Four easy and delicious ways to use up leftover Easter eggs

I’m back again with my friends at Virgin Money showing you how to have fun in the kitchen this Easter by using up any leftover chocolate and making what you already have in your cupboards go further. Which means you'll be saving some pennies and reducing waste. You don’t even need to put your oven on for most of the recipes and I’ve used the same ingredients across them too. I hope you have fun creating these this Easter, the kids will love them too!

1. Easter egg cheesecakes

Makes 4 eggs (plus a larger cheesecake in next recipe)

Ingredients:

Cheesecake filling:

• 2 x whole chocolate eggs (split them in half to make 4 x desserts)
• 280g cream cheese
• 50g icing sugar
• 200g double cream
• Vanilla extract
• Optional: any crushed up mini eggs or fruit

Base:

• 255g packet of biscuits (I like to use hobnobs/oaties and a couple of ginger biscuits too!)
• 100g butter

Method:

1. In a bowl, add your double cream and whisk until you have soft stiff peaks.

2. Add in your cream cheese and whisk together with your icing sugar and vanilla.

3. You can also add in some crushed mini eggs too.

4. In a sealed sandwich bag, add in your biscuits and bash into crumbs with a rolling pin OR blitz in a blender until you have fine crumbs.

5. Add these to a clean bowl and pour in some melted butter.

6. Press in the biscuit mix into the chocolate eggs, carefully pressing with the back of a spoon.

7. Spoon in the cream cheese mixture evenly.

8. Decorate with more chocolate, sauces, sweets.

9. Refrigerate and serve with a spoon.

2. Kinder no-bake cheesecake

Then with your leftover biscuit and cheesecake base, why not make a bigger cheesecake? I crushed in some mini eggs into the cheesecake mix and sprinkled over some chocolate bars and kinder bueno eggs!

Method is the same as the cheesecake eggs above but press into the base of a removable base cake tin and refrigerate.

3. Marvellous creation chocolate slab

Now for the real showstopper, I’ve been so excited to share this! It’s a great one to make with the kids in the Easter holidays.

Ingredients:

• Parchment paper
• Chocolate
• Any toppings you like

Method:

1. Pop a sheet of parchment paper into a roasting tray or baking dish.

2. Add a bowl of boiling water into a saucepan, add a metal mixing bowl on top and add your chocolate, allowing the chocolate to melt.

3. Spread onto your roasting tray with a spatula and just top with everything and anything. Malteser Bunnies, marshmallows, jellybeans, honeycomb, you name it!

4. Refrigerate for a few hours.

5. Have fun and bash it to pieces and tuck in.

4. Crispy marshmallow egg nests

Makes 15

Now for the easiest of them all - marshmallow and white chocolate crispy cakes.

Ingredients:

• 400g marshmallows
• 200g white chocolate
• 50g butter
• 250g rice crispies
• Mini eggs
• 15 x cupcake cases
• Optional: desiccated coconut and green food colouring

Method:

1. In a saucepan, add in your butter and melt.

2. Then add in your marshmallows.

3. Add together with your rice crispies in a large bowl with melted white chocolate.

4. Mix well to combine together.

5. Place the cupcake cases in a cupcake tray and spoon in one tbsp of mix and gently press into the base.

6. With a tsp, press into the centre to create a slight hole to create the ‘nest’.

7. In a small bowl, add some coconut with a couple drops of green food colouring so it looks like a birds nest.

8. Sprinkle the coconut 'nest' into the hole and finish with some mini eggs.

5. Raspberry and coconut bunny cupcakes

Makes 12

And here's a bonus recipe! This one doesn’t involve using leftover Easter eggs, but it does involve using up some of your cupboard staples. 

Ingredients:

• 200g caster sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• 3 x eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml milk
• 130g unsalted butter
• Tsp salt
• 12 x cupcake cases
• Optional: fresh raspberries

Butter cream:

• 150g room temp unsalted butter
• 400g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp raspberry jam

Decorative:

• Giggly edible eyes
• Colourful icing pens
• Desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan and get 12 cupcake cases ready.

2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the flour, salt, eggs and vanilla extract and mix to combine, then add the milk.

4. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 cupcake cases, here you can add in some fresh chopped raspberries if adding.

5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 22 minutes, take out and allow to fully cool before adding buttercream.

6. To make the buttercream - in a large bowl, beat the butter for a few minutes to loosen. Then gradually add in the sieved icing sugar, and the jam.

7. To decorate, grab a spatula to add on some buttercream onto the top of each cupcake, sprinkle and gently press on some coconut. Then decorate with your toppings to create bunny faces and ears.