Waiter there's something in my.....Easter basket!

For the third time the blogevent Waiter there's something in my pie takes place. This march Johanna from the passionate cook is hosting it and wants to know what dishes you make for Easter, traditional or not, sweat or savoury. And what you are going to do in the Easter time. She extended the deadline of this event until the end of this week for the reason that she was sleepless for some nights since her kids had that scarlet fever. I hope that they will get well soon and her daily routine (and nightly sleeps) can take place again.


For this WTSIM's-event I made something traditional Italian with my own twist. No, not a paloma di pasqua. Maybe you know those nests made from yeast-dough nicely centered with a boiled egg. From this I took my inspiration for:

Baked easter basket with chocolate-nougat eggs

Ingredients for the dough:

100 mlmilk, lukewarm
25 gfresh yeast
110 gcaster sugar
500 gunbleached organic all-purpose flour
1lemon, the grated rind of it
½ tspsalt
125 gbutter
125 gquark/curd cheese or blanc battu or cottage cheese
2eggs (carefully open the eggs by only removing the top of the shells with a sharp knife to use them for the "decoration")

1eggwash (made with an eggyolk and 1 Tbsp milk)
some scopped nuts and
sugar crystals (and additionaly, for Easter, some sugar decoration)
as a topping


Preparation:

Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir until combined. Add a pinch of sugar and 1 tablespoon of the flour, let stand in a warm place for about 5 to maximum 15 minutes until the mixture starts to have bubbles. Add the remaining ingredients and knead together until you have a smooth dough. Cover and let stand for about 30 minutes on a warm place.

Knead the dough once again and on a floured working surface form some strings with several bathes dough to create a nice wreath or several ring cakes. (I made only one wreath with 4 strings.)






Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sit the dough-wrenches on it. Brush the eggwash over them and let stand until risen about further 30 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200°C.

Bake the wrenches depending on their size about 15 to 30 minutes.



In the nests for Easter you'll find normally praliné-eggs, nougat eggs, fondant eggs, and so on. In my nest you'll find some chocolaty eggs as well. Eggs with a kind of hazelnut-nougat ganache.



Ingredients for the egg-decoration:

7-8eggshells (including the two from the dough-recipe), thoroughly washed

80 ghazelnuts, blanched

180 gdark chocolate pestils or cuverture with about 60% cocoa content (you can use a chocolate mixture as well - i used pestils from Michel Cruizel)
150 gwhippening/heavy cream

45 gicing sugar


Preparation:

Add the hazelnuts for about 10 minutes to the yeast-wreaths in the oven to toast them. Let cool.

Over a double boiler/baine marie heat the chocolate together with the cream until molten. Stir carefully to avoid folding air into the mixture. Set the ganache aside.

Blend/grind the nuts together with the sugar until powdered (as I did it for the marzipan). Then add one teaspoon water at a time (or if it is for adults, cocoa, coffee or nut licquer) until the mixture forms a smooth praliné filling-like paste (the more liquid you add the more smooth it will be).
Alternatively or additionaly fill the eggs with marzipan blended together with some shredded dried apricots and a ganache made with white chocolate.



Fill the chocolate ganache and the hazelnut paste in alternating layers into the prepared eggshells. Refrigerate them until firm.





Final assembly:

Fill the baked yeast-wreaths with edable wafer grass (if you have) and place the eggs in it.



So dear waiter, this is what's in my Easter basket.

waiter there's something in my pie