Chocolate Mini Egg Brownies
Delicious, fudgy, intense chocolate squares with a hint of salt, loaded and topped with delicious, crunchy chocolate mini eggs. Soft and gooey brownies on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside. They are incredibly delicious, moreish and the mini eggs add a wonderful texture contrast, as well as a pretty splash of colour.
Ingredients
- 200g unsalted butter, in cubes
- 200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 50g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
- 25g unsweetened cocoa, sieved
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, sieved
- 240g chocolate mini eggs. I use Cadburys
- 150g - 200g milk chocolate. I use Cadburys
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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Preheat oven to fan oven 170°C /190°C/375°F/Gas 5
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Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
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Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
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Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
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Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee. Sift directly over the cake batter.
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Fold until nearly mixed in.
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Put ⅓ of the mini eggs in a bag and bash lightly with a rolling pin, or a meat mallet, to lightly crush.
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Add to the brownie mix and fold in.
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Transfer to your lined baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
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Bash another ⅓ mini eggs in a bag and scatter evenly over the brownie batter. Press into the batter with the back of a spoon.
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Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.) This gives me a slightly crispy top but a gorgeous gooey centre. The cake will be slightly risen and cracked around the edges (see the pictures below) but the centre will feel quite soft. Remember the cake will continue to cook after you have taken it out of the oven.
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Leave to cool in the tin for 20 – 30 minutes and then transfer, in the baking parchment, to a cooling rack.
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Break the milk chocolate into pieces or grind in a food processor and then carefully melt the milk chocolate in the microwave. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
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Use a spoon to drizzle or spread over the top of the brownies.
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Bash the remaining ⅓ mini eggs in a bag and scatter evenly over the melted chocolate. Press into the chocolate and set aside to set.
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When the brownies are cool, lay on a chopping board and cut into 16; they are rich and this size is big enough for me. If you want more, just grab another one! However, you could also cut them into 9 squares, if you prefer.
Recipe Notes
Equipment
- Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
- Electric whisk and mixing bowl
- Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- Sieve
- Chopping board and knife as well as rolling pin or mallet
- 20cm/8inch square baking tin lined with baking parchment
Be very careful melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!
Microwave: I give the chocolate (and butter) a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.
Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate (and butter) in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.