and bake as per the recipe here.
Speaking of double chocolate, the Double Chocolate Pecan Blondes, also below, are deliciously gooey, chunky, and nutty — perfect served slightly warm with a scoop of ice cream or a cup of coffee.
Ingredients for Rachel Allen’s Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart. Photo: Tony Gavin
I adore the salted caramel chocolate tart featured here that uses dark chocolate. A luscious, rich chocolate mousse sits atop a gooey, slightly salty layer of caramel, all encased in a buttery sweet pastry. It takes time to prepare, but once you taste it, you’ll understand why it’s worth it. Serve after a delicious spring meal with lightly whipped cream. Enjoy.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
For 8-10 people
For the sweet shortcrust pastry you need:
200 g flour plus a little more for rolling out the dough
100 g butter, diced
1 tbsp sifted powdered sugar
1 to 1½ eggs, lightly beaten
For the salted caramel you will need:
225 g powdered sugar
75 ml water
100 grams of butter
100ml cream
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
For the chocolate layer you will need:
100 g powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
250g dark chocolate
150 g butter, diced
Powdered sugar or cocoa powder for serving
1 You will also need a loose-bottomed 9-inch deep tart pan. If making the tart in a stand mixer: Place the flour, cubed butter and sifted powdered sugar in the stand mixer and beat briefly until the butter is in small lumps. Add half the lightly beaten egg and continue beating for a few more seconds, or until the mixture looks like it will come together when squeezed. (Processing longer will make the dough tougher, so don’t beat it until it’s a ball of dough.) You may need to add a little more beaten egg, but don’t add too much, as the mixture should be just moist enough to come out together. Reserve leftover beaten egg to use later.
2 If making the tart by hand: Rub the butter cubes into the flour and sifted powdered sugar until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, then add just enough lightly beaten egg, using your hands, to combine. Reserve leftover beaten egg to use later.
3 Flatten the ball of dough with your hands until it is round, about 1cm to 2cm thick, then wrap in parchment paper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
4 When ready to roll out the dough, place it on a floured work surface and dust the surface with flour.
Adding the caramel for Rachel Allen’s Salted Caramel Chocolate Pie. Photo: Tony Gavin
5 Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, no thicker than 5 mm. (Make sure it’s round in shape and big enough to line both the bottom and sides of the pie dish.) Slide a pallet knife or fish slice under the batter and lightly dust it with flour to do this prevent sticking to the work surface.
6 Roll the dough over the rolling pin. Raise the rolling pin over the pan so you can carefully lower the rolled out dough into the pan.
7 Press the dough around the edges of the tin. Use your thumb to “slice” the dough along the edge of the pan for a neat finish. Prick the bottom with a fork. Chill the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes or in the freezer for 5 minutes. (The dough will keep covered in the freezer for weeks).
Preheat 8 oven to 180°C (160 fan) 350°F, Gas 4.
9 Take the dough out of the fridge and line it with parchment paper, leaving enough on the sides. Fill with baking beans or dried legumes (which can be reused), then place in the preheated oven and blind bake for about 35 minutes, or until the base is dry to the touch.
10 Take the cake out of the oven and take out the baking beans and the paper. Brush the bottom of the pastry with some of the leftover beaten egg, then bake in the oven for a further 3-4 minutes or until lightly golden and dry to the touch. Remove the tart from the oven and set aside to cool.
11 Meanwhile, prepare the salted caramel. Place the powdered sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the butter, stir to melt and increase the heat to medium. Allow the mixture to bubble, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until the mixture is a toffee color. Mix in the cream and sea salt flakes and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the caramel has thickened slightly. Let the caramel sit until almost cool.
12 For the chocolate topping, in a bowl, beat the icing sugar, eggs and egg yolks until thick and creamy. In a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, gently melt the dark chocolate and butter (the bowl should not touch the water). Allow the melted chocolate and butter mixture to cool for a minute, then add to the sugar and egg mixture and beat until smooth and glossy.
13 Spread the caramel over the cooled pastry base, then spread the chocolate mixture evenly over it. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or until almost set but still a little soft in the center.
14 Let cool in pan for about 40-45 minutes before transferring to a serving platter. Dust with icing sugar or cocoa powder and serve cut into slices.
The pastry base for Rachel Allen’s Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart. Photo: Tony Gavin
Rachel recommends
To add a citrusy orange kick to the Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart, finely grate the zest of 1 small orange and add to the sugar, egg and yolk stages of the chocolate layer.
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 20 large cookies
You will need:
225g butter, softened
325 g powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225 g plain flour
75 grams of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda (bread soda)
¼ teaspoon salt
175g milk, dark or white chocolate chips, or chopped up leftover Easter eggs
Preheat 1 oven to 180°C (160 fan), 350°F, Gas 4. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper if baking all the cookies at once. If not, then lay out a sheet pan and bake them in batches.
2 Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl and beat until very soft. Add powdered sugar and beat to mix well. Continue beating, adding the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
3 Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix, then add the milk, dark, or white chocolate chunks depending on what you’re using and mix to combine.
4 Using wet hands, shape the dough into golf ball-sized pieces (or use 2 tablespoons to scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet). Arrange the balls of dough on the tray – about 6 or 7 on each tray. Leave room for the cookies to spread.
5 If you are using a convection oven, you can bake all three trays at the same time, otherwise you will need to bake the trays in batches to ensure the cookies bake evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until slightly cracked on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes, then use a fish slice or wide pallet knife to remove the cookies from the tray and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Rachel Allen’s Salted Caramel Chocolate Pie. Photo: Tony Gavin
Double Chocolate Pecan Blondes
power 16
You will need:
110 grams of butter
200 g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125 g plain flour
pinch of salt
75g dark or milk chocolate chips (or leftover Easter eggs, chopped up)
50g white chocolate chips (or crushed leftover Easter eggs)
75 g chopped pecans
1 Preheat the oven to 180C (160 Fan), 350F, Gas 4.
2 Line the bottom and sides of a 20cm square cake tin with parchment paper.
3 Melt the butter and place in a mixing bowl. Add the light brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract and mix. Next, add the flour and pinch of salt and mix. Then fold in the dark or milk chocolate, depending on what you’re using, the white chocolate chips, and the chopped pecans.
4 Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes, until set on top but still slightly fluffy in the center underneath.
5 Let cool for at least 45 minutes before cutting into individual blondie squares.
top tip
To make a quick chocolate sauce to drizzle over ice cream, mousses and cakes, place equal amounts of chocolate and heavy cream (e.g. 100g chocolate and 100ml heavy cream) in a saucepan and melt over very low heat. Add a dash of liqueur or some vanilla extract, if you like.
https://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/recipes/sweet-like-chocolate-rachel-allen-has-a-trio-of-gorgeous-recipes-to-use-up-your-extra-easter-eggs-41499282.html Sweet as Chocolate: Rachel Allen has three gorgeous recipes to use up your extra Easter eggs