I tried a stress-free alternative to cooking Easter lunch - and there was barely any washing up

With every passing year, Easter - the biggest holiday of the Christian calendar - seems to become a more lavish event, with retailers launching new products like novelty chocolate characters to beauty eggs stacked with luxury products.

I love any excuse to indulge a little, and I think I’ve found the perfect way to celebrate the ending of Lent on Easter Sunday if you don’t fancy making a roast for dinner, either.

Particularly if you have kids, Easter can be stressful enough, organising an egg hunt, telling them they can’t eat seven Creme Eggs in a row - so Snowdonia Cheese Company has taken the stress out of lunch, at least, with their Cheese & Chocolate Tasting Basket.

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The £45 hamper - which featured in BBC Good Food’s Best chocolate hampers to buy in 2023, offers a selection of cheeses paired with artisan chocolate that’s the ideal starting point for a midday charcuterie board - or for relaxing with a glass of wine once the kids have gone to bed.

The basket, which is very sturdy and was quickly reused to make a birthday hamper that very same week, comes filled with four 200g cheese truckles from the Snowdonia Cheese Company, with four accompanying chocolate bars from Willie’s Cacao.

I love cheese. I love chocolate even more. But I’ve never tried them together, and there’s no time like the present, so we got stuck straight in.

Inside the basket was a Black Bomber extra mature cheddar, Res Storm vintage red Leicester, Green Thunder mature cheddar with roasted garlic and herbs and a Red Devil, which was red Leicester with Habanero chillies and peppers. Each of the Willie’s Cacao chocolates were then handpicked for their