Easter is one of my favourite holidays of the year. I’m a fiend for hot cross buns, I love making and eating Easter eggs, and don’t even get me started on the roast dinner. Using some of the key festive flavours, I decided to take a sweet approach to a savoury classic: pizza. Yes, I’m launching the Easter pizza. We’re talking a simnel cake-inspired base, apricot jam, chocolate and hazelnut spread and, to finish it all off, some Easter eggs. Who has pizza for Easter? We do.
Easter pizza cookie
Prep 20 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 8
250g unsalted butter
150g light muscovado sugar
½ tsp almond extract
1 egg
300g plain flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Zest of 2 oranges
Zest of 2 lemons
200g mixed dried fruit
100g glace cherries, chopped
80g apricot jam
For the topping
200g chocolate and hazelnut spread
1 handful chopped Mini Eggs
1 handful chopped Easter eggs
3 tbsp ground almonds
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/gas 4. Grease and line a 25cm, round, loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, until light and fluffy. Add the almond extract and egg, then mix again.
Sieve the flour, salt and bicarb into a separate bowl. Stir in the cinnamon, zest of both fruits, dried fruit and cherries.
Combine the flour and butter mixtures and mix well.
Scoop the dough into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, until it still has a slight wobble in the middle.
Add a little warm water to the jam and give it a quick stir. Using a pastry brush, brush the jam over the cookie, leave to cool in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack.
To make the topping, gently melt the chocolate and hazelnut spread in a pan set over a low heat. Squiggle the spread over the top of the “pizza” base, sprinkle over the chopped chocolate eggs, then the ground almonds for the “cheese”.
