Not cross buns (recipe)

But first up, the winner of the Cake book give-away is…. (chosen by putting names into a pot and taking one out at random);

Lara! Email me your address and I shall send it off.

To the recipe:

Recently I saw this fan competition on The Pink Whisk (link at the bottom) for an Easter recipe so had to get my thinking hat on!

I have a few ideas for other recipes, but here is my first one:

Not cross buns

I wanted to make something to use up chocolate, but that was less time consuming than normal hot cross buns. I also love marzipan, and fruit cake, so I fancied something with a similar flavour to Simnel cake.

The centre is based on these gorgeous dark chocolate cherry energy bites from Oh She Glows. They are then dipped in chocolate, and finally the cross is made with marzipan (if you don’t like marzipan or have a lot of white chocolate left over then you could replace this with white chocolate).

Centre:

(for approx. 24 balls)

1 cup raw almonds

3/4 cup dates

1/2 cup dried cherries (Sainsbury’s are gorgeous, but Urban fruit ones are also good)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (to get that spiced bun vibe going)

Water (if needed)

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Blend the nuts in a food processor until they look like gritty sand.

Then add the dried fruits and cinnamon until a sticky paste forms. If your dates are quite dry (mine were) then add a tablespoon of water and process again- you want the mixture to begin to stick together in the food processor.

Form into balls and leave on the baking tray.

Coating:

Easter egg chocolate- 100g approx

Marzipan- 20g approx (or use melted white chocolate instead)

Melt the chocolate- I do this in a microwave by putting it in a heat proof bowl and heating it for 20 seconds at a time. Roll out the marzipan into thin sausage shapes and cut into short pieces.

Dip the balls in the chocolate and put back on the tray. Then carefully place little pieces of marzipan over to create a cross shape.

Leave to harden on the tray and then enjoy.

I love how they look!

A little easier to make than normal hot cross buns.

How do you like to use up Easter egg chocolate? I always loved making cornflake cakes.

I am going to enter these into the Pink Whisk Easter Baking competition: run in conjunction with Two Little Fleas. (I have tried to include the badge but the code won’t work).

www.gamevillage.com could occupy your time while you wait for the chocolate to cool!

*Contains a sponsored link.