Waste not, want not…
Our chocolate supplies are always fairly robust, but at Easter time, the situation gets a little out of control. And with the exception of what the rabbit brings, most of the chocolate we eat is tempered and moulded at home. Consequently, there’s often a surfeit of packaged Easter eggs and bunnies that the boys have received as gifts.
This year we had a glut of Haigh’s solid eggs – way too good to waste, but far more than we could eat. Last night I decided to unwrap the whole lot – all 580g of them – and bake them into a large bar.
I made a double batch of our butterscotch bar recipe (recently updated with metric measurements), substituting whole solid eggs for the chocolate chips (note: add the flour first, then the eggs, rather than the whole lot at once).
The batter was baked in a lined 23cm x 33cm (9″ x 13″) baking tin for about 40 minutes, and then allowed to cool completely before slicing (to allow the melted orbs to reform).
It’s proven to be a great way to share the love – you can’t give away eggs after Easter, but everyone adores a chocolate blondie filled with huge balls of chocolate!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That’s a great idea! And bigger globs of chocolate is a definite plus.
What a good idea Celia – huge blobs of chocolate are always welcome. I wonder if the idea would work with the sugar shell coated eggs I have leftover from Easter – it might I suppose otherwise I shall have to eat them all myself…. it’s a hard life!
I do have a chocolate bunny that might have to meet it’s maker soon though….
C, Rayshine, thank you – the big balls of choccy are certainly proving popular!
C, I’m not sure the sugar coated eggs would work – I think they might melt to nothingness? If the bunny was solid, it would work fine, although you might need to break him up. Though a whole chocolate bunny encased in cake mix might be hysterically funny…hahaha
Sorry, didn’t make myself clear…. the bunny just needs using up, I’ll just melt him and use the chocolate. Sadly not solid, just a hollow Lindt one, but I agree, a whole chocolate bunny encased in cake mix would be great and if I thought there was any way a hollow bunny would work I’d try it. All I can imagine though is a big mess as the hollow bunny melts during baking and the cake collapses on itself!
C, I thought as much, but you’ve now got us all obsessed with the idea of a bunny encased in baked concrete…hahaha…
Btw, Lindt balls work brilliantly in this recipe – we had a whole lot one Christmas and did something similar – the chocolate was far more bake stable than the Haighs.
looks delicious!
Thanks Eddie! :)
What an excellent idea! if only we had a little more chocolate left from easter, didn’t last long despite the copious amounts that we had. Looks delicious though.
Thanks CHFG! With your two little monkeys, I’d be surprised if there was any left over at all! :)
Hehe my chocolate supplies runneth over I have to say! Very cute and would give quite a fun sugar hit! :D
Ha! I’m a little twitchy at the moment, matter of fact.. :)
Coming from the home of Haigs, I can only endorse any use of their fine chocolate products and, as the above comment noted, blobs of chocolate in anything are good!!
While I love Haigs to bits, I have just discovered that it is just about the only decent eating chocolate available here in Adelaide!! I recently went on a hunt or some Valrhona eating chocolate, only to be told it is not available here at all! Looks like a trip to Melbourne is on the cards.
Amanda, my friend Moo sent me gourmet chocolate from Adelaide years ago – I’ll see if I can get the shop details from him…
Valrhona is very nice, but oh so expensive – too rich for my blood! :)
That looks so good, with the regular ovals of chocolate showing in the slices, that’s it’s almost worth buying eggs just for making something like this. Must remember next year!
Morning Suelle, you’re up early! :)
I was thinking of you as I made this – from memory you were looking for a good blondie recipe, and I think you might like this one. It’s quite moreish, and very flexible – you can make the basic batter and then add whatever you like to it…
I might try it at the weekend – we’re off to Paris for a short break next week, and I need to leave something in the cake tin for my son to eat while we’re away!
I’m up late teehee. I only have one big dark chocolate easter egg and no littlies :( but this looks like a great example of ‘frugal living’ :) xx
My goodness, you have been busy Celia – so much to catch up on. These bars do indeed look adorable and I too have a load of little chocolate eggs lurking in the back of the cupboard from last Easter that I forgot to use this Easter, so I now have a good excuse for unearthing them and making a batch of blondies – yum! Although the sound of a whole bunny “caked” in cake is also tempting.
Amazing, I’d love to try a cake like that, with those chocolate eggs inside. Around here it is totally allowed to offer chocolate eggs after Easter. Chocolate is always welcome…
C.
Celia, this was a wonderfully creative way to use the excess chocolate. I found your blog by chance and popped in just to say hello. I was lured into some of your other posts and must say I love the variety of recipes your feature here. I’ll be back often. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
Mary, thanks for stopping by. I love the post about bridges on your blog! :)
Celia
Joanna, that it is! I couldn’t bear to throw all those fine eggs out!
Choclette, the hardest part of the recipe is unwrapping all the eggs. Next time I have a solid bunny, I’m going to try caking it – Godfather style.. LOL
Claudia, I guess it’s ok here too, but I feel a bit like I’m offering people my leftovers! And there were just so many, I had this feeling we’d still be eating eggs at Christmas.. :)
Celia
Determination – wow. I got frustrated with eating some easter eggs a few days ago that I bit through the wrapper, foil and all….and then kindly spat out the shiny, inedible bits. You are extremely patient, and it does pay off. I would be like the dog and the cat in the Little Red Hen,…up to the point of helping you slice the blondies. There, I would definitely help. Have a great weekend dear
Your sons must be the happiest on earth! Mommy can cook/bake so many yummy things!
Oz, you’re too funny! But I agree, unwrapping was a right pain!
Wink, thank you – although most of this batch went walkabout – to the neighbours, to our suppliers at the markets and to friends who popped by. There’s only so much chocolate those boys of mine can eat!
What a great idea! I love the huge chunks of chocolate in the blondies <3
Katie xox
I’ve just put on 4 pounds looking at your photos Celia.
And it was worth it. What beautiful photography.
I can just imagine how your Easter egg bars taste – and the word is fabulous!
I’ve seen some cake baking in blogging, but yours is the best so far!
Nice one.
Gill, wow, thank you! :) I’m blessed with a skylight in my kitchen, which allows me to take natural light photos – I’ve now gotten to the point where I never take a shot with a flash…