The Courier News, IL – Apr 7, 2007
April 7, 2007
By Gretchen Mckay Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For many families, Easter is not just a joyous religious holiday — it’s also a time to celebrate the coming of spring.
We like to usher in the season at the dinner table with special foods we haven’t had in a while — an Easter ham glazed with pineapple and cherries, or tender spears of asparagus, one of the earliest of the spring vegetables.
Since basting the thigh of a pig doesn’t hold much interest for kids, most children confine their culinary efforts to helping to dye and decorate eggs for Easter baskets; indeed, by about age 6, they’ll expect to take charge of this time-honored craft.
But will your children actually eat the fruits of their labor?
If you’re throwing away more eggs than you’re eating, consider expanding your child’s Easter-crafts repertoire to something a little sweeter. Here, we offer a few new edible projects for the season that are not only fun but are easy for kids of all ages. Who says you can’t have your cake — in this case, one shaped like an Easter basket — and eat it, too?
EDIBLE BIRDS-NEST BOWLS
A sign of spring is birds chirping outside your bedroom window. These whimsical bird’s-nest “bowls” from American Girl’s Mix-It-Up Cookbook resemble what you might find in a tree, but without all those yucky bugs and dirt. And with just three steps (melt, mix, mold), they’re easy enough for even younger children; adults can melt the chocolate, but the kids can form the nests and help fill them.
11-ounce package of butterscotch, chocolate or white chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
5-ounce can chow mein noodles or 5 ounces of pretzel sticks
Candy to fill baskets — jelly beans, M&Ms, miniature chocolate eggs, marshmallow chicks
In a microwavable bowl, add candy chips, and microwave on high for one minute. Remove from microwave and stir. Return, heat for 15 seconds, and stir. Repeat until all chips are melted. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add chow mein noodles or pretzels, and stir to coat with candy mixture.
Line three small bowls with wax paper. Pour noodles onto wax paper, dividing noodle mixture evenly into thirds. With back of a spoon, press mixture onto sides and bottom of a bowl. Repeat for other two bowls.
Refrigerate for one hour. Lift by wax paper lining out of plastic bowl. Gently remove wax paper, and fill noodle bowl with jelly beans and other candies. Bowl can be eaten when candy is gone.
Makes 3 bird’s-nest bowls.
— The Mix-It-Up Cookbook
EASTER BASKET CAKE
They may differ in size and shape, but most Easter baskets come in two varieties: old-fashioned wicker or newfangled plastic. This innovative alternative, geared to older children, is made of cake. (That’s right, cake!). The downside is you get to use it just once. The upside is you get to eat it after the candy inside it is gone. That includes the bed of Easter “grass,” which is made of colored coconut.
To achieve the right shape, you bake the batter in a stainless-steel bowl and hollow out the middle. If Mom is an accomplished baker, she can ice the sides in a basket-weave pattern; if not, simple frosting looks just as sweet.
1 box yellow cake mix
1 container frosting
Green food coloring
1 cup shredded coconut
Jelly beans and other Easter candy
Pipe cleaners or Fun Foam for handles
Ribbons
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 1-1/2-quart stainless-steel bowl. Prepare the cake mix according to directions on the box. Pour the batter into the bowl. Bake for 70 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the bowl for 15 minutes, and then unmold it onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.
Turn the cake right side up, and place it on a platter. Cut a circle out of the center of the cake, leaving a 1-1/2-inch border. Scoop cake out of the circle to form a 1-inch-deep crater. Frost the cake.
For the grass, add several drops of green food coloring to the coconut in a zippered plastic bag. Close the bag and shake it well. Fill the crater with the coconut, jelly-bean eggs and other Easter candy.
For the handle, arch 2 pipe cleaners over the cake, or cut a 10-inch strip of Fun Foam. Wrap ribbons around the handle, and tie a big bow in the center.
Serves 10-12.
— FamilyFun Magazine (www.familyfun.com)
CONFETTI EASTER EGG MUFFINS
Your kid loved dyeing those hard-boiled eggs, but he’s not so crazy about eating them. These cupcakelike Easter-egg muffins from cooking expert Barbara Beery are a great alternative — nearly as colorful as the orbs they find in their baskets but a lot sweeter. They make for a great breakfast after the Sunday-morning egg hunt.
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup stone ground cornmeal
1/2 cup light brown or turbinado sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 8-ounce container low-fat strawberry or raspberry yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries or whole raspberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place muffin pan filled with prepared muffin cup liners on sheet pan. In a large bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Add yogurt, melted butter, egg and vanilla to dry ingredients. Mix well with wooden spoon, making sure to incorporate all of the wet and dry ingredients together. Fold in chopped strawberries or whole raspberries.
Using a ladle or ice-cream scoop, spoon the batter equally among the 12 muffin cups, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of honey.
Makes 10-12 muffins.
— Pink Princess Cookbook by Barbara Beery
