Indulge in glorious foody creativity!

By Annabel Karmel

Easter is a chocaholics dream but all too often there's a glut of Easter eggs. Break up surplus stock to make delicious recipes like the Glossy Dark and White Chocolate Brownies below.

Children love nothing better than a traditional egg hunt so its fun to hide mini-wrapped chocolate eggs around the garden and see who can find the most. Activities like decorating hard-boiled eggs with paints and glitter or making egg people will keep children amused over the holidays.

Rabbit Muffins

A simple snack that looks great!

A generous knob of butter
1 spring onion, finely chopped
50g (2 oz) Cheddar cheese, grated
1 wholemeal muffin, split in half
1 tbsp good quality tomato sauce

Decoration
1 carrot
1 black olive
peas
sweetcorn
salad cress

Melt the butter and saute the spring onion until softened. Stir in the grated cheese until melted. Toast the muffins and divide the tomato sauce between them, then cover with the cheese sauce. Cook under a pre-heated grill until golden (about 2 minutes) and decorate with carrot ears and whiskers, peas for the eyes, olives for the nose and sweetcorn for the teeth.

Makes 2 muffins.

Recipe from Annabel Karmel's Superfoods for Babies and Children published by Ebury Press (£14.99)

Easter Bonnet Cakes

These look fabulous. You can colour the icing using edible food colouring to make different coloured hats. If you don't want to make your own sponge you could buy a ready-made flan base and cut out circles from that to use for the hats.

175g (6 oz) butter
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp apricot jam
12 marshmallows
600g (1 lb 5 oz) ready-to-roll white icing
edible food colouring

Decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add an egg at a time with 1 tablespoon of flour. Fold in the remaining flour together with the milk, lemon rind and vanilla essence.

Grease and flour two 27 X 18cm (11 X 7in) shallow baking tins. Spread the mixture evenly over the base of the tins and bake for 20 minutes (a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake will come out clean when the cake is ready).

To make the bonnets, cut each sponge into 6 circles using a 7.5cm (3 in) round cutter. Stick a marshmallow in the centre of each circle using warmed apricot jam. Roll out 50g (2 oz) of icing at a time and cut into circles about 2.5-4cm (1-1 1/2in) wider all the way round than the cake. Brush the marshmallows and cake bases with warmed apricot jam and lay the circles of icing over the centres. Mould to the shapes of the cakes and trim away any excess icing. Tie liquorice laces in a bow around the base of the marshmallows and decorate with sugar flowers attached to the icing with a little of the warmed apricot jam.

Makes 12 Easter bonnets.

Recipe from Annabel Karmel's Complete Party Planner published by Ebury Press (£12.99)

Egg People

A fun activity for children at Easter is to decorate hard-boiled eggs. Make hats from egg cartons, empty toilet rolls and odds and ends like feathers, cotton wool, lace and ribbon. You can make plaits from wool and draw on the eggs with black and red felt pens.

From Annabel Karmel's Complete Party Planner published by Ebury Press (£12.99)

Glossy dark and white chocolate brownies

Two chocolates are combined to make these very special brownies. It's a great way to use up leftover chocolate Easter eggs.

150g (5 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
75g (3 oz) unsalted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
90g (3 1/2 oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
150g (5 oz) white chocolate cut into chunks

Chocolate Satin Glaze
75g (3 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
15g (1/2 oz) unsalted butter
50g (2 oz) white chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line and grease a 20cm (8 in) square baking pan. Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a microwave for 2 minutes on High (or in a saucepan over a gentle heat, stirring constantly). Stir in the vanilla and sugar, then add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Sift together the flour and salt and mix this into the chocolate mixture with the white chocolate. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

To prepare the chocolate glaze, melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and spread over the cake. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and with a teaspoon trail five lines horizontally across the cake about 1 cm (1/2 in) apart. Alternatively, pipe lines of white chocolate. Then, with a blunt knife draw vertical lines through the chocolate topping to create a pattern.

Recipe from Annabel Karmel's Family Meal Planner published by Ebury Press, (£12.99)