Easter. This is one of our favourite times of the year.

We step away from the busyness of our normal schedule and head away to the country for a few days. The boys will make cubbies, race billy carts and play countless hours of soccer and cricket. One of my favourite things to do on this weekend every year, is to start a new 1000 piece puzzle with my eldest son. My middle son will challenge me to games of Bocce, and will beat me every time, and our littlest man will spend hours moving a pile of rocks from one place to the next with a Tonka Truck.

They will wear themselves out in the day and crash at night. As parents everywhere will know, this is a win win for everyone.

Night time descends. The fire is lit and I dust off that book that has been on my bedside table for far too long, or the board game cupboard is raided and I battle it out till my husband wins or one of us is asleep!

It’s simple and quiet and we all feel ourselves breathe deep again.

As comforting as all that sounds, it’s actually not the reason why it’s one of our favourite times of the year.

The fact is we start off this weekend of rest and reflection in church, remembering the ‘Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me.’  The enormity of what Jesus did for me by dying on the cross, hits me every time. I am overwhelmed, with gratitude, that He would rather die than live without me.

As Easter Sunday rolls around, our boys will wake to find an Easter egg waiting for them and this time the conversation will be around why we use eggs to represent New Life at Easter. New Life, New Hope, Forgiveness and New Beginnings.  A fun Easter egg hunt always follows.

Whatever this weekend holds for you, I hope you get a chance to reflect on God’s Amazing Grace in sending Jesus. You may also find some extra time to cook and if so, these Soft-Centred Chocolate Puddings are the perfect Autumn dessert to cook for your family and friends. Enjoy!

 Soft-Centred Chocolate Puddings

Recipe from Skye Gyngell’s cook book ‘My Favourite Ingredients.’

A few extra tidbits:

*  These puddings could be made with a dairy free spread instead of butter and dairy free chocolate or 70% dark chocolate that contains no milk.

*  Quinoa flour can be substituted for the plain flour to make these gluten free.

* They can be made up to a day in advance and refrigerated, uncooked. If you make them in advance, make sure you bring them to room temperature before cooking, or, if cooking straight from the fridge, you’ll need to add at least 5 minutes to the cooking time.

Ingredients

150gm unsalted butter, chopped

300gm dark chocolate, chopped

4 eggs

3 egg yolks (place egg whites in a small snap lock bag and throw in the freezer. I have a recipe coming soon to use these!)

150gm castor sugar

50gm (approx 1/4 cup) plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius

Lightly butter and dust with cocoa, 6 x oven proof tea cups or individual pudding moulds, approx 200ml in size.

Place butter and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Remove and stir. If it is still not melted, put back in to the microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring after each time until melted. (This process is important, as burning the chocolate in the microwave is very easy. It’s best to melt it 80% of the way and finish off stirring it till completely smooth)

Place sugar, eggs and egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium speed until it’s pale, thick and mousse like.

Gently fold chocolate mixture into the egg mixture till combined.

Sift the flour into the mixture from a height, and gently fold through.

Place into pudding moulds and either refrigerate if you are preparing in advance or place onto a baking tray and put straight into the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes. You are looking for a just- cooked and puffed up top, but if you press lightly, you know it’s gooey underneath. You are best to start off cooking it for less time and add a few minutes. If you overcook, they will still be beautiful chocolate puddings, but won’t have a soft centre.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream or ice cream.