Easter egg cookies

And so another 3 weeks of lockdown begins. My aim a few weeks ago was to try and blog more often. I wasn’t expecting these to be the circumstances that allowed me to do it. Today was the first rainy day in a very long time and with two toddlers to entertain I decided baking would provide some good afternoon entertainment. Should you have any leftover Easter eggs (I know with lockdown this could be a slim possibility but if not I’m led to believe there are some bargains to be had in the supermarkets) these are the ideal cookies to make. These cookies use white chocolate, plain chocolate and mini eggs so even if you don’t have any leftover Easter eggs you might be able to improvise with what you already have at home. These are very easy to make and only need one bowl, no resting time and only need one egg if you’re finding eggs are still in short supply.

This is a BBC Good Food Magazine recipe. We made 22 cookies but it will depend on what size you make each ball before cooking. The recommended cooking time is 15-18 minutes however I found that I overcooked the first batch which made them crunchy, rather than chewy so if you prefer a chewy cookie texture make sure you keep a close eye on them while cooking. You can freeze the cookie dough once everything is mixed and in formed into balls. They will need to be defrosted in a fridge before baking. The baked cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week (if they last that long – I had to stop myself from eating 2 in one sitting earlier!)

Ingredients:
175g butter (softened)
200g light brown soft sugar
100g golden caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
250g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g white chocolate (chopped into chunks)
100g bar dark chocolate (chopped into chunks)
100g mini chocolate eggs (lightly crushed with a rolling pin, leaving some larger pieces to decorate)

Method:
1) Heat your oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
2) Tip the butter, sugars and vanilla into a bowl. Beat with a hand-held electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again.

Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.

Beat together.

Add the egg and beat again.

3) Tip in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt, then use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix everything together (we found a spoon easier) before adding the chocolate chunks and about half the crushed mini eggs (set aside the larger pieces for later) and mix again until everything is combined.

Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Next, add the chocolate.

Finally add the mini eggs.

4) Scoop golf-ball-sized mounds of cookie dough onto the baking sheets, making sure you leave plenty of space between each one. (You should fit 4-6 cookies on each, so you’ll have to bake in two batches to bake all your cookies.) Push the remaining mini egg pieces into the tops.

5) Bake for 15-18 minutes, swapping the sheets around halfway through. For soft and chewy cookies, the cookies should be golden around the edges but still pale and soft in the middle. If you prefer a biscuit texture, you will need to bake them a little longer (I found I needed to knock a couple of minutes off to achieve a chewy cookie but it will depend on your oven).
6) Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, then bake the second batch. Continue until all the cookies are baked.