Easter Candy Brownies
Easter is this Sunday and I can’t believe it’s here already! This year will be especially fun with our little Cupcake around. 🙂 I’ve been hankering to make some kind of Easter dessert with pastel colors, but haven’t been very inspired. Then the other day my husband brought home mini Cadbury eggs that his boss gave him. They are candy-coated eggs and I knew right away what to do with them…put them in brownies! I chose a cream cheese frosting to put on top because it has a little more tang than a sweet chocolate frosting.
Let’s get to it!
The base for these brownies is similar to my Cherry Chocolate Chip ones, so the method may seem familiar.
Start by preheating your oven.
Next whisk the boiling water and cocoa powder together until there’s no clumps.
Now add the chocolate and whisk that until it’s smooth. Make sure you chop your chocolate really fine so that it can melt completely.
Then you’ll whisk in your melted butter, oil, and vanilla. The batter may look a little curdled but don’t worry, it’ll come together.
Now it’s time to add your sugar.
Whisk that in and then the batter will be smooth and glossy. Add the flour and salt and gently fold it in.
Now it’s time for the candy! Set aside about 1/2 cup of the eggs (this will be to put on top later) and pour the rest into your brownie batter and mix them in.
CANDY!
Spray a nine by thirteen inch pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Then coat that with cooking spray. This may seem like overkill, but you want to make sure you can lift the brownies out of the pan to frost and cut them.
Now into the oven! Bake thirty to forty minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
To make the cream cheese frosting, mix together the butter and cream cheese with the paddle attachment until they are combined and smooth. Now add your powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk until it’s combined and fluffy. I made mine a pastel teal color for Easter, but you can choose whatever color you’d like (or none at all). I somehow managed to forget to take any photos of this process, whoops.
Now lift the slab-o- brownie out of your pan and put it on a large cutting board. Remove the parchment paper. Now evenly spread your frosting.
Cut the Cadbury eggs you set aside into small chunks and sprinkle that over the cream cheese frosting. I bet the candy coated Reese’s eggs would also be good in these brownies if you’re a peanut butter fan!
Top with sprinkles if you like.
Cut the brownies into pieces and serve. Leftovers should be stored in the fridge.
Enjoy!
What are you making for dessert this Easter?
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces mini Cadbury eggs, divided
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- food coloring, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Whisk boiling water and cocoa powder until there's no clumps. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
- Whisk in melted butter, oil, and vanilla.
- Add sugar and whisk until smooth and glossy.
- Fold in flour and salt.
- Set aside about 1/2 cup of the eggs (this will be to put on top later) and mix the rest into the brownie batter.
- Spray a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Then coat that with cooking spray.
- Pour batter into the lined pan and bake 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- Mix butter and cream cheese with paddle attachment until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk until fluffy. Add food coloring if desired.
- Lift brownies out of pan and onto a large cutting board. Remove parchment paper.
- Spread frosting evenly.
- Cut set aside Cadbury eggs into small chunks and sprinkle over the cream cheese frosting. Top with sprinkles if you like.
- Cut the brownies into pieces and serve. Leftovers should be stored in the fridge.