Easter time is always my favorite time of the year. I think Texas hill country wildflowers, a sunny Sunday morning and my mom’s coconut cake. Since my mom won’t share her coconut cake recipe with me, I thought I would do the second best thing and enjoy a batch of coconut macaroons toasted just enough to make your fingers stick together. For the lovers of desserts that are not too sweet, whip up a basket of brown sugar pound cake cupcakes with browned-butter frosting for your guests to enjoy after hours of  Easter egg hunting. Pastels and pastries to you and yours this Easter Sunday!

Bits of Coconut

Coconut Macaroons

Recipe from RealSimple.com.

For the lovers of the not so sweet.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes with Browned-Butter Frosting

• 3 c sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 c packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 c buttermilk

Browned-Butter Frosting Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c sifted confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add buttermilk.

2. Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each full. 

3. Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

4. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.

5. Add sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk; stir until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon milk, a little at a time, until consistency is spreadable. Let cool 5 minutes. Use immediately.

Recipe from MarthaStewart.com.

What’s In Your Easter Basket?

OUR RATING: Chance It!

This bakeshop is typically sweet, like the many that have sprung up around Chicago due to the current cupcake craze. The difference is that Lincoln Park’s Sweet Mandy B’s was thoughtful enough to realise that it was Passover this week, and has produced a non-leavened menu for all those observing the holiday. That being said, once you are seated in the child’s room decorated interior, these sweet treats may or may not seem to be unique enough for this much-loved bakery.

Adam: Passover is a great time of year: Spring is coming, the birds are singing, food is plentiful and wine is free flowing. Unfortunately, it also means the limiting of ones diet to non-leavened goods, and sometimes that isn’t compatible with eating out and partaking of regular enjoyments. Sweet Mandy B’s has crafted an exclusive menu especially for Passover, including chocolate turtles, macaroons and matzah s’mores. Yum!

(sweetmandybs.com)

I gravitated towards the matzah s’mores, simply because s’mores are great and matzah is delicious. Two huge pieces of matzah seal a massive marshmallow between them. Chocolate is liberally dribbled on top of this, and, for the adventurous, nutella can also be added. The first crunch is excellent, making me wish that I was taking a camping trip. However, if you eat these s’mores in-store they are served cold, which I do not believe is the correct way for them to be consumed. For best results, take one home with you, pop it in the microwave and let the marshmallow and chocolate melt together, like they’re meant to. Very sweet and large, one can easily be shared between two people. So, next time you’re wandering in the forest and don’t have time to pack graham crackers, pack matzah instead and you’ll have a jolly good time.

(sweetmandybs.com)

Alicia: Dark chocolate, pecans and lots and lots of caramel. Sounds simple, but Sweet Mandy B’s turtles pack a whole ton of flavor, and the serving size is pretty big (about the size of your generic cookie). Their turtles are pretty run-of-the-mill, but nonetheless delicious, and they are certainly unique in that they are more deconstructed than your average turtle. Instead of the caramel and nuts encased within a shell of chocolate, it looks like Sweet Mandy B’s started with a small pile of nuts, then dripping caramel on top to make it all come together. Then, after waiting for it to harden, that’s when they dropped a whole mass of chocolate on top, allowing for a thick chunk of chocolate to serve as the final top layer.

(sweetmandybs.com)

Not a dark chocolate fan? … … … Now that we’re done judging you (not really!), not to fret: these babies also come in regular milk chocolate and white chocolate. And while probably big enough to share, you’ll end up wanting to hoard it all to yourself. Delicious! Again, pretty normal for a turtle, but turtles are yummy nonetheless.

(sweetmandybs.com)

Final Thoughts: If you can’t make it to Sweet Mandy B’s for Passover, don’t fret! The bakery has numerous sweet treats all year-round, including giant cookies, a plethora of cupcakes (which is what they’re best known for), enormous candied apples and of course cakes galore if you’re in for a slice. And while you’re chomping down on some chocolate or savoring the last remnants of icing off your fork, you can view their ‘art gallery’ in their main ‘dining’ area, with art from local students, where proceeds go directly to their annual Read-A-Thon promoting literacy among children and their families. So stop in for a quick cookie and take a look around!

Chocolate Bunny – Hungry Happenings

Peeps Cupcakes – Hoosier Homemade

Carrots – Parenting.com

Chocolate Donut Easter Basket – Fun Free Easter

Pudding Carrot Cups – Lilluna

Rainbow Jelly Eggs – Tip Junkie

Bird’s Nest – The Curvy Carrot

Hatching Chicks – Hungry Happenings

Easter Egg Cake Pops – Mordern Foodie

Easter Chicks – A Mummy Too

Down the Bunny Hole – Hungry Happenings

Need some more Easter inspirations visit my Easter Pinboard on Pintrest or my blog post Easter Craft Ideas

In the bakery, chocolates, bunnies and marzipan chicks are hatching up everywhere!

Easter is one of my most favorite seasons — and I love to make it special.

Here are some thoughts for you:

Dress your table up for the occasion! Get inspiration from the outdoors; cut some fresh flowers and leaves, strewing them along the center of the table. Remember to keep in mind that you want eye-height field of vision clear, so that conversation is not stunted by people not seeing you through tall and bulky table settings. You can add, just remember to have it spaced. Also, the narrower the better -you need for plates!

Want to show off some of your easter eggs? Nestle them in the greenery, or onto candle sticks (in place of the candle). Inexpensive Easter garlands can be found at any craft store and many grocery stores; if you take them apart you can use them as napkin ties or around chairs. For a more sophisticated look or to keep it from feeling too busy, try to stick with one base color (maybe two if it’s white and green, for example), and have 3 or 4 accent colors that just give the punctation to the decor. It’s the hint of color and whimsy that just make it fun!

My fun and relatively painless Easter dessert is decorated Sugar cookies! They are always a hit, and are fabulous to bake and/or decorate with kids (big and small). Just get out the cookie cutters, sprinkles, and icing! These can also be set out on the table top and become a conversation starter for groups who don’t know each other well. Display them on a “silver tray” until time for dessert!

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My personal favorite Easter decorating activity is dying the Easter eggs. This could possibly be because it means there will be an Easter Egg Hunt, which is so much fun to watch with little ones!

We used to make our own dye – I found it much easier to maintain, cost effective, and my girls enjoyed the challenge with the colors.

To make the dye:

1 tsp food coloring, (the McCormicks in the little squeeze bottle from your grocer’s shelf)

1 tablespoon white vinegar,

½ cup hot water. (This is the amount you need per color for the dye).

Tips for boiling your eggs:

Start with cold eggs sitting in a pot of cold water. Bring to slow boil then broil for 5 minutes.

Let cool down in the water and then dry.

Now your ready to dip and decorate to your hearts desire!

Happy Easter!

*Fill a Peep with Reese’s Pieces

*Put it in the microwave for 8 seconds on low

*Let it cool

*Eat your Peep Bomb!

]]> http://meggieana.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/bird-nests-easy-made-easter-sweets/ Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:23:25 +0000 Meggie http://meggieana.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/bird-nests-easy-made-easter-sweets/ Haven´t had time to do your own Easter goodies? Here is a last minute tip for your sweet tooth.

Bird nests

This is what you need

Makes 22-24

• 200 gram milk chocolate bar
• 4 dl All bran
• About 50 jelly beans
• Small paper cups

 Melt the chocolate in the microwave oven or in a bowl over hot water.

Fold the All bran into the melted chocolate, carefully not to break the sticks.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and make a hollow in the center and place three jelly beans in each cup.

Put in the fridge to set for an hour.

Remember, they can be rather hard coming from the fridge, so watch your teeth when you take a bite.

That energy, color, and spirit is hatching in our kitchen as well! Easter cakes are being stacked and decorated, we have had rows of chicks hatching to adorn cupcakes, pies are in the oven…. And of course, chocolate’s everywhere! I have to say, the modeled chicks, bunnies, and lambs are my absolute favorite though. (We have such talented staff!)

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I wanted to share a few tips on how to make more festive any sweet treat you might be serving on your Easter table more festive! Regardless of whether it’s homemade or purchased from a store, you can always make it perfect for your table.

*Adorn with Easter Candy. Truly my favorite go-to easy adornment, thanks to talented factory makers, candies are so luminescent and pretty. Jelly Beans are luminescent and bright, bringing instant cheer to any plate, cupcake, or cake.

Use your peeps. If you stick a toothpick ⅔ up the way of a peep, you now have a holder and can use that to place into any cupcake or cake. (Kids particularly love this look).

The plastic or natural colored green excelsior found in most craft stores, generally used in the bottom of Easter baskets, is a great way to add color either around the plate of your dessert or along the table as part of your decor. (*Note while this substance is not edible, though I saw one edible band this year – try to avoid having it touch actual food. If in doubt, this idea is not for you.).

Pastel colored chocolate eggs again are a beautiful addition, sprinkled among a plate of cookies, or among your table display.

We love to hear your Easter stories! So please feel free to share and have a delightful Easter!!

PS – A note for the days after Easter: remember, save any Easter chocolate not consumed – if there is any – it’s great chocolate; you can melt it down in the microwave or stove top – just  chop it up and use it in fudge, brownies, cake or ganache to drizzle over fresh strawberries! If you don’t what to melt, the chocolate bunnies make the best chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies!

That energy, color, and spirit is hatching in our kitchen as well! Easter cakes are being stacked and decorated, we have had rows of chicks hatching to adorn cupcakes, pies are in the oven…. And of course, chocolate’s everywhere! I have to say, the modeled chicks, bunnies, and lambs are my absolute favorite though. (We have such talented staff!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I wanted to share a few tips on how to make more festive any sweet treat you might be serving on your Easter table more festive! Regardless of whether it’s homemade or purchased from a store, you can always make it perfect for your table.

*Adorn with Easter Candy. Truly my favorite go-to easy adornment, thanks to talented factory makers, candies are so luminescent and pretty. Jelly Beans are luminescent and bright, bringing instant cheer to any plate, cupcake, or cake.

Use your peeps. If you stick a toothpick ⅔ up the way of a peep, you now have a holder and can use that to place into any cupcake or cake. (Kids particularly love this look).

The plastic or natural colored green excelsior found in most craft stores, generally used in the bottom of Easter baskets, is a great way to add color either around the plate of your dessert or along the table as part of your decor. (*Note while this substance is not edible, though I saw one edible band this year – try to avoid having it touch actual food. If in doubt, this idea is not for you.).

Pastel colored chocolate eggs again are a beautiful addition, sprinkled among a plate of cookies, or among your table display.

We love to hear your Easter stories! So please feel free to share and have a delightful Easter!!

PS – A note for the days after Easter: remember, save any Easter chocolate not consumed – if there is any – it’s great chocolate; you can melt it down in the microwave or stove top – just  chop it up and use it in fudge, brownies, cake or ganache to drizzle over fresh strawberries! If you don’t what to melt, the chocolate bunnies make the best chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies!

So, Of course you need the essentials:

Graham Crackers

Chocolate Bar

Pretty Peeps

If you are doing this for an Easter Party or a kids get together, here is a fun way to display them and get the kiddies excited for their edible project!  i just love the way it looked.

Go ahead and pick your peep of choice.  I went with Purple… start building…

Now at this point, place it on a paper towel or a microwave safe dish.  I did it for 7 seconds and it was perfect.  You may need to adjust the time according to whether your microwave cooks faster or slower and theeeennnnn tadaaaa!

Now, I like to live by the saying “go big or go home”  so I first started with two peeps and two layers of chocolate.  Well in this case, don’t apply that saying!

As you can see it was a little too much for this poor graham cracker!  But I felt like it just need a little more color or something… soooooo why not add some drizzled chocolate!?!?!?!  whaaa laaaa!!

But as if this wasn’t enough sugar… now we can go big cause we sure aint going home!!!  Add some confetti sprinkles…

Can’t wait to do these with the girls when they get home from school!  Enjoy and please leave a comment or picture and let me know how yours turned out!

We’ve had people asking for a few ideas for Easter treats and our Personalized Easter Tags, so we thought we’d share this very quick, very easy, and very yummy Easter goody. Apparently so yummy that within 30 seconds of this Peep “photoshoot,” my son has run off with the prop and eaten it!

To make this cute little goody, all it takes is a straw/wooden dowel/lollipop stick, three peeps, ribbon, tag, and a cello bag. The rest is pretty self explanatory–just slide each peep on to the straw/dowel, lollipop stick, cover in a cell bag, and tie a ribbon and tag on! Easy peasy.

If you’re interested in purchasing some of our Easter tags, click away here! If you love this idea for using Peeps, pin it for us!

Chocolate Frog, $13, from Lake Champlain Chocolates

Robin Eggs, $36, from Dean & Deluca