Malteser Bark For Easter

I know I've made chocolate bark before, and I remember something made with Maltesers, but it hit me that this bark would be a splendid idea!  And to be frank ("I told you not to call me Frank!"), I'm looking at something quick for an Easter post.  April is going haywire.  Birthdays, and blog posts, and writing competitions, and overnight guests etc etc ...

My cousin sent us a lovely little Easter parcel with gloriously dark chocolate, so let's melt it and smother it in broken-up Maltesers, folks.  I was going to use puffed rice thinking it would be 'healthier' than rice cereal but checking the ingredients, I found the Rice Bubbles to be 91% white rice, whereas the puffed rice is 79% rice flour.  Mmm, I didn't like the sound of that, so Rice Bubbles it was.  Maybe it doesn't matter, but who knows?

chocolatey ricy blingy!

ingredients:

300g./10.5 oz chocolate - Use milk, dark, white, ruby - your fave!

150g./5.3 oz Maltesers, smashed up

20g./0.7 oz puffed rice cereal

Lots of Bling!

Method:

First melt your chocolate - I do it in the microwave

Spread it over a baking paper-lined tray

Throw the smashed up Maltesers, the rice cereal and lots of bling all over the chocolate

Whack into the fridge to set, then chop up/break it up as you please

Wrap in cellophane for a lovely Easter gift

Notes:

Lindt 70% dark chocolate is my go-to, but go ahead, make your day!  Use your fave kind, or use more than one kind and swirl 'em around

I blitzed the Maltesers in the food processor, so I ended up with big bits, little bits and some dust

oops! I've jumped ahead - melt the chocolate and blitz the Maltesers

ingredients

all blinged up

and ready for cutting/breaking up

delicious

eat 'em up

© Sherry M.

Chocolate Chelsea Buns for Easter

Yep Chelsea buns for Easter.   I took a quick squizz at a few recipes online and in cookbooks, but it was all yeasty stuff, waiting for hours to prove, lots of kneading and so on.  Nope I thought, not for me on Easter Saturday morning. But Chelsea buns - oh yes - so quick and easy and delicious.  And just pile on the chocolate and you are set for Easter. So I grabbed my flour and spices and brown sugar and sultanas and began to bake my buns.  Making these always brings back wonderful memories of staying in Philadelphia over the Holiday period which in the USA means from Halloween to New Year's Day.  Our Quaker friends took us to a fabulous concert where the audience would bring home-baked goods and sell them in the interval.  I think it was for a Christmas charity but I can't be sure:)  I had made some massive Chelsea buns which were gobbled up by the locals.  I think they thought they were some exotic beastie, instead of just being a fruity bun/scone.   Nevertheless, they were a great success!  This version is from an old Women's Weekly cookbook (aren't they the best?) with a few adaptations to give a bit of Easter cheer.

ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
45g butter
1 cup milk

Filling:

80g butter
1/3 cup + 1 tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup currants
80g chocolate melts/chips  (90g if you really love chocolate)
60g mixed peel
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Glaze:

1 tbs water
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs marmalade

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
Rub in the butter with your fingers so you end up with a sandy mixture
Stir the milk into the mix till you have a firm dough (I needed extra milk as I had old flour)
Grab your ruler here if needs be:) and roll it out to a nice oblong of 30cm x 23cm
Brown sugar and butter go into a small bowl - beat together till creamy
Slather this over your lovely oblong of dough
Now the fruit, choc chips, peel and spices are cast evenly over the dough
Roll this fat little baby up lengthwise
Cut into 10 equal slices and squish them into a round 23cm cake tin which has been lightly buttered
Bake at 180C for 25-30 mins till golden
Just before the buns are cooked, make the glaze by heating the 3 ingredients over a low heat till melted
Brush or pour the glaze over the hot buns when they come out of the oven
Eat with heaps of butter either warm or cold

gather the ingredients 

sift the flour and salt 

bash out your dough into a nice oblong   

creaming the butter and brown sugar  

ready to go on the dough   

spread evenly over the dough  

lots of chocolate here  

covering the dough with fruit and spices    

Mr Pickings divvying up and cutting the buns (he is the designer after all)  

making the glaze   

smelling great 

loads of butter - yum! 

Polish Easter cheesecake-Sernik

Easter is my fave holiday of the year, even though I was not brought up in a typical Christian religion, and did not partake as a child in any Christian festivities like Christmas, Easter or even birthdays.  Easter has none of the stress and expense of Christmas; just a gorgeous time of year with the summer heat finally dissipating, family, food and bucketloads of chocolate!  What could be nicer?  This year we headed up the coast to Mr Picking's sister to share Easter Sunday lunch with family.  Finally we are having some typical autumn weather- cloudless blue skies and brilliant sunny days with a tiny nip of chill in the morning air- a truly wonderful time of year.  Traffic was horrendous as it was the end of school hols,and everyone was obviously having a last fling at the beach.
Our Easter week started with an unexpected 1000 klm trip out west, and the blood-red moon of the lunar eclipse.  Talk about portentous!  We have finished it with a lovely, food and family filled lunch including a timely roast lamb, followed by numerous desserts and chocs.  Mr Pickings had given me a copy of "Sugared Orange" by Beata Zatorska for my last birthday (I love her books!).  And happily, there is a recipe for Polish cheesecake-Sernik- which is gluten-free, essential when cooking for Mr Picking's other (coeliac) sister (he has 4 of them- sisters I mean!).  This is a wonderful, light, crustless cheesecake-good for coeliacs and other hungry family members!

Ingredients:

5 large eggs, separated
500g ricotta cheese-(make sure it is gluten-free if this is a concern)
200g caster sugar - I always use vanilla sugar as I keep a tub of it with vanilla beans inside
140g butter- softened (not melted)
50g potato flour or arrowroot- I used arrowroot as I couldn't find any potato flour!
1 tsp orange essence
1 tsp vanilla essence
200g sultanas soaked in 4-5 tbs of rum for at least half an hour
50g mixed peel
50g dark chocolate chopped into small pieces
250g tub creme fraiche
dark cocoa for dusting
small Easter eggs or other small chocs for decoration

Method:

grab a whisk or wooden spoon, and beat the egg yolks and sugar together till well-combined
add the butter and keep whisking that in till you have a smooth, golden mixture
stir the ricotta into it
add the potato flour and the 2 essences
fold in the stiffly beaten egg-whites
add the sultanas and peel and the chocolate pieces

pour it into a lightly greased 23 cm springform tin which has been lined on the bottom with baking paper; you could use a 20cm tin and bake for around 50 minutes
bake at 180C for about 45 minutes- you don't want it overcooked
then take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin on a rack
when completely cold, take off the cake-pan ring-I find it easier to leave the cake on the base
spread the creme fraiche over the top of the cake and leave in fridge overnight
the next day, dust with cocoa and place the choc eggs on at your whim!

look at those gorgeous cage free eggs!

adding ricotta then the flour and essences

stiffly beaten eggwhites added in and then peel and choc

in and out of the oven!

the final result- so pretty and delicious!

wow what a moon! (library image)

buy beata's book here-http://www.bookworld.com.au/book/sugared-orange-recipes-and-stories-from-a-winter-in-poland/31083084/