Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Easter recipes: A round up

Mr Bite and I are heading up to Exmouth this Saturday, to spend nearly a week there before returning over the Easter long weekend. Although we don't exactly need more warm weather after the Summer we've had, I'm really looking forward to the break and to going further north in Western Australia than I've been before. It should be a relaxed week, with opportunities for exploring both on land and underwater (there are lots of snorkeling spots).

With the timing of our trip, I expect to do less Easter baking this year than usual. I may dive into some things on our return, or I may let this year slide a little - I'll see how it pans out. Usually I make some Easter-themed things and some baked goods that are just enjoyable to have around. After all, a 4-day long weekend is pretty much an excuse to bake, in my mind!

Last year I had just bought my food processor and had fun with raw fruit and nut ballsberry-oat squares and lemon pie bars, and Hannah's chocolate coconut hazelnut fudge from Wayfaring Chocolate.

Vegan lemon pie bars - with terrible photography

Most years I also make Easter chocolates in some rabbit-shaped chocolate moulds I bought many years ago. I like being able to choose what chocolate goes in, and to combine flavours or add in ingredients if I'm feeling creative. Some examples of the sorts of shapes you can make are in this Easter chocolates post on Taste.com.au.

If you're looking for some other ideas for Easter this year, here are some of the things I might have made if we weren't going away...and which I may yet make later in April.

Sweet / baked goods

Blueberry lemon squares from Baked by Rachel - Almost a hybrid of my two Easter baking efforts last year.

Blueberry rye sourdough from cityhippyfarmgirl - Amazing looking bread.

Chilli chocolate egg lollies on BBC Good Food - Dark chocolate with chilli, on a stick.

Chocolate, blueberry and ginger scones from Green Gourmet Giraffe - These have been sitting in my 'to make' bookmark folder for 9 months now (!) and Easter seems like a good time to finally get to them.

Coconut peanut butter Easter eggs at The Baking Pan - Chocolate and peanut butter with coconut. What's not to love?

Easter bunny biscuits on Taste.com.au - Flavoured with cinnamon and lemon.

Gingerbread flax muffins from Post Punk Kitchen - Ginger, cinnamon, cloves...good flavours.

Honeycomb Hokey Pokey from Hotly Spiced - This recipe almost looks too good to be true, with 3 ingredients but incredibly crispy honeycomb results.

Hot cross muffin buns on BBC Good Food - A fun variation on standard hot cross buns (mine, of course, would have no peel).

Lemon drizzle cake on BBC Good Food - This ingredient list includes polenta and yoghurt.

Lemon and rosemary cupcakes from Delicious Magazine - Rosemary in cupcakes has me captivated.

Simnel cupcakes from Baking Mad - Cupcakes flavoured with treacle, mixed spice and raisins.

Warm choc-chip pikelets with caramelised pears and chocolate sauce on Taste.com.au - This would take my pikelet obsession to a whole new (dangerous!) level.

Welsh cakes from Eating for England - Traditional spiced Welsh cakes with currants.


Savoury / meals

Anything with berbere spice, from The Tropical Vegan - An Ethiopian spice mix with nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, paprika and coriander, among other things.

Bliss salad from Peas and Thank You - A cabbage-based salad with lots of added flavour.

Fried rice with cuttlefish, pineapple and dill on SBS Food - Probably without the cuttlefish, in my case.

Mango fried rice from Post Punk Kitchen - A tropical twist on fried rice.

Rhubarb and lentil curry from Allotment 2 Kitchen - An intriguing recipe adapted from Celia Brooks Brown 'New Urban Farmer'


Tofu bacon from Veganise This - Granted, this has nothing to do with Easter. But by all accounts it deserves to be made and, again, Easter seems as good a time as any!




And that's exactly one savoury recipe to two sweet recipes, which sounds about right to me :-)


What do you like to make at Easter? Do you have any plans yet for this year?

Also, thank you for all the well wishes regarding my coughing woes - I'm very pleased to report I'm nearly back to my usual cough-free self. I think going to work on Monday was a bit of a mistake all up (albeit a necessary one given what I had on), and a day at home yesterday worked wonders! 

28 comments:

  1. sounds like you really need some fried rice with tofu bacon! That would help you try a few of your savoury selections. Glad my scones are on your list. Easter is an odd time when other than hot cross buns and chocolate I draw a blank - but it is an excellent excuse to eat chocolate and I love making hot cross buns - have been doing that for some years now. I would like to bake a simnel cake but don't have enough interest in eating one!

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    1. Fried rice with tofu bacon sounds like a perfect combination actually. And probably one that will linger until I make it - they are the best sorts of dishes, those lingering ones :)

      I will confess to not being very inspired (in an eating sense) by the traditional simnel cakes either. The cupcakes above looked like they had enough to keep me happy if I omitted the icing though.

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  2. I love baking over Easter, too. Thinking of experimenting with healthier versions of carrot cake and some easter cookies, need to find my themed cookie cutters! Have a great time in Exmouth :)

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    1. Thanks Sarah! I need to get some Easter themed cookie cutters actually - mine are all Christmassy!

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  3. what a great round-up of recipes- we do something different every year!

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    1. Something different each year sounds like a fun way of doing things :)

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  4. Hope you have a wonderful relaxing holiday and I'm looking forward to hearing all about Exmouth! I don't really have an Easter baking tradition although I did enjoy making Johanna's hot cross buns last year so that could be the start of my Easter tradition.

    Great round-up of recipes, I highly recommend making berbere but if/when you get around to it you should also make niter kibbeh (spiced clarified margarine/oil). Ethiopian food is so delicious! I might have to make some more soon...

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    1. I have so many of your Ethiopian dishes bookmarked :) I feel like it will be a cuisine that could engulf me happily, if I can ever get to letting it do so.

      I'll definitely update on Exmouth!

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  5. Cute bunnies.. and some nice looking lemon bars, too! I do love those.

    I don't celebrate Easter, anymore. I've found that it's the most religious of all holidays (although still highly commercialized.) I've stopped celebrating it since leaving religion. Last year I went to a potluck at my brothers just for kicks, though.
    I'm not even sure when it is, this year!

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    1. To be honest, I don't celebrate it either, in the true sense. But we get a 4-day weekend here (do you not get one??) and chocolate ends up being everywhere, so I do associated with baking opportunities and also chocolate :)

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    2. Nope.. we don't have days off for Easter in America. That's probably part of the reason why it's meaningless to me. :) The only reason I even know it's coming up is because of the Easter candy aisles at the grocery, and church billboards advertising egg hunts!

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  6. Ohhh yeah... Love Easter baking. I'm so keen to do a rainbow cake, not really Easter food, but it's bright and colorful like Easter egg wrappers... Lol! That counts right. Have a brill time on your holiday too.

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    1. Absolutely counts! My stance on Easter is anything goes :P

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  7. I will definitely be making brioche french toast and S has a request in that my Mum makes brioche bread and butter pudding. We gather at the coast and tend to cook as a family, so I'm imagining there will be some massively wonderful meals, we just need to decide on them!

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    1. The deciding is sometimes half the fun :) I hope you have a lovely time - and brioche bread and butter pudding sounds quite amazing!

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  8. Thanks so much for mentioning the Hokey Pokey! It's a great thing to make as it's so quick, simple and inexpensive and it's something you can make with the kids if you like having them in the kitchen. I hope you have a wonderful break over Easter. I've never been to Exmouth but I've heard great things so am sure you will have an incredible time xx

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    1. Thank you :) And yes, that Hokey Pokey is like a dish of wonderment, with it's ingredient list! I'm really looking forward to making it.

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  9. Easter has sort of snuck up on me this year, can it really be next week??
    Lots of lovely recipes in there, (thanks for including mine too :-)

    ps. hope you well and truly feeling better.
    xx

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    1. Thanks Brydie :) I'm also unsure where Easter came from and think it may well slip under my radar this year...travelling over it will be my excuse, and I think a small little person can provide yours!

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  10. Easter always means driving out for a long lunch somewhere in the country for my family, and I look forward to it every year. This year, however, will be the first without my brother or late grandma, so I think it will be a little sad, too. But at least there will be dessert. Even if not much chocolate (Easter is never chocolate-y for us. I was always jealous of kids with mountains of chocolate!)

    I shall return to this post of yours when I haven't just eaten so much that I honestly feel I might throw up. YAY ME AND MY INTUITIVE EATING SKILLS! Damn it.

    Hannah out.

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    1. As someone who is feeling like they ate just slightly too much peanut butter off a spoon (why do I do it?!) I can help but feel slightly glad that I'm not the only one in this non-intuitive eating position. But I hope you don't throw up :/

      My experiences of Easter chocolate have always - always! - been of chocolate that doesn't deserve to be chocolate. I think you have the right approach in having Easter dessert and good chocolate the rest of the year :) I hope your lunch is a mix of happy memories and good food, and the absences aren't too painful xo

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    2. I lay down flat instead, and that helped. *rolls eyes*

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  11. Hot cross buns, of course. And something else, but I don't know what yet. All your bookmarked blueberry recipes look good. I saw a recipe for flourless blueberry polenta cake that looked pretty yummy, so I might try that out...

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    1. Please do try it out, and then post the results :) That sounds delicious.

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  12. I love berbere spice - I'm making a curry using it tonight!

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  13. What a lovely selection of recipes! Have a good break Kari :)

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