Easter is a time of chocolate as we gift one another with chocolate eggs & treats. Each year I like to make my own chocolate eggs to give to friends & family, these do usually come in the form of my own Easter fried eggs however (me & chocolate moulds do not get on). With all of this chocolate (& don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate!) it can get a little tiresome. Similar to eating the exact same meal over & over again, it loses its appeal, it’s gratification.
This year I decided to try & create something new to give to my friends & family… something simple enough to make, small enough to gift & still reminiscent of Easter… biscuits. Easter cookies & biscuits are a traditional British treat which are given to guests over the Easter weekend. Traditionally these would be butter biscuits made using cassia oil (Chinese cinnamon) & currants.
One of my favourite flavours of Easter however is simnel cake, a light fruit cake with a hidden layer of marzipan, topped with even more marzipan (can there ever be too much marzipan?). So in place of a traditional Easter biscuit I wanted to create something more modern containing all of my favourite flavours of Easter.
Being a glutton, I opted for Easter cookies as opposed to biscuits as these are much larger to contain all of the ingredients I wanted to use. In gesture to a classic simnel cake I’ve added some dried fruit in the form of juicy sultanas & chunks of golden chewy marzipan. In reference to Easter I’ve added one of my favourite little Easter treats, Mini Eggs, not only do they add a nice pop of colour but also happiness, because everyone loves a Mini Egg!
These are a super sweet treat, a great alternative to chocolate over Easter. They’re fantastic with a cup of tea (if only for the pleasure of breaking them in half to become dunkable) or simply to gift to anyone with a sweet tooth. The dough itself can also be frozen if you’re not as gluttonous as me & only want to bake a few.
EASTER COOKIES
(makes 20)
Ingredients:
- 200g butter
- 85g light soft brown sugar
- 85g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
- 225g self-raising flour
- 85g Mini Eggs
- 70g sultanas
- 80g marzipan, cubed
Method:
- In a large bowl start by beating the butter to soften it
- Now add both of the sugars to the bowl & beat again
- Add the vanilla & egg to the bowl & beat until everything it well mixed
- Sift over the self-raising flour & use a spoon or your hands to mix until a dough comes together
- Hold back a few of the mini eggs & marzipan & add the rest to the bowl, along with all of the sultanas
- Mix these through the dough until evenly distributed throughout (using your hands might be easier)
- Cover the dough with some cling film & pop into the fridge for 15-30 minutes, just to firm up a little
- Divide the dough into quarters & divide each quarter into 5 equal sized pieces (roughly the size of a golf ball)
- Roll the dough pieces into ball shapes & place onto a parchment lined baking sheet
- Press the dough balls to flatten a little & poke in the leftover Mini Eggs & marzipan pieces
- Bake at 190C for around 14 minutes, until the cookies have spread & are a golden brown colour on the edges
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully removing & cooling completely on a cooling rack