Chocolate tart

With optional Easter chicks. 'Scuse the bad photo, but it was taken after a couple of glasses of fizz, and the phone was wobbling slightly.

You made this for your chocaholic Grandma for Easter Sunday lunch - we took it with us as a surprise. She wasn't allowed to look at it until all the chicks had been carefully placed on top.

It's based on a lovely Rachel Allen recipe from her Bake collection, and serves...well, that all depends on how greedy you are. We comfortably got 12 portions from it.

You'll need:

shortcrust pastry (8oz flour usually gives enough to line a 20cm flan dish, plus a little left over for 4 or 5 jam tarts)

125g milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces
175g dark chocolate (ditto)
2 eggs (beaten)
175ml double cream
125ml milk

Stick your oven on at about 180 degrees C, and grease your flan dish. Line with shortcrust pastry, prick the bottom with a fork, and then weight down a sheet of greaseproof paper with some baking beads or lentils/rice etc. Bake the pastry shell in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until it's turned golden brown.

In the meantime, mix together the cream and milk in a saucepan, and bring to boiling point. Quickly take it off the heat, and tip in the small pieces of chocolate (taking care to test a few on the way). Stir until they have dissolved, and you have a glorious creamy, glossy, chocolate-y sauce.

Leave to cool slightly, then carefully mix in the eggs. Pour the mixture into the pastry shell, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes - you want it to just softly set. If you leave it to cool in the tin, it'll be much easier to extract.

Easter biscuits

We went climbing this morning, and photographed Sweetcorn the bear making his way up the wall. Nursery will either think it's hilarious, or we'll be forever labelled as rebellious parents.

Biscuits were definitely required after all that hard work. These are based on a Hugh Fearnley-Whirligig recipe, and are nicely spicy for Easter - a good antidote to all that chocolate.

You'll need:

100g raisins
juice of half an orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
a little grated nutmeg
110g sugar
110g butter
1 egg

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and find a baking tray.

Sling the raisins in a bowl with the orange juice and vanilla extract, and leave to steep for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together the flour and spices in a bowl. Rub in the butter, and then stir in the sugar. Tip in the raisins/juice, and mix well, so that they're evenly distributed. Beat the egg lightly, and then add that too. It'll look like a sticky mess - you'll need to mix it until it comes together to form a ball of dough. Give it a knead for a minute or two, to make sure all the crumbs stick together.

Hugh reckons you should chill the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes. He's probably right, but I ran out of time and energy, and moved straight onto the next part - rolling out the dough. Once it's about 0.5cm thick (ish), fish out your cutters and start cutting out some rounds (or squares, or whatever).

Place on your baking tray (that you've conveniently lined with a silicon sheet, or some such thing), and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until they've turned golden brown. Sling onto a wire rack to cool. And try not to wolf them all at once.