Make the most of your Easter chocolate and whip up a batch of these gorgeously caramelly mini egg cookies. They take less than 30 minutes, are mixed in one bowl with no special equipment and you don’t need to chill the dough before baking.
Is there anything better than a cookie that’s crispy on the outside with a soft and gooey centre, studded with lots of lovely chocolate? It’s a no from me!
Easter is definitely a time for sweet treats, and I can’t think of many better than these lovely cookies. While I don’t have a massive sweet tooth, I LOVE these cookies. That’s because of two key elements in this recipe – the brown butter and the miso paste.
Miso might seem unconventional, but it cuts through the sweetness of the sugar and chocolate to balance the cookies perfectly. A sweet and slightly salty flavour combination wins for me every time and the miso paste helps these cookies get there. Browning the butter first is an extra step but it’s 100% worth it. The result is a deep, nutty, caramel flavour that’s truly unbeatable.
Plus, they take less than 30 minutes from start to finish, the dough is mixed in one bowl, you need no special equipment and there’s no need to chill the dough before you bake the cookies.
Want to up the chocolatey factor even more? Turn them into gorgeously gooey, Easter egg stuffed cookies.
Ingredients
- Mini eggs. I’m using Cadbury mini eggs here – they’re milk chocolate eggs with a crispy, pastel-coloured sugar coating. They’re a bit of a mainstay in the UK, but if you can’t find them, any mini Easter egg will be absolutely fine. Or, just use regular chocolate chips or a block of chocolate.
- Butter. Unsalted butter is best because you can then control the salt you add to the cookies, but if you can’t find it, salted will be fine. Browning the butter is the key to that gorgeously deep, caramel flavour that comes through in the cookies and it’s such an easy step that makes a big difference to the finished cookies.
- Sugar. You’ll need both brown sugar and caster (superfine) sugar here (the brown sugar brings a lovely caramel flavour and helps keep the cookies fudgy). If you can’t find caster sugar, regular granulated sugar is perfectly fine.
- Miso paste. It might seem strange to use miso paste in a sweet baking recipe, but hear me out. It brings a GORGEOUS deep flavour to the cookies that pairs perfectly with the caramel brown butter and cuts through the sweetness of the chocolate and sugar. I really recommend you give it a go, but if you can’t find any, use an extra teaspoon of salt.
How to make them
Start by browning your butter – this is as easy as melting your butter and then keeping it over the heat, whisking as it starts to foam up and smell gorgeously nutty. You’ll see little brown specks in the butter and you’ll know it’s done.
Mix the browned butter with the sugars, vanilla, miso paste and salt, before adding the egg and whisking until it’s lovely and thick.
Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix until there are still some floury streaks (this is to prevent overmixing the dough when you add the mini eggs). Add in your crushed mini eggs and mix them through the cookie dough.
Scoop up a roughly golf ball-sized piece of cookie dough and roll it into a ball in your hands. Place on your prepared baking tray, then repeat with the rest of the dough. You’ll get about 12 large cookies from this dough – but feel free to make them smaller if you like. Make sure you leave space in between your cookie dough to allow for spreading in the oven.
Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, until lightly golden. This will give you cookies that are soft and gooey in the middle, but crispy around the edges. If you prefer your cookies crispier, just leave them in the oven for another couple of minutes.
How to make Easter egg stuffed cookies
For an extra chocolatey surprise, you can stuff the cookies with a whole (small) Easter egg. It’s best to choose one with a gooey middle – like a Creme egg, or one with caramel inside, but you can go for whatever you like best.
Press your cookie dough into a small, flat circle, then press the Easter egg into the centre. Fold up the dough and roll it into a ball so the egg is encased in the middle, then bake as per the recipe below.
Got a question?
What are the best Easter eggs to use for these cookies?
I’m using chocolate mini eggs (the very cute ones with the crispy pastel-coloured coating) but you can use any mini chocolate Easter eggs. You could also use regular chocolate chips or a block of chocolate.
How long will the cookies keep?
They’ll keep well for about 5 days, stored in an airtight container at room temperature (though they’re unlikely to last that long!) You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough. Roll your dough into balls, then freeze on a lined tray. Once they’re frozen, transfer them to ziplock bags to store. Bake them straight from frozen and add a couple of minutes to the cooking time.
Do I need to chill the cookie dough before baking?
No! The great thing about this recipe is that you can bake the cookies straight away and they won’t spread too much in the oven. You certainly can chill the dough if you like, it won’t do any harm, but it’s not necessary here.
Like this recipe? Here are more Easter baking ideas for you
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.
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Description
Make the most of your Easter chocolate and whip up a batch of these gorgeously gooey mini egg cookies. They take less than 30 minutes, are mixed in one bowl with no special equipment and you don’t need to chill the dough before baking.
For the cookies –
Optional, for stuffed cookies –
- Heat your oven. Start by lining two baking trays with parchment paper, and heating your oven to 360F/180C fan.
- Crush the mini eggs. The easiest way to do this is with a rolling pin. Either give the bag they’re in a couple of bashes, or transfer the eggs into a ziplock bag, and use your rolling pin to whack the eggs until they break up into smaller chunks.
- Brown the butter. Set a small saucepan over medium heat, then add the diced butter. Let the butter melt, then use a whisk or silicone spatula to stir it as it starts to foam up and smell lovely and caramelly. This will take a couple of minutes. At this point, remove the pan from the heat.
- Mix the sugars. Add 75g brown sugar, 75g caster sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of miso paste to a large mixing bowl, then pour in the brown butter. Use a whisk (or a fork) to mix well to combine. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, so the butter can cool slightly before adding the egg (you don’t want the egg to scramble by adding it to super hot butter).
- Add the egg. After 5 minutes, add the egg into the bowl and whisk the mixture vigorously until it thickens and becomes a little lighter in colour.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Pour in 200g plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Use a silicone spatula to gently mix them into the dough, stopping when there are still quite a few streaks of flour. PRO TIP: We stop when there are streaks of flour because we’ll continue to mix the dough once the chocolate eggs are added. Overmixing the dough can result in cakey cookies.
- Add the crushed chocolate mini eggs. Add all the chocolate eggs and gently mix them through the dough, so they’re evenly distributed. Scoop up golf ball-sized pieces of cookie dough and roll them into balls in your hands. Arrange them on the prepared baking trays, leaving a couple of inches between each to allow for spreading in the oven. I like to put six on each tray.
- Bake the cookies. Transfer to the oven, and bake for 11 minutes, until golden around the edges and still gooey in the middle. You can leave them in the oven for another minute or two if you prefer crispier cookies – these are designed to be chewy and gooey in the middle with a crispy edge. Let the cookies cool on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. PRO TIP: For perfectly circular cookies, use a large cookie cutter or glass to ‘scoot’ the cookies as they come out of the oven to make even circles.
Notes
HOW TO MAKE EASTER EGG STUFFED COOKIES: For the ultimate Easter treat, I love to stuff these cookies with a whole, mini Easter egg. I recommend using one that has a gooey centre – like a Creme egg or a caramel filled egg. To make them, lightly flatten your golf-ball sized piece of cookie dough, then place the Easter egg in the middle of the dough. Wrap the dough around the egg and roll it into a ball, encasing the egg. Place on your prepared tray and bake as per the recipe.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The cookies will keep well for about 5 days, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. You can pop them into the microwave for about 20 seconds if you like, for a lovely gooey, melty chocolate centre.
FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS: Whenever I make cookies, I LOVE to freeze some of the dough. That way, whenever I have a cookie craving, I can pull them out and bake them straight from frozen. All you have to do is pop your rolled cookie dough balls on a tray into the freezer and then once solid, transfer them to ziplock bags to store. Bake the cookies from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the cooking time.
INGREDIENT NOTES: If you can’t find mini eggs, you can use any chocolate mini Easter eggs, chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate. Miso paste adds a lovely, deep flavour to the cookies which is perfect with the sweet chocolate, but if you can’t find it, add an extra teaspoon of salt.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 11
- Category: baking
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 492
- Sugar: 32.4g
- Sodium: 518.2mg
- Fat: 25.8g
- Saturated Fat: 15.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 60.2g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6.5g
- Cholesterol: 100.3mg
Keywords: easter cookies, miso cookies, brown butter cookies
