Lemon and White Chocolate Easter Mini Eggs Blondies

Just before Easter each year Master JibberJabber comes home from school with a small box of Cadbury Mini Eggs. The idea behind this is that you empty the box of the Mini Eggs and then send it back to school full of your loose change. On the day the boxes are given out you usually see a collection of empty boxes strewn along the pavement on the way home by children who couldn't wait to scoff them. Master JibberJabber doesn't do this as he is neither a fan of Mini Eggs or a litter bug. They've been sitting on the side unopened for a bit now and I needed to use them in order to fill the box with coins.

Rather than just eating them I decided to use them in some Easter baking. I thought instead of a batch of traditional brownies I would make some blondies. There is a lot of white chocolate in this recipe but it needs it for both the taste and texture. Don't worry about splashing out on bars of expensive white chocolate as I use the cheapest 30p bars and they work perfectly fine. The addition of the lemon extract helps to cut through the richness of the white chocolate.

Equipment: 11in (28cm) x 7in (18cm) shallow baking tin lined, small saucepan, small Pyrex bowl, large bowl

Ingredients

3oz (85g) Unsalted butter, diced

14oz (400g) White chocolate, broken into pieces

3 Eggs

3oz (85g) Caster sugar

2tsp (10ml) Vanilla extract

½ tsp (2.5ml) Lemon extract

7oz (200g) Plain flour

Small box of Cadbury Mini Eggs (38.3g)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5.

2. Set up a bain marie with the saucepan and small Pyrex bowl by putting boiling water into the saucepan and placing the bowl over the top of it. Gently heat the water but make sure it doesn't touch the bowl.

3. Put the butter and 10½oz (300g) of the white chocolate into the Pyrex bowl. Stir it until the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove from the heat and put into a larger bowl.

4. Using a fork beat in the eggs and sugar until combined.

5. Add the vanilla and lemon extracts and also the flour and beat again. Stir in the remaining chocolate.

6. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and smooth out.

7. Bake for 15 minutes and then bring out the tray. Put the Mini Eggs in the top of the blondies and then bake for a further 5 minutes.

8. Remove the blondies from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before cutting.