Passionfruit and Cream Cheese Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs

Happy Friday everyone! Life has been so crazy and hectic lately I'm really pleased that it's a long bank holiday weekend. There's lots planned for the weekend but at least I get to have a lie in and hopefully a chance to bake a few Easter themed treats. I saw this recipe on pinterest and immediately bookmarked it.  Last year I baked chocolate easter eggs with a twist which I also baked back in 2012 so I wanted something a little different this year. This recipe was perfect as it's a really quick and easy no bake treat which looks very impressive. 

You need to get hollow easter eggs - larger eggs will be easier to work with as you can just spoon the filling in. I bought these mini eggs so I used a piping bag to fill the eggs. The cheesecake mixture is really quick and easy to make and tastes great on its own. My favourite part is the 'yolk' which is a passionfruit and apricot curd. I also made some chocolate spoons to go with the eggs using my chocolate spoon mould. 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. 

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Eplorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Hello Spring. 

Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedgecombers. The theme this month is Chocolate! 

We Should Cocoa hosted by Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is No Bake which is really fortuituous as I made these before finding out what the challenge was for this month. 

The Biscuit Barrel Challenge which is guest hosted by Alexandra from The Lass in the Apron on behalf of Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this month is candy so I'm hoping that these ready made easter eggs will count! 

Food Year Link Up hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book.

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy at Supergolden Bakes

Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes. I bookmarked this as soon as I saw it and patiently waited until Easter to try it out.

Let's Cook for Easter hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

 chocolate spoon moul, cream cheese, double cream, apricot jam, butter, passionfruit and mini chocolate eggs 

 making the 'yolk'  (This is a double recipe which is why the amount looks more than stated) 

 cut the tops of the chocolate eggs. I left the foil wrapping on so that the eggs don't melt into the container and make a mess. Plus it's quite nice unwrapping the egg and eating it. I used a quails egg tray to hold the eggs. If you have larger eggs then a regular egg carton should suffice. 

 Fill with cheesecake filling 

 Pipe the 'egg yolk' on top 

 This is a half filled chocolate egg (well one that I broke but waste not want not) 

 Happy Easter! 

Recipe from raspberri cupcakes 

Makes enough to fill 18 mini eggs plus extra to eat

For the cream cheese filling 

150g cream cheese

30g icing sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

125mls double cream

For the 'egg yolk' 

1 passionfruit - sliced and sieved to get the juice only

1 tablespoon apricot jam

15g butter 

For the chocolate spoon (optional) 

chocolate from the tops of the chocolate eggs

approximately 75g milk chocolate 

• Prepare the chocolate eggs by peeling off the top bit of foil and cutting the tops off with a sharp knife.
• Place the eggs in a suitable tray and place in the fridge.
• (I melted the tops of the chocolate eggs plus some extra chocolate to make my chocolate spoons so there was no wastage) 
• Make the 'egg yolk' by placing the pasionfruit juice, apricot jam and butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. 
• Whisk continuously until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. 
• Allow to cool completely then place in the fridge to set. 
• Now make the cream cheese filling by placing the cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl and beating until it's smooth and fluffy. 
• Beat the cream in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.
• Scoop the beaten cream into the cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. 
• Place the cream cheese mixture in a piping bag and pipe into the chocolate shells.
• Place in the fridge to set for about 15-20 minutes.
• Place the chilled 'egg yolk' mixture in a piping bag and pipe on top of each filled egg. 

Wensleydale and Apricot & Apple Cake

I baked this for J's work colleagues and it was very well received. I've made the same cake using Wensleydale & cranberry cheese previously but I saw the apricot version and decided to give it a go. We debated about pears or apples and decided to go with apples which worked beautifully. The cake is incredibly light and the crispy cheese bits are delicious! It was a good combination of sweet and salty. 

 The star ingredient

 adding in the crumbled cheese

 sprinkle some demerara sugar on top before baking

 

 you can see the light and soft crumb texture here

Recipe from Wensleydale Creamery

150g butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp milk
175g self raising flour
2 apples – peeled, cored & sliced + 1/2 apple for the topping
125g Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese with Apricots
1 tbsp Demerara Sugar

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease a 20cm / 8" cake tin.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the milk and flour.
• Fold in the apples and crumble over the cheese.
• Spoon the mixture into a tin.
• Arrange the apple slices (from approx 1/2 an apple - depends on your cake tin size) on top and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
• Bake for 55 minutes until risen and golden brown.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Apricot, cherry and white chocolate oat cookies

Apologies for the long absence everyone. I don't know where July has disappeared to. I have been baking albeit very sparsely this month and haven't had time to blog about any of my creations yet but hopefully all in good time. Anyway I'm glad that I've just managed to make it for the we should cocoa challenge this month. When I first found out that the special ingredient for this month is apricots, my heart sank a little as I don't really like apricots and couldn't immediately think of an apricot and chocolate pairing. However, in a flash of inspiration at the weekend, I found this cookie recipe which has apricots and cherries (yet another fruit I'm not too fond of). So you can imagine my excitement at making these cookies! I was honestly surprised at how well they turned out and how delicious they are. They are quite addictive and I had a quite a few when it came out of the oven :) The cookies are quite buttery with a slight crispy edge and soft chewy bits of apricots and cherries. Plus I'm pretty sure they contribute to my 5 a day! :)

 lovely apricots

 cherries 

 cookie batter 

 yum! 

250g butter

150g soft brown sugar

150g self raising flour

225g porridge oats

100g glace cherries, cut into pieces

100g soft dried apricots, cut into pieces

100g white chocolate chips 

• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 
• Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Use your hands at the end to give it a really good mix. 
• Place a tablespoon of dough or use a small ice cream scoop onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly. 
• Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes. 
• Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.