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Showing posts with label candy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label candy. Show all posts

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter 2013...

I was not sure if I wanted to have a repeat of our our mostly homemade easter this year but my daughter decided for me. She begged for me to make our treats again. Now that I am working part time I was not sure if I could swing it but I had a light week last week since the kids were on spring break so I gave it a shot.

Breakfast!
Notice the eggs on the window that the kids made yesterday. How fun is that? Oh and that white stuff on my lawn, yes that is still snow... I do not ever remember having this much snow on Easter EVER!

Our Breakfast Menu:
Fresh fruit... Cantaloupe, Strawberries & Grapes
Colored hard boiled eggs :)
A bit of bacon
Maple Sausage
Hopping Easter Bunny rolls   (It wouldn't be Easter without them)

The home made candy treats...
"Cadbury" eggs


"Reeses" eggs
"Peeps"  I forgot to take a picture before they got loaded into the baskets :)

lots of bunny rolls
Love this floppy eared "twisty" bunny!
I have links to most of the recipes for the candy in my previous Easter thread or click here

These Bunny rolls have been a tradition in my family since before I came along. My Great Aunt Christine Harris (otherwise known as "Auntie") found the recipe in a magazine and added them to the family brunch feast. I did not realize how much I missed them and all the traditions of our family Easter until I began making them for/with my kids.

Here is the recipe for the rolls with a printable version

Easter Bunny Rolls

Ingredients:
1 Packet Yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup water warmed
1 cup Milk Warmed
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Shortening
1 Teaspoon Salt
5-5 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 Eggs, beaten
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange zest (grated orange peel)

Soften yeast in warmed water.
Combine milk, sugar, shortening & salt. When lukewarm mix in 2 cups of the flour. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in softened yeast. Add orange juice and zest (peel).
Add flour one cup at a time until dough is just barely sticky and still soft.
Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes. dough should be soft, smooth and elastic.
Place dough into a lightly greased bowl. Turn dough to cover completely wit a light coating of oil. Cover and let rise for at least 2 hours or until dough is double in size.
Punch dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

To shape into bunnies cut a piece of dough a bit smaller than your hand. On a clean un-floured surface roll out into a rope.
for twisty bunnies use one piece of dough proximately 6-8 inches long. form into a "U" shape. grab at the bottom of the "U" and twist 2 times to form bunny and ears. cut a piece of dough the size of a marble roll into a ball and place in the opening at the bottom to form the "bunny tail. Place on parchment paper

For double roll shape bunnies use the same length of dough to form to dough circles. Cut 3 small pieces of dough to form 2 ears and a tail. Make sure to "snug up" the tail and ears to the dough rolls well not just place them "next to" the rolls. Tip... I assemble this type of bunny roll right on my parchment paper.

Make sure to leave 1 1/2 to 2 inches between bunnies.

Cover and let the bunnies "proof"or rise a bit, about 30 minutes. Heat your oven to 375 degrees.

When rolls have puffed up a bit place them in oven and bake for 12 -15 minutes.

For a glossy look you can gently brush the rolls with an egg wash (whisked egg white and 1Tablkespoon of water) just before baking.

After the rolls have cooled store in an air tight container until ready to use. Frost just before serving.

Simple glaze recipe:
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 Tablespoon milk
1-2 cups of powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients to make a thin glaze

"Double roll" Bunny unfrosted

The "LOOT"


                                                                    Happy kids!








Happy Easter everyone!
Count your blessings and hug those you love as often as you can. You never know when life will throw you a curve ball!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Our Mostly Homemade Easter…

This was one of the most fun and rewarding Easter's I have prepared for my family! Yes it was some extra work but so worth it and well received. I can not tell you how empowering it was last week to walk out of Target only having purchased Starburst jellybeans (with a coupon of course!) and 1 small toy for each child. (the books were purchased from the school book fair) As I looked at the people around me with carts full of pre-packaged treats I just smiled to myself and had faith that my plans would workout.

** Disclaimer... I have nothing against prepackaged treats! I believe in choice. I wanted to try something new. My kids are already hoping the "Easter bunny" will make/bring these awesome treats for them again next year :) What can I say... I'm a lucky wife and mom!

I Love Easter!


Here is the list of things we made...
  Family traditions…
  Hopping Bunny rolls
  Easter Bread
  Colored eggs. I tried the bake in the oven method and was not super happy with it.

New to us…
  Homemade “Cadbury” Crème eggs
  Peeps
  Reese’s eggs with milk, semi sweet and white chocolate
  "Solid" milk and white chocolate eggs with the kids initials on them. I poured my leftover dipping chocolate onto Parchment paper and formed an egg shape. Then made their initials with leftover chips. The Kids LOVED them :)

Breakfast menu...
Easter eggs! I tried the bake in the oven method and was not super happy with it.
Easter Bread,
Hopping bunny rolls
Cantaloupe
Home made pork sausage

The Recipes…
Homemade Cadbury Crème eggs… These are seriously good!
·         1/2 cup light corn syrup
·         1/4 cup butter, room temperature
·         3 cups confectioner’s powdered sugar (I used ½ organic only because I had it)
·         1 teaspoon vanilla (I used a clear variety)
·         1/4 teaspoon salt
·         yellow food coloring (I made mine a bit more orange to look like farm fresh eggs)
·         1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips

I followed the instructions here. Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs
These were pretty easy. Here are my tips and things I learned…
When rolling out centers of eggs it was very helpful to keep my hands dusted with powdered sugar. It was still sticky work but it helped. 
              *Side note I Love my Flour sugar shaker(s) yes plural, I have 4 of them and use them all! What do I have in them? Let me tell you…  cinnamon/sugar blend, flour, powdered sugar & one has baking soda (I use this for cleaning sticky pots/and and for stained counter tops).
Definitely use parchment paper.
I thinned my chocolate with a bit of coconut oil.
I had to do the dipping method since I do not have any molds. 
A small 2 Qt Crockpot works great as a double boiler to keep your chocolate warm.
Take your filling/insides out of the freezer in batches of 5-6.  They get soft quick and the harder they are when you dip them the better!
Let them sit on the counter to set up as long as you can. I rushed mine back into the freezer so the kids would not see them. When I took them out later they had a lot of condensation on them and remained a bit sticky.
Here are some of my production pictures...



Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!


Peeps…
I followed these instructions here. homemade peeps how to tutorial and recipe
 Homemade Peeps Recipe:
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
  • 1/3 cups cold water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
MY Tips...
You definitely need a thermometer that goes to 238 degrees. Mine only went to 220 and I think I over cooked my sugar mixture a bit. I also slightly over whipped my sugar mixture. These set up quick and can be a bit tricky. Here is another good tutorial and I may do it this way next time. I also overfilled my small piping bag. Lesson  learned! Here is how mine looked… 
 I decided toward the end when the marshmallow was setting up fast to make "Peep Nuggets" 
As for taste I liked the blue peeps better because I covered these with sugar I dyed. It is much finer than the store bought Pink colored sugar.

side note... if you let these sit out they will dry out and get stale to the point where they taste a bit like "Circus Peanuts" Candy

 Breakfast Sausage , I’m still perfecting my blend of spices but this is a pretty good start… 
1 lb. ground pork
1 Tbs. fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 Tbs. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tbs. brown sugar *
1 Tbs. dijon mustard
1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 Tbs. kosher salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Form into eight 2" wide, 1/2" thick patties
*Leave out the brown sugar and it will taste a lot like Jimmy Dean Breakfast sausage 

the bread recipes will be posted in a bit... :)

How was your weekend? Did you do or make anything special or new?