Chocolate is a staple in any baker’s kitchen. Chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, white chocolate – and from the standard baking fare, it is not a big leap to move onto other chocolate candies. I’ve used chocolate malt balls, peanut butter cups and chocolate covered toffees before, amongst other things. While you can cook with a lot of different types of candies, some are always overlooked for baking purposes. Perhaps they’re simply meant to be enjoyed as they are. Perhaps they just haven’t had the right opportunity.
I took a recent opportunity to do a little baking with some Mini Cadbury Creme Eggs, embedding them right in the center of a muffin. It seemed like a fun Easter baking experiment to use the eggs as a filling in one of my basic muffin recipes. I opted for muffins, rather than cupcakes, because muffin batter is thicker and I wanted something that would support the weight of the Creme Egg. Also, since the eggs have a very sweet fondant filling, I figured that a sweet cupcake with a sweet frosting would be too much to pair with the egg. The mini eggs are about 1/4 the size of a typical Cadbury Creme Egg, with a fairly thick chocolate shell and not too much filling. They are the perfect size to fit into a muffin tin and be covered with batter.
I was surprised with how well the muffins turned out, and even more impressed with how good the center looked after baking. The eggs held their shape very well and the sugary fondant inside cooked to a firmer consistency than it had when it went into the oven. This meant that I didn’t get the oozing I anticipated when I cut into a muffin, but it did make the whole thing much easier to eat. The muffin itself is tender and moist, with a good vanilla flavor. It is sweet, but not so sweet that it would be mistaken for a cupcake. The egg center is like a prize – a sweet, chocolaty, edible prize -Â inside of the muffin, since you don’t expect it until you bite right into it.
Overall? I wouldn’t trot these out at just any Sunday brunch, but they’re definitely a fun way to celebrate Easter. And also not a bad way to prevent yourself from eating a whole batch of Cadbury Mini Creme Eggs in one go, since you’ll have to eat through each muffin to get to them first.
Cadbury Creme Egg Muffins
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
12 mini Cadbury creme eggs (not full size)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Whisk in milk.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Evenly distribute muffin batter into prepared pan. Place 1 mini Cadbury creme egg in the center of each muffin. You can use a small knife to pull a bit of batter over the top of the mufin, if you like.
Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed and the edges are a light gold.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Makes 12.
Kathryn
March 17, 2008The Cadbury Creme Egg Muffins are so creative, great idea. My children would adore it.
Joy the Baker
March 17, 2008I Love Cadbury Creme Eggs and can’t buy them during the holiday because I’ll just eat them all! What a creative way to bake with them! Very cool!
Kitt
March 17, 2008I have to say, they look a little frightening! But tasty …
Christie
March 18, 2008This combines two of my great loves – genius!
Kiriel
March 18, 2008Breakfast maybe not… but how totally wickedly indulgent a tea time snack!
Ashley
March 18, 2008What a fun idea! I love how they look.
Bree
March 19, 2008It’s breakfast for my Easter weekend! These look great! Thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to try them!
Jessica "Su Good Sweets"
March 19, 2008You are a genius! Ha ha!
Katie
March 20, 2008We have a great cupcake baker locally who made cupcakes with these in – they were actually pretty good, she does quite a lot of cupcakes with bits in e.g. chunks of Mars bars.
Sophie
March 21, 2008Now THESE are cute! 🙂
What a great idea!
Sophie
Paper Dolls for Boys (Tracey)
March 22, 2008I can’t decide if these are obscene like a fried Twinkie or total genius like a Rice Krispy treat on a stick!!!
Chris
March 23, 2008I made these for an Easter dinner today, and they were a big hit (and they aren’t at all bad looking, either)! Quite a sturdy muffin, too, with a tasty vanilla flavor–this will, Cadbury eggs or not, probably be my basic muffin recipe from now on. 🙂
Vic
March 26, 2008These are going to be huge. I can tell! You should sell your idea to Cadburys. Definitely going to give them a go. thanks for sharing.
Drakin
April 15, 2008WOW, they look awesome, and the best part is, I’m an Aussie, I can get Creme Eggs all year round, so I don’t have to wait for holiday time to have tis lil indulgence.
cynthia
September 13, 2008wow i flipped when i saw this recipe these look amazing but i’ll have to wait till i can get the mini eggs 🙁
Claire
March 12, 2009These look great!! Will make them this Easter!! Will make a few practice runs first though.
Kevbo
April 5, 2009Add some bacon and you’ve got something here.
Jane
April 8, 2009I made two batches of these last week (my favorite candy of all time is the creme egg!) I was thrilled that they weren’t too sweet and the egg made it just right. everyone loved them! thanks for your great recipes!
Emily
April 9, 2009Great idea! I made these yesterday and the muffin is indeed delicious. My only complaint is that when you bake the eggs, the fondant inside solidifies and becomes chewy/crunchy instead of creamy and gooey.
Claire
January 31, 2010Brilliant idea! I love cream eggs and I also love cake so putting them both together sounds like a perfect combination ! You have some really great ideas-keep up the good work 🙂
Julian
April 2, 2010Are the mini creme eggs available in the US?
Julian
April 3, 2010nevermind. i just made them with the full-sized eggs. i also froze the eggs before putting them in the muffins, so the inside still stayed creamy.
thank you so much for the recipe!
midge
January 29, 2011Hi, I’ve made chocolate muffins and put mini cream egg in they were great but I also made a batch of chocolate ones with a square of cadburys caramel in my grandson loved them they are a must to try
Bonn petite
Midge
Cheryl
April 13, 2011Insanely wonderful
charmingdate.com review
May 28, 2013Looks so delicious!