Darina Allen: Easter cookies and little chocolate nests to make with the children
These sprinkle cookies are the perfect thing to make with the children over the Easter holidays.
For intrepid and enthusiastic bakers, Easter is a super exciting time of the year. Every country around the world has its Easter baking traditions – from Finland to Greece, Spain to Romania, Italy and Ukraine.
Many of the Nordic and Eastern countries have elaborate egg painting traditions, and dyed hard-boiled eggs are incorporated into enriched braided yeast breads in Greece, Italy and Spain. Using up as many of the surplus eggs accumulated during the Lenten session was definitely a priority in country households.
All manner of celebration cakes were baked, not just to mark Easter and the Christian resurrection itself but also the arrival of Spring. And in Finland, P ää si ä isleip ä , a festive cylindrical bread flavoured with orange, lemon, lots of dried fruit and cardamom, traditionally baked in milking pails, was made to celebrate the arrival of new calves!
Germany and Austria still have a rich baking tradition. Families bake a wide variety of delicious Easter biscuits to share with family and friends. I first tasted a variety of these little biscuits in the late 1960s when I was invited to my first ever Easter Bunny hunt by Irene Bauer. She and her mother, refugees from the Second World War, lived at Ballymaloe for more than 20 years. They brought their cherished traditions and customs with them from their native Bavaria and shared the recipes with us. Everyone had their favourites, I remember loving Terrassen (triple butter shortbread cookies sandwiched with jam) and Haselnussmakronen (hazelnut macaroons) too. The latter are naturally dairy- and gluten-free — made just from egg whites, ground hazelnuts, a little cinnamon and sugar. I also remember butter cookies which had sprinkles on top. They could be made in a variety of shapes including bunnies for Easter and fir trees for Christmas.
Our Easter traditions include Simnel Cake, a gorgeous rich fruit cake iced with toasted marzipan with an extra layer of marzipan baked into the centre and of course hot cross buns . The children make chocolate Rice Krispie nests and fill them with speckled eggs and lots and lots of Easter bunny biscuits to hide in the garden and share with their friends. Making Easter biscuits is time-consuming but fun when it becomes a family activity — that’s what memories are made of.
Let’s keep all the customs going and pass both traditions and recipes onto the next generation.
All these biscuits keep for several weeks in an airtight container if you can resist them.
Easter butter cookies
These biscuits can be made into any shape you fancy — bunnies, Easter eggs…
Servings
70Preparation Time
10 minsCooking Time
20 minsTotal Time
30 minsCourse
BakingCuisine
GermanIngredients
400g (14oz) soft butter
200g (7oz) sugar
5 egg yolks — save the egg whites for macaroons
500g (18oz) plain white flour
For the glaze:
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons cream
sprinkles
Method
Line some baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks. Beat until light and fluffy. Sieve and stir in the flour, turn out onto a board and knead the mixture until it comes together. Rest for 30 minutes in a fridge to firm up.
Mix the egg yolk and cream together for the glaze.
Preheat the oven to 160ËšC/325ËšF/Gas Mark 3.
Roll out the dough into scant 5mm (1/4 inch) approx. thick and stamp out into Easter shapes — bunnies etc.
Brush the top with glaze and scatter with sprinkles. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes approx. making sure to keep an eye on them. Cool on a wire rack.
Mrs Bauer’s Terrassen Biscuits
The Bauers were a German refugee family that my father-in-law gave a home and a job to in 1947. Mrs Bauer was a superb cook and would make lots of delicious different kinds of biscuits. These delicious ones were always my favourite.
Servings
15Preparation Time
10 minsCooking Time
15 minsTotal Time
25 minsCourse
BakingCuisine
GermanIngredients
350g (12oz) white flour
110g (4oz) caster sugar
225g (8oz) cold butter
raspberry jam
icing sugar for dusting
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ËšC/350ËšF/Gas Mark 4.
Put the flour and sugar into a bowl; rub in the cold butter as for shortcrust pastry. Gather the mixture together and knead lightly. Roll out to 5mm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut into biscuits of whatever shape you choose of equal numbers. Bake in the preheated oven until they are pale brown, 10 - 15 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack.
You may need to gather the pastry together a couple of times and reroll it after each cutting.
When the biscuits are cold place the largest one on a sheet of parchment paper, take the medium-size biscuit and butter some jam on the base, then place down in the centre of the larger biscuit, then take the smallest biscuit and butter some jam on the base of that and places carefully into the centre of the medium size biscuit then dust with icing sugar. Repeat with the rest of your biscuits.
Easter hazelnut macarons
A fabulous gift, if you can stop yourself from digging in!
Servings
50Preparation Time
10 minsCooking Time
50 minsTotal Time
60 minsCourse
BakingCuisine
FrenchIngredients
250g (9oz) hazelnuts
250g (9oz) vanilla sugar
a pinch of pure cinnamon (optional)
4 egg whites, preferably free-range and organic
50 whole hazelnuts, toasted for garnish
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ËšC/350ËšF/Gas Mark 4.
Cover two or three baking sheets with silicone paper.
Place the whole hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the skins loosen (keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn). Remove from the oven and rub off the skins in a tea towel. Grate the peeled hazelnuts in a nut mill or whizz with a little of the sugar in a food processor until quite fine — add cinnamon if using.
Whisk the egg with the caster sugar until they hold a stiff peak.
Fold in the grated hazelnuts. Drop a teaspoon of the mixture onto the baking sheets and top each one with a toasted whole hazelnut. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes approx. Cool on a wire rack.
Easter egg nests
Super easy and fun to make — decorate with fluffy Easter chicks.
Servings
24Preparation Time
10 minsTotal Time
10 minsCourse
BakingCuisine
IrishIngredients
4oz (110g) Rice Krispies or Cornflakes
6oz (175g) chocolate
72 speckled mini eggs
cupcake papers or ring moulds
Method
Put the chocolate in a Pyrex bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Bring just to the boil, turn off the heat immediately and allow to melt in the bowl. Stir in the Rice Krispies or Cornflakes.
Spoon into cupcake cases. Flatten a little and make a well in the centre. Fill with three speckled chocolate mini eggs. Allow to set.
Congratulations to Calvey’s on their most recent accolade, a prestigious Irish Food Writers’ Guild Food Award. The unique flavour of their lamb comes from their sheep that graze on an extensive sandy bank area of Keel on seaside machair, salt marsh plants and herbs. Calvey’s who have their own On-Farm Abattoir have a celebratory special offer of a side of salt marsh lamb in an Easter Hamper with free delivery for €120. I can personally vouch for how delicious this lamb is and have ordered it as an Easter treat for a second year. I also enjoy Spring Lamb from local family butchers including Frank Murphy in Midleton and Michael McGrath in Lismore, Co. Waterford. Support your local butcher.
, see achilllamb.ie
If you are planning a trip to Northern Ireland, check out Waterman House Cookery School in the happening Cathedral area of Belfast City Centre. It’s now managed by Ballymaloe Cookery School alumna, Clare McCann, and owned by chef, Niall McKenna, who owns the James St and Hadskis Restaurants.
They offer a range of day and evening cooking classes for all ages and abilities. I’m told that classes are informal and relaxed, and well-structured with a mix of demonstration and hands-on sessions. After class, guests sit down together with a glass of wine to enjoy the food that has been cooked.
, see waterman.house
