Happy Easter! Easter is always a great excuse to get adventurous in the kitchen and to make tasty gifts for friends. Whether it be dying and painting eggs, baking, or creating your very own chocolatey easter eggs. It can be very overwhelming deciding what to do, especially with Pinterest flooding us with a torrent of ideas. See my easter inspiration board here.
I held a little easter baking afternoon at my place, and here are a few of the things that were created...
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| Marshmallows. |
Have you ever tried making marshmallows before? This was my first attempt. It was actually surprising easy too. I used one of my favourite Paris-based bloggers, David Lebovitz's recipe. He is great at talking you through the whole process without making you feel daunted. He mentions how most people freak out as soon as they realise they need a candy thermometer - I'll admit I did at first! But I popped into the Homestore and picked a funky orange one up for around $30. And David was right - it's not that scary - and it's completely worth it because homemade marshmallows really are the best marshmallows you'll ever taste. Next time I am keen to try a non-gelatine recipe though, because let's face it, gelatine is pretty icky. Do you know of any good gelatine free marshmallow recipes?
Speaking of marshmallows... Have you come across Marshmallow Madness before? It came out a few years back but it still hasn't managed to find its way to Christchurch as far as I'm aware - so I may just have to order myself one.
Speaking of marshmallows... Have you come across Marshmallow Madness before? It came out a few years back but it still hasn't managed to find its way to Christchurch as far as I'm aware - so I may just have to order myself one.
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| Hot Cross Buns. |
There is nothing like eating freshly baked goods straight from the oven. Netta and Rose made some scrumptious vegan hot cross buns. I don't usually like hot cross buns (choc cross buns are more my thing - terrible I know), but these babies had cranberries instead of boring raisins which added a tart burst of flavour, and they didn't go all soft a squishy either. Netta created the recipe herself and has published it on her food blog. I will try find a link to it.
Have you tried your hand at making easter eggs before? I hadn't, so I thought it was about time I gave it a go. I picked up the chocolate moulds relatively cheaply at Spotlight and the chocolate I got in bulk from Richfields - a Christchurch-based chocolate factory. They sell big 1kg bags for $6-10 each and are open to the public on Friday afternoons. It is really the most affordable way to buy a large amount of chocolate for baking.
I made a few different coloured eggs and I'm rather happy with how my duck's blue one turned out. Simply colour your chocolate with either chocolate powder colouring or the gel colours work too. Whatever you do, avoid adding the liquid colours as they will cause your chocolate to sieze. The 100's and 1000's egg was a bag o' surprises, as I mixed the chocolate with pop-rock candy - which when melted in your mouth, set off little explosions. Charlie found it rather funny!
I wrapped the eggs in cellophane and put them in leftover cupcake cases to prevent them from breaking.
Lastly I whipped up a batch of spice biscuits. I have included the tasty recipe for you below.
YOU WILL NEED:
2 cups plain flour - sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 white sugar
1/4 cup muscovado or dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp of each ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon and all spice
125 grams butter - at room temperature
rind of 1/2 orange
1-2 eggs - beaten
Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, add the softened butter and crumble it in with your hands. When it reaches a breadcrumb consistency it is time to add the egg.
Add one egg to the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly. It should form a strong dough. If it is still a little dry, add a little more egg.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. I rolled mine to about 5mm thick. If you have a bunny shaped cutter use this. You can pick one up at the Homestore or Ballantynes for around $3. I used my easter egg chocolate moulds to cut a few egg shaped biscuits, but using a circle cutter and shaping the top of the egg with your hands is easy enough.
Put the cut biscuits onto baking paper lined trays and place in a 170c oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes. When cooked transfer cookies to cooling racks. Wait until completely cooled before icing.
Now it's time to whip up some icing. I suggest royal icing because it makes for easy, tidy piping.
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| DIY Easter Eggs. |
Have you tried your hand at making easter eggs before? I hadn't, so I thought it was about time I gave it a go. I picked up the chocolate moulds relatively cheaply at Spotlight and the chocolate I got in bulk from Richfields - a Christchurch-based chocolate factory. They sell big 1kg bags for $6-10 each and are open to the public on Friday afternoons. It is really the most affordable way to buy a large amount of chocolate for baking.
I made a few different coloured eggs and I'm rather happy with how my duck's blue one turned out. Simply colour your chocolate with either chocolate powder colouring or the gel colours work too. Whatever you do, avoid adding the liquid colours as they will cause your chocolate to sieze. The 100's and 1000's egg was a bag o' surprises, as I mixed the chocolate with pop-rock candy - which when melted in your mouth, set off little explosions. Charlie found it rather funny!
I wrapped the eggs in cellophane and put them in leftover cupcake cases to prevent them from breaking.
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| Pretty packaging. |
Lastly I whipped up a batch of spice biscuits. I have included the tasty recipe for you below.
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| Recipe adapted from the great Kiwi Edmonds Cookbook |
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 white sugar
1/4 cup muscovado or dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp of each ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon and all spice
125 grams butter - at room temperature
rind of 1/2 orange
1-2 eggs - beaten
Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, add the softened butter and crumble it in with your hands. When it reaches a breadcrumb consistency it is time to add the egg.
Add one egg to the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly. It should form a strong dough. If it is still a little dry, add a little more egg.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. I rolled mine to about 5mm thick. If you have a bunny shaped cutter use this. You can pick one up at the Homestore or Ballantynes for around $3. I used my easter egg chocolate moulds to cut a few egg shaped biscuits, but using a circle cutter and shaping the top of the egg with your hands is easy enough.
2 cups of icing sugar
1 egg white
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Beat eggs in an electric mixer until foamy, slowly add icing sugar until soft peaks are formed, add lemon juice and beat until combined. If your icing becomes too thick, add more egg white and beat for a few minutes more.
Add colour and flavours if you'd like. I used natural strawberry and lemon essences in mine. It is really important to cover any unused your icing in cling wrap - make sure the wrap reaches right down to touch the icing, getting rid of any air. This will prevent the icing setting rock hard while you are busy piping. Also keep the tip of the piping bag in a damp cloth if you are not using it. Rinse your beaters straight away too!
Note: Royal icing can be stored for weeks if it is covered with cling wrap as above and sealed in an airtight container. When you go to use it again just put it back in the electric mixer for a few minutes before using.
The easiest way to ice biscuits neatly is to pipe them. This will also give them a smooth surface for decorating. Use a plain circle tip (about a Wilton 2 or 3) and fill bag with icing. If you don't have any tips or bags you can fill a ziplock bag with icing and make a tiny cut in one corner.
Pipe around the edge of the biscuit shape and immediately begin filling in or 'flooding' the shape with icing. This will leave you with a even and tidy coverage of icing. You may find you need to water down your icing ever so slightly for it to spread better. Carefully stick on any decorations or sprinkles at this point, or when the icing has completely dried (overnight is best) you can pipe details onto your biscuits with a contrasting colour. (Or you can even try some brush embroidery - more on that at a later date!)
When your biscuits have fully dried, stack them and wrap them up with cellophane and ribbon and give as gifts. Or just eat them yourself. Yum.
Here are all the treats I made for easter wrapped up and ready to go.
I'd love to hear what you did or made for easter.
I hope you've enjoyed your last stat day x
