With Easter just around the corner, we thought we’d compile a collection of our favourite Easter recipes! As the world adjusts to the new ‘normal’ there has never been a better time to get together with your household and try out some new fun recipes in the kitchen!
All of our recipes are ‘kid friendly’ and guaranteed to keep them entertained over the long weekend!
Photo by Jasmine Waheed on Unsplash
3 Easy Easter Recipes to Get the Whole Family Involved
1. Easter sugar cookies.
Sugar cookies are a classic crowd pleaser! Plus, they are oh-so easy to bake from scratch and look great too.
I bake these cookies for most festive occasions, simply switching up the cookie cutter or stamp I use depending on the time of year. For Easter, I prefer to make round cookies and use my cookie Easter stamps on the icing. Personally, I stick to pastel icing colours for this season, normally in yellow, green and pink.
This sugar cookie recipe is inspired by Sally’s Baking Addictions recipe. Including chilling and decorating, this recipe takes around 3 hours from start to finish, although baking time is only 12 minutes and yields 24 delicious cookies.
Note: If you don’t have cookie cutters, flouring the rim of a glass and using this will work too.
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ cup plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ cup room temperature unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 x 500g box of Orchard White Icing
- Food colouring of your choice
- ½ cup corn syrup (Glucose syrup will also work)
How to make Easter sugar cookies:
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract, and combine, ensuring to scrape down the sides.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix and gently mix until they form a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add one tablespoon of flour.
- Divide dough into two equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a lightly floured surface until about 5mm thick. Cover in cling wrap or foil and refrigerate for 1.5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and flour the surface. Using your chosen cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes and place about 7cm apart on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before completing the next steps.
- Separate your icing into three bowls and colour them how you wish. Roll out the icing, using the same cutter as the cookies cut icing into shapes. If using a cookie stamp, use it now.
- Using a knife, spread the corn syrup onto one cookie, place one of your icing cutouts on the cookie. Hold for three seconds until the icing sticks. Repeat until all cookies have been iced.
Just because you’re celebrating at home this year doesn’t mean you can’t decorate your home. Due to their colouring, these cookies look great on a white platter decorated with golden Easter eggs.
2. Homemade hot cross buns.
There is nothing better than a freshly baked hot cross bun! But have you ever tried baking your own? It’s not difficult as some might think. This recipe does require a little more attention to detail than others and will take around 90 minutes from start to finish.
This Home-Made Hot Cross Bun recipe is inspired by Bake Play Smile and yields 12 buns.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1tbs yeast
- 4 cups plain flour
- 1tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ⅓ cup caster sugar
- ½ tps salt
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 80g softened butter
- 180 sultanas
For the piping:
- ½ cup plain flour
- 100g water
For the glaze:
- 2 tbs caster sugar
- 2 tbs water
How to make Hot Cross Buns:
- Combine warm milk and yeast in a medium-sized bowl and whisk together. Put in a warm place for 15 minutes or until frothy.
- In a large bowl, combine nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, caster sugar and plain flour.
- Rub butter into dry ingredients until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture, egg and warm water.
- Add sultanas and combine until the mixture resembles a ball of dough.
- Place the dough into a large greased bowl, cover and let rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, before dividing into 12 equally sized balls.
- Place in a greased baking tin and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, begin preparing the piping.
- Sift flour into a bowl, adding just enough water to make a thick paste.
Using a piping bag, pipe the paste in cross formations on the buns. - Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.
- Meanwhile make the glaze.
- Place water and sugar into a microwave safe bowl, heat in 30 second bursts until sugar dissolves.
- Brush over the freshly cooked hot cross buns.
Feel free to switch out some of the dried fruits in this recipe for chocolate chips; just ensure the weight is the same.
3. Easter egg chocolate nests.
Easter egg chocolate nests are a popular treat in Australia at Easter time. A festive take on the classic chocolate spider, the chocolate egg nest is the perfect tasty treat. They’re super easy to make, even with young kids! These crunchy noodles covered in chocolate take under 10 minutes to make, not including setting time.
Ingredients:
- 200g fried noodles
- 4 tbs peanut butter
- 400g dark chocolate
- 200g Cadbury mini eggs
How to make Easter egg chocolate nests:
- Melt your chocolate and peanut butter in a medium-sized bowl. This can be done in the microwave by using bursts of 30 seconds.
- Mix until smooth in texture.
- Add noodles to chocolate mixture and gently stir.
- Using a tablespoon, spoon mixture in small clumps onto a tray lined with baking paper.
- Press two Cadbury mini eggs into each clump to form a nest-like appearance.
- Refrigerate overnight or until set.
If you’re serving these treats on a platter, or simply want to reduce mess, pop your nest in patty-papers.