Golden Egg Macarons

No cookie says “special occasion” more than the macaron. And especially if you’ve ever made them and know the work (and patience) entailed you appreciate them more! I’ve been teaching my daughter how to make macarons and every time we make them she gets a little better.
Since she is allergic to tree nuts we make them using pumpkin seeds ground into flour instead of the traditional almond flour. Sunflower seeds work well too but pumpkin seeds are my preference. They are a little more neutral in flavor.
If you’re just starting on your macaron journey check out this post here for more step by step photos and tips.

If you aren’t confident in your piping trace the egg shape on the underside of your parchment paper.

We used French lemon cream for the “yolk” but lemon curd would work as well.

Giant Funfetti Sugar Cookie Eggs

Have you ever given free access to sprinkles to kids? Odds are the results will look more like the cookie below than the cookie up top…

I saw this giant Egg cookie cutter at Target and knew my girls would love making giant cookies to gift…. or eat… whatever.

1 batch of these amazing sugar cookies makes 2 giant eggs.
We added sprinkles and funfetti chips but you could use whatever flavored chips you wanted, or none at all even.

Once baked we thought it would make a good dinosaur egg cookie as well.
We of course had to add glaze… and more sprinkles… 🙂

Chocolate Carrot Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I considered saving this recipe for next Easter… but there’s no way I’m waiting that long! Besides Mother’s Day is this weekend and this would make any mother happy! Unless she’s one of those people who don’t like chocolate… do those people really exist?
Anyways, last week I promised my daughter we could make a dessert one night. I had carrots that needed used up and my husband voted for carrot cake and my daughter wanted chocolate. So we mashed the 2 ideas together and this is my favorite chocolate cake now.
Super moist, flavorful, with a great texture. I resisted adding my usual excessive spices like I would a carrot cake since I wanted the chocolate to shine here. Just a bit of cinnamon compliments the chocolate.
And the chocolate cream cheese frosting is my new favorite child.
Not too sweet, with a little tang. Perfect.

A note on sifting. If you don’t have a sifter just use a fine sieve. Or even whisk together well. Cocoa powder tends to clump so this step helps make sure you don’t have any clumps of cocoa in the cake.

New Easter Tradition

Last year we tried something different for Easter.  And it’s become our new Easter tradition.  The week of Easter we studied Christ’s life and teachings and on the Thursday before Easter we had our own “Last Supper” of sorts.  I didn’t worry too much about how authentic we were being, but tried to have some things that were eaten in that time, or at least similar.  It was such a wonderful experience and made our Easter so much more meaningful.

We set the table with a picture of the last supper to help remind us.  I would urge you not to get so caught up in the details that you can’t enjoy it.
I’m not a food historian and I’m sure what we had wasn’t entirely accurate.  But it was close enough anyways.

So enjoy your egg hunts and baskets of chocolate, but don’t forget to make time to celebrate the real meaning of the holiday too.
I think there’s time to do both.

Some menu ideas:

Flatbread, we made Naan bread
Raisins
Grapes
Garlic- we used pickled garlic
Olives
Goat cheese
Honey
Fish
Eggs
Chicken Shawarma
Grape Juice
Lentils or Barley
Pomegranate
Nuts
Apricots

 

Perfect Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

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I’ve tried too many versions of Instant Pot hard boiled eggs to count.  But this is definitely the best in my opinion.  By using low pressure the whites stay more tender, the yolks are still perfectly cooked without a dark ring (which indicates overcooking). Cooking on high pressure for 8 minutes works well also, but the low pressure is definitely better.  And the best part? Pressure cooked eggs are unbelievable easy to peel! I always make a lot of deviled eggs for our family holidays and every time I am immensely annoyed peeling all the eggs and how tedious it is.  Not anymore!

Perfect Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Eggs, how every many you want
1 cup cold water

Place a steamer basket in the instant pot and pour the water in as well.  Place the eggs in the basket, making sure the eggs are not in the water.
Cook on low pressure for 12 minutes, then quickly release the pressure.
As soon as the pressure drops, open the lid and place the eggs in ice water to stop the cooking.
Remove after about 5 minutes when eggs are cool and peel or refrigerate and peel later.

Bruleed Ham

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If you like Honeybaked ham, you’ll love this.  Using sugar and a kitchen torch you can get a sugar crisp on the ham.  I’ve tried using both white and brown sugar, and brown sugar gives the best flavor I think.  Since my ham glaze has honey in it I just use that to brush on the ham first before coating it with sugar.  But you could also just brush with straight honey, I tried it and it was very good as well.
If you REALLY want to knock everyone’s socks off this Easter, smoke your ham instead of baking it, then brulee it!

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BRULEED HAM
Spiral sliced ham
Glaze of choice, I use my recipe found here
Honey, optional
Brown sugar

Smoke or cook ham with glaze of choice.
At the end of cooking press sugar over entire surface of ham.  (Brush with honey first if you didn’t use a glaze)
Use a kitchen torch to “brulee” the sugar until it is golden and crisp.
Slice and serve!

Super Fizzing Eggs

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This is one of the funnest sensory activities we’ve done.  Both my girls thought these were amazing.  You know those “hatching eggs” they sell? You know, those “eggs” that “hatch” when you put them in water for a couple days… and cost $10 for a flimsy plastic toy you probably want to throw away?
Every time my 7 year old sees them she thinks they are the coolest thing ever and wants to buy one.
These totally save the day.  Not only are they cheap to make but they are a really fun activity.  I used some small dinosaur figures but of course you could use larger ones as well.

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SUPER FIZZING EGGS
makes 4 to 5 small eggs

Small plastic figures
1 cup baking soda
food coloring, optional
2 T citric acid
1 T oil

Mix together the baking soda, coloring, and citric acid.
Add the oil, using just enough to get it to stick together when pressed.  Add more, a 1/2 tsp at a time if needed.  Just be careful not to add to much, this shouldn’t be a wet dough.

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Form dough around small figures, we used dinosaurs, and leave on a tray to dry overnight at room temperature, uncovered.

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Now comes the fun part! You can even put these in the bathtub, or in a tray of water.  We had the most fun spraying them with vinegar.  While the citric acid will create fizz with water alone using vinegar will REALLY make them fizz!
Slightly adapted from Fun At Home With Kids

Peanut Butter Truffle Eggs

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One of our favorite Easter books to read is The Golden Egg.  So I used an chocolate making egg mold to make some golden eggs to go with the book.  Using my trusty Peanut Butter Truffles recipe, I adapted it to be softer for a filling and it worked perfect.  A little gold luster dust and there you go, golden eggs!  If you really wanted to you could use a yellow candy melt and coat with gold luster dust, or make them in Easter colors.  I’ve never had a complaint for the classic peanut butter and chocolate combination before though!  These do freeze well, so they are great for making ahead of time as well.  For a sweet Easter gift these are so sweet presented in an egg carton or small basket too.

PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLE EGGS (OR GOLDEN EGGS)

Chocolate of choice for coating (or candy melts)
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Rice Krispy cereal
7 oz jar marshmallow creme
gold luster dust, optional

In a medium bowl cream together the peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth.
Add the cereal and marshmallow creme and stir in until combined well.
Melt the chocolate and coat the egg mold.  Let chocolate set until firm, then fill cavity with peanut butter filling.
Add melted chocolate to cover the back.

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When chocolate is set remove from molds and if desired, dust with gold luster dust.

Rice Krispy Treats Panoramic Eggs

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Does anyone else remember making sugar panoramic eggs as a kid?   I picked up some molds at the Decorette Shop in Portland a few years ago and was determined to make them with my girls.  I found a handful of recipes online and tried them all… and they all failed.  This last time I thought maybe I was going to get lucky..

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Uhhh, nope.  I gave in.  Too many failed batches.

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But I still wanted to do something fun with the panoramic egg idea.  So I decided to try using rice krispy treats instead of the sugar mixture.  And guess what? It worked amazing!  I added a coating of candy melts to keep their shape, and you could certainly do any color of those you like.   I liked the colorburst ones, which are white with little dots of color.
The best part is making these with kids.  If you don’t want to use royal icing, you could always just use additional candy melts to glue the 2 halves together and let firm up ahead of time, then just use plain frosting or more candy melts for the kids to glue their pieces inside.  And if all else fails, just let them eat them. 🙂
Oh, and if you can’t find some molds just look down the Easter aisle and you should be able to find a big egg shaped container to use.  Just look for one that has the seam going lengthwise and not down the width.

RICE KRISPY TREATS PANORAMIC EGGS

Various candy for filling, or pictures
candy melts in desired color (I used Wilton’s colorburst)

For Rice Krispies:
3 T butter
10 oz regular marshmallows (about 40), or 4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies, cocoa krispies, or fruity Pebbles (or like sized cereal)

Melt butter in a large pot on medium low heat.  Add marshmallows, stir until combined and melted.
Remove from heat, stir in cereal until well coated.
For Royal Icing:
1 lb powdered sugar
2 T meringue powder
6 T water (or replace water and meringue powder with 3 egg whites)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Mix all icing ingredients together and whip to stiff peaks.

Spray mold lightly with nonstick spray, then using fingers or the back of a spoon push rice krispies into mold, keeping thickness under 1/2 an inch.

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Turn out egg shapes onto a tray and place in the fridge or freezer to firm.  After firm use a small knife to carefully carve out a window in one of the halves.
Alternatively, you can cut an end off both halves for a different view.  If you don’t have a base mold go ahead and cut a flat edge for the egg to stand.

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Melt the candy melts and coat the inside of the egg halves.  (I placed them back in the mold for this, then popped in the freezer for a moment to firm.)

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When the candy melts are set up turn egg halves back onto a tray.
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Now coat the outside of the egg halves with more candy melts.  Use a pastry brush to get them evenly coated.  Let candy melts set up until hard.
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Make the royal icing and use to glue the 2 halves together (and fill any gaps).  Then pipe some grass inside the egg through the opening (alternatively you can position the candy figures or pictures before gluing the front half on, then fill in the front through the opening).  Pipe over the glued edge and around the front opening.
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For this style you will want to make your little scene before gluing the halves together:
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We used little gummy bunnies, peeps, and jelly beans…
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I love the bases.  With a little bit of royal icing for glue the eggs stay on well.
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And my little one had to have hers pink… with 2 pink bunnies inside of course 🙂
I let my daughters decide how they wanted them done, and assisted with doing the piping.  We’ll see how long they last.  But I would much rather they eat these than the pure sugar ones!
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Peter Rabbit Cake

peter rabbit cake
The Spring Garden Cake needed just one addition in my opinion. 🙂
A torn blue jacket.  And I don’t have to tell you why, do I?
To make, just use the tips on the spring garden cake post to add the jacket using marshmallow fondant.
I made a rectangle from blue, then folded the ends to the center:
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Then added some sleeves (formed from 2 skinny rectangles, ends formed together to make tubes)
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Then of course a little rip, and a few brown buttons.  Place in the radish patch, of course!
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