Post #113: Happy Easter!

So first, the food. If you need a little something for your festivities tomorrow, then here are a few treats I would like to share with you:

Easter (Passover Friendly) Macaroons

From Easter Treats

(photo from Woman's Day Magazine)

and

Egg Hunt Cupcakes

From Easter Treats

Here is a recipe that I made by combining two recipes;

one from Food Networkand the other from Kosher Cooking.

Here is my version:

Ingredients

* Heaping 3/4 cup sugar

* Loosely packed 1/3 cup of cocoa powder

* Scant 1/2 cup egg whites (from about 3 eggs)

* 3/4 pound (scant 2 1/2 cups) sweetened desiccated or flaked coconut (not shredded)

* 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients except the semisweet chocolate together in a bowl. (The recipe can be made up to this point and kept refrigerated up to 3 days in advance.)

Scoop the mixture with a tablespoon onto parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between the cookies. Bake until light golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on the pans.

Remove from the pan and dip the bottoms in melted chocolate, then place back on the sheet tray to set up.

I will warn you these are extra chocolatey! So for the nonchocoholics, you may want to tone them down by leaving out the cocoa or not dipping them in chocolate. I wanted to post my cocoa-chocolate dipped version, but the pics were SOOOO blurry from being on the wrong setting! They were really good. Really. I also think they are so much better if you can serve them really fresh. I mean warm and gooey-fresh.

Now for the cupcakes. I used a simple white cake mix. Then, I added a thin top layer of green frosting to cover the white cupcake top. Next, I used the grass tip (not so well, I might add) to pipe green frosting on top of the cupcakes. Finally, I added bubble gum eggs as centerpieces. The kids loved them! They were so easy to make.

So to Sandra Lee it up, use store bought cake mix. Then, if you can find it, use green frosting. If you can not find it, tint white store bought frosting with food coloring until it is the shade of green you want. Then, use a disposable bag or baggie to pipe the frosting with a #233 grass tip (cheap at Hobby Lobby or such stores, even Wal-Mart may have them). You can use any candy eggs you like.

Here is a slide show of a family trip we took to nearby Brenham, Texas, home of Blue Bell Creameries. It is a lovely, charming town. They were ready for Easter and had local artist paint plywood eggs for display around their beautiful downtown. I thought I would share them with you.



Have a VERY HAPPY Holiday! Spring is always beautiful and always a reminder of pretty things and renewal. For me, it always is a great time for reflecting on childhood joys and simplicity. I just love this time of year for its colors, its celebration, it flourishing, its weather, its vibrancy and energy! Most importantly, its radiance of love and hope (Now, I do not get much more hippy chic than that!)

From Easter Treats

From us to you (hubby could not be in the picture as he is away working and that is not our dog! we borrowed him (Elvis), since ours (Rocky) is too hyper to pose).