Speckled Vanilla Easter Brownies Bars

Hi you all, I hope your weekend was great and filled with sunshine.
This weekend I had friends over and I took some time to relax and we had some fun times in my kitchen.
I love spring I love that we have sunshine and lighter day´s here in Scandinavia!

Easter 2019 is around the corner soon; so I thought I share a simple recipe that you might want to try this Easter.
I made glutenfree brownies ( you can use any brownie you like) I baked it in a half a sheet pan. 
I made pastry cream, combined it with heavy cream, so delicious I then added in small bites of chocolate almost like you get this speckled look.

I piped silky ganache on top of each brownies bar just before serving.

And place a beautiful speckled Easter egg on top, after all, it is  Easter soon.

The combination of the fudge brownies and the light pastry cream combined with whipped cream and bits of chocolate in it is just heavenly and a perfect Easter dessert! 

Speckled Vanilla Easter Brownies Bars

• Brownies ( glutenfree ) get the recipe and step by step instructions →here

Pastry Cream

• 2 cups ( 500 ml ) whole milk
• Seeds of one vanilla bean
• 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons (100 gram)  sugar
• 40 gram (3 tablespoons) cornstarch 
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 large egg yolks

Vanilla Layer/filling

• 1 recipe Pastry Cream ( see recipe above↑)
• 2 cups ( 500 ml) heavy cream, cold 
• 4 oz (100 gram)  dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated

Ganache

• 1/2  cup ( 125 ml) heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon ( 15 gram) runny honey or light corn syrup 
• 4 oz. (100 gram) dark chocolate ( 66% ) chopped
• 3 tablespoon ( 40 gram) unsalted butter, diced

Decoration

• speckled easter candy eggs

Directions for the brownies; 

• For all my recipes I recommend you using a scale.
• Start by making one recipe for gluten-free →brownies, you can also use flour in the brownies or us any of my other →brownies recipe´s that you can find →here.
• I use half a sheet pan ( 20 x 15 cm) for these →brownies, make sure to grease and line it with parchment paper
• Let cool in the pan, for at least one hour

Directions for the pastry cream; 

• In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and seeds from one vanilla bean paste, stirring occasionally, just until the mixture starts to boil.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
• Whisk in yolks all at once until light and fluffy and batter reaches the ribbon stage.
• As you continue whisking, slowly add one-third of the hot milk to the yolk mixture to temper the egg yolks.
• Whisk in remaining milk into yolks and return entire mixture to saucepan.
• Place over medium heat and whisk frequently until the mixture begins to thicken.
• Whisk the mixture vigorously for another 2 minutes more,  while boiling, until the cornstarch dissolves completely, 
• Remove the pan from the heat.
• Spread the vanilla cream to a thin layer on a small baking sheet.
• Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly over the vanilla cream.
• Refrigerate right away.

Directions for the Vanilla Layer/filling;

• In a bowl, add the cold heavy cream.
• Whisk until fluffy, but still light in texture.
• Take the pastry cream out of the fridge. 
• Loosen up the pastry cream with a spatula or whisk.
• Carefully combine the pastry cream with the whipped cream.
• Add the finely chopped chocolate and combine with your spatula
• I use a cake collar around my brownie pan on the inside ( this is a plastic film often used inside a cake ring ) this is optional and not needed at all, just make sure you have parchment paper that you can fold up on the sides
• Pour the chocolate/ pastry cream mixture over the cooled brownie; with your spatula make an even layer.
• Place in the fridge for some hours, one hour before serving cover the top and place in the freezer for one hour, this is optional but the cream firms up a bit so you can cut nice bars.
• For decoration I use ganache ↓this is optional

Directions for the ganache topping;

• Prepare the ganache the day before;
• Place the coarsely chopped chocolate and diced butter in a medium bowl and set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine cream,  and honey
• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter.
• Immediately stir with a whisk until smooth and shiny.
• The chocolate will often settle, so scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula to make sure there are no lumps.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the ganache to sit at room temperature ( not in the fridge) at least 6-8 hours but preferably overnight until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
• This gives you a beautiful and shiny ganache that is perfect for piping 

Directions for the Speckled Vanilla Easter Brownies Bars

• Take the sheet pan out of the freezer; with a warm sharp knife, slice nice brownies bars, clean your knife each time and repeat.
• Place your beautiful and delicious masterpiece on a nice serving plate.
• Transfer the silky ganache to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #105 nozzle and pipe a small swirl on top of brownie bar
• Place a beautiful speckled candy egg on top of each ganache nest.
• Enjoy
• Store this Easter cake in the fridge for up to 2 day´s

Have a beautiful day you all, Love Manuela xoxo

• Step by step pictures for the brownies you can find →here.

• Step by step instructions for the pastry cream see the video below ( I did not use butter as shown in the video below in this pastry cream as this is optional)

• Step by step for the vanilla cream