Michelle Darmody: 'Melt-and-make' recipes for leftover chocolate
Almond Butter Cups
There may be more Easter Eggs in your house than you know what to do with. With grannies and granddads, aunts and uncles largely absent this year eggs might have been sent 'in their place'. Chocolate lasts quite well, so can be nibbled at for a few weeks to come, but if you are looking for ways to creatively incorporate the excess chocolate into your baking, these recipes might provide inspiration.
Eggs are a symbol of new life and, with Easter falling in springtime, a symbol of the new year to come. Old pagan festivals often used eggs as a sign of spring, a time when birds’ nests are full and baby animals are emerging in fields and woodlands. The chocolate egg as we know it today originated in France and Germany in early 19th Century.
Chocolate bark is always a handy way to incorporate different ingredients and you can be a bit free-wheeling — adding nuts, dried fruits or even caramelised popcorn to your bark. You can also chop up leftover sweets and the contents of Easter Eggs and sprinkle these over instead of the seeds and nuts.
The Almond Butter Cups are best eaten cold — not only do they taste great just out of the fridge, it helps stop them getting sticky in your hands.
- 160g almond butter
- 70g mixed nuts, blitzed to the consistency of rough breadcrumbs
- a pinch of sea salt
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 300g Easter Egg chocolate, broken into pieces
Line a mini muffin tin with small paper cases.
Mix the almond butter, blitzed nuts, salt and maple syrup in a bowl. Spoon the mixture into your paper cases.
Melt your Easter Egg chocolate over a saucepan of steaming water. Scoop the melted chocolate on top of your nut mixture and smooth the top.
Place in the fridge until completely cooled. Eat cold from the fridge, they will start to get sticky to touch if you leave them out of the fridge too long.
- 120g soft butter
- 70g muscovado sugar
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 tbs almond butter
- 175g plain flour
- ½ tsp bread soda, sieved
- 30g almonds, chopped
- 110g Easter Egg pieces, broken into small even-sized pieces
Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the egg and almond butter taking care to mix them in completely.
Add in the flour and bread soda until combined then stir in the chopped almonds and chocolate pieces.
Roll the dough into a sausage shape in a piece of baking parchment and place into the fridge to cool for at least two hours.
Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two large flat baking trays with parchment.
Slice your dough into about 20 slices. You can hold much of the dough back if you wish and just bake the cookies as you need them. It will store in the fridge for about four days, or alternatively, it freezes very well. Place the cookies on the prepared tray leaving room for them to spread.
Bake for about 15 minutes. They will still be soft when removed from the oven and will harden as they cool. Leave on the tray to cool.
- 300g leftover Easter Egg pieces
- 25g almonds, finely chopped
- 25g pecan nuts, finely chopped
- 50g mixed seeds
- a pinch or two of sea salt
Line a large flat baking tray with parchment.
Melt the chocolate pieces in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Do not stir as it is melting, you may get steam into the chocolate which will cause it to stiffen.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped nuts. Allow to cool for about five minutes.
Scoop the chocolate onto the prepared baking tray and spread into a square about 9-inches wide. Sprinkle with the seeds and sea salt. Press them down a little if they are not fully stuck.
Allow to cool in your kitchen rather than in the fridge as it might discolour in the fridge. Break into pieces and serve.
