Easter Desserts

by Mindy Obenhaus

So a few weeks ago, I showed you the flower boxes we'd finally planted. 

A few days ago, we came out to this.

And when we peered inside...

Yes, it appears Mr. and Mrs. Wren have decided that our flower box would be the perfect place to bring their little baby wrens into this world. I have to say, I'm humbled. And in awe. And any snakes with less than honorable intentions has better stay away! Oh, heck, ALL snakes had better stay away.

(Insert shirttail tug and big huff)

Well, Easter is almost upon us. The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's only fitting that Easter is in spring. A time of rebirth and renewal. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17

And after a time of rejoicing with our church families, most of us head home to continue the festivities with family and, of course, food. In our church we always joke that Baptists can't do anything without food, however I have enough friends of other denominations to know that the same thing can be said about Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians... You get my drift. We all like good food.

So as we look forward to those delicious Easter spreads, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Easter desserts, just in case you're still trying to decide what to fix at your house.

This first one is always a favorite with the kids. Although, I'm woman enough to admit that this particular adult will still arm-wrestle one of those kids for the last one. Okay, only the kids that are bigger than me.

Simply start with your favorite cupcakes. Top with Seven-minute Frosting (find that recipe here), some tinted coconut (how to do that is in the same link) and some colorful jelly beans for a fun, festive treat.

When it comes to Easter desserts, I always think of color. It's spring, after all, so things should be colorful. Like this pistachio cake (recipe here). 

Or these lemon bars (recipe here).

And a new favorite I discovered last year, this Sour Cream Blueberry Bundt Cake (recipe here).

Yum!

Which one would you pick? 

While you're contemplating, let me a share a few more spring pix from around the Obi house. Our Chinese maple has bloomed. Look at those pretty red leaves.

And the Amaryllis that had to be dug up when the plumber replaced a drain line is coming back. 

Another week or so and that entire area will be bursting with red blooms. I can hardly wait. 

Of course, spring also brings other things, like thunderstorms. We're on tap for a few of those this week. And in only two more days, it's opening day for baseball season 2018. Woot-woot! I know Ruthy's as stoked for that one as I am. 

Now it's your turn. Do you have a favorite Easter dessert? Or, maybe, just an all-round preference--colorful, fruity, cake, pie? Enquiring foodie minds really do want to know.

Three-time Carol Award nominee, Mindy Obenhaus, lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com

 

Seven-Minute Frosting, Fun with Coconut and We have a Winner!

This has been a weird week. A lot of everything and whole lotta nothing going on all at the same time. Do you ever have days/weeks like that? Where you've got so much going on inside your head--things that need to be done, planning, plotting, CHARACTERS-- that it feels as though you've been going and going and going when you really haven't done much at all. That's the week I've had. And you know, I just don't like it. Yes, I ticked some administrative things off of my list, but it's still frustrating when you feel like you haven't accomplished a darn thing.

But enough about that. I'd rather talk about food.

So for Easter, I made these cute little cupcakes.

I love it when cute is easy.

I started with some strawberry cupcakes. Thought those would be nice and springy. Then I topped them with good old fashioned Seven-Minute Frosting.

What's that?

You've not had Seven-Minute Frosting?

It's this nice, fluffy, almost marshmallow-like frosting that takes, well, about seven minutes to make.

I don't have pix, but here it is in a nutshell.

You'll need:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Dash of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine your sugar, water, egg whites, corn syrup and salt in the top of a double-boiler or do what I did and simply use a glass or metal bowl that will sit comfortably atop a pan of water. With a handheld electric mixer, beat for thirty seconds at low speed. Just enough to mix everything together.

Next, place the bowl atop the pan over boiling water and beat constantly on high for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Cooking egg whites has never been so delicious.

Remove from heat. Add vanilla and beat 2 more minutes or until frosting is thick enough to spread.

That's all there is to it.

Now, if you're like my seventeen year old son, you're wondering, "Where did you get the green coconut?"

No, I did not have to visit some specialty store. I simply put some flaked coconut in a jar, added two drops of green food coloring, put the lid on and shook it until all of the coconut had turned green.

Don't' you love it when you can actually impress your family?

Speaking of impressive, we have a winner.

And that winner is....

JUST COMMONLY!!!

Woo-hoo! Yay!

Just Commonly has won a copy of Jill Kemerer's latest release, Small-Town Romance.

Congratulations!



Hot Cross Buns and Happy Easter!

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I thought I'd share an old (old, old, old) favorite today. I thought maybe someone (Ruthy?) had done this post before but since I don't see it in the labels, I'm going to assume I AM THE FIRST. Don't correct me if I'm wrong!

  So, it's Good Friday (technically Holy Saturday by the time you read this) and hot cross buns are a tradition in our family. You can read about the history of it here. There are some funny superstitions, too, like the belief that they won't go moldy. (I can't check that one since they're already gone, but I'll be a skeptic and say that's false.) Also, some believe that you should keep one on hand for medicinal purposes. Hmmmm, now that I think about it penicillin is a mold, right? Just perhaps someone was cured from a moldy hot cross bun in olden times? Probably not, but a fun theory.

 So, this is what you'll need:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 
• 1/3 cup  butter, melted
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup currants
• 1 egg beaten, for the top before baking.

  Combine milk and water in a pan and heat to just steaming. let it cool a bit and sprinkle on the yeast and a bit of the sugar. 

 

 Whisk the butter, eggs, and vanilla together. (Hey, it's looking at me!)

 Wait ten minutes while the yeast gets all happy and has a little yeast party. Add the egg and butter to this mix.

  Mix the flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon (we ran out! Crisis!), ginger together and make a well in the flour. Add the liquid mixture and stir until it's all sticky. Add the currants and mix well.

 Turn the whole thing onto a floured surface and kneed until elastic, about seven minutes. Then put it in a greased bowl, in a warm place, and let it double in size. This usually takes about an hour but it only took 40 minutes so I decided to call it good.

 Form into small balls and place in greased pans. Let them rise again. Do some dishes, some laundry, put the kids in the bath, return a few phone calls, iron church clothes, and track down the puppy who got out of the fence and is wandering the neighborhood.
Or not. You could always just sit down and read for a while. That's always an option.
 When they're nice and puffy, put them into a preheated 375F oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes. Your whole house will smell like EASTER.
 (I forgot to take a pic after forming them into balls, so here's a picture of my oven!)

 The icing should be nice and soft. Or whatever. I'm just making it up at this point. Let's just say, icing goes on the buns in the shape of a cross.

 Awwwww. MMMMMMM.....

 I love the blend of nutmeg and ginger and cinnamon.

 Our favorite part?? The eating!!! My oldest is giving me the "Are you really taking a picture of me right now? You didn't even let me brush my hair!"

 Happy Easter everyone! 

  

 

 

Easter Recipe BONANZA!

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and this is a multi-purpose post. Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and EASTER SUNDAY! We've made it! HALLELUJAH!
                                                             But first... rewind....

 

 I hope everyone has had a wonderful Good Friday. We usually attend a Good Friday service at our church where we venerate the cross, meaning everyone comes up and usually bows or kneels at the foot of the cross. It's very solemn and serious. But this year we were invited by our friend Barbara to a retirement center. She wanted to have an Easter concert sing-a-long. Hey, we love to be invited anywhere, so we said "sure".
   Then we had to practice. Most of the songs she chose were hymns we'd never heard before. The youtube clips she sent for us to listen to (and practice with) included Tennessee Ernie Ford and Alan Jackson and Johnny Cash. My kids had NO IDEA who these people were. It was a great education in musical history and gospel hymns!

                                  (Is it just me, or is this a hilarious little statue to have in a nursing home?)

 Anyway, we learned a lot of new songs, sang a few from our tradition (like Lord of All Hopefulness). It was great fun and there was a big turn out. Of course, these older folks already knew the hymns, so we hardly needed to lead. Which was good because the little guys were busy looking at the fish tanks and rolling around on the ground. They were there for entertainment value, definitely. At the end we passed out Easter goodies, in tiny pastel boxes. My husband folded them, the girls and I filled them with confetti, and the boys added the candies. Hm, I wonder where there were hardly any leftover candies??

Something I love about the Easter season is finding new ways to share the Easter story with kids. The sacrifice of the cross is not a warm and fuzzy story, but it's powerful. But how to introduce small kids to it in a way that really helps them remember the sacrifice and God's love for them?

 Food, of course! We all love food, and we usually remember a good dish long after a puppet show has faded from our memory. My friend Christalee sent me this link to Resurrection Rolls.

 You take a package of refrigerated crescent dough, roll a marshmallow in melted butter, then in sugar and cinnamon. (The sugar and cinnamon are supposed to symbolize the spices the women were bringing to put on Jesus' body.) You roll up the dough, explaining how they rolled a big heavy stone in front and there were soldiers guarding it. And when the rolls are done, you crack them open, and show them... Ta-DAH! The tomb is empty!

I was wondering a little about the marshmallow melting all over (can you tell I have a very literal child who would wonder why Jesus melted??) and then I realized we could talk about how they only found his linen shroud.
 I also want to make them with PEEPS. (photo above)

The next thing I saw was this awesomely cool Easter egg made out of yarn and a balloon. "Heyyyy, I have yarn and a balloon," I thought. 

I was egged on (haha) by my facebook friends.

 (I am sure they only wanted to see the "nailed it" result but I decided to try it.)

Wellllll, here it is. One bottle of Mod Podge, a skein of pink yarn, and the ruin of one giant green balloon later. It wasn't strong enough to sit upright on a pretty cake platter, so it's resting in a plastic bowl. I already have the giant Easter bunny to go in it bu THE KIDS DO NOT KNOW THIS. They think it might appear there, on Easter Sunday. Or maybe some eggs. They're not quite sure what is going to be in there when they wake up on Sunday morning.

 We'll dye eggs tomorrow and the kids always have a great time... but then we have a bazillion boiled eggs that no one wants to eat. Here's another great recipe for colored deviled eggs. How cute are these?? I'm thinking I'd like a tray of just teal and pink. Or maybe just light green and teal.

 The site's directions are very simple. Basically, proceed as if you're making a normal batch of deviled eggs, but use the leftover dye. (What? you threw it out? Oh, wait... you didn't because you haven't dyed your eggs yet, like me.)

Now you're probably wondering where all the REAL food is, right? (Or not, since we're now the blog that is run completely by people trying NOT TO EAT.) Well, Pioneer Woman Cooks (REEEEEE!!!! I love you!!!!) put up a link to all her Easter recipes EVAH.

You need a ham recipe?

 Here's her glazed Easter ham.

How about the most delicious fruit salad on the planet? I've made this without the vanilla bean and it was just as good!

Or this strawberry sparkle cake! This is what i'm making for my post this next Tuesday. Don't expect it to look anything like this, so feel free to immediately forget this photo. Enjoy it now, but come Tuesday, no LAUGHING when my version is somewhat less beautiful. 

I'll leave you with this steampunk egg by Thierry Atlan, the great chocolatier. Forty pounds, five thousand dollars. Who wants to buy this for my Easter basket??

Have a wonderful Easter everyone! May the joy and blessing of the resurrection touch each and every one of you. As we say in our Easter service, "He is risen! Indeed, He is risen!"

Macaroons, not macarons! Great for Easter or baby showers or tea parties or...

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and the last time I posted on macarons they were the little French sandwiches that are impossible to make. This time, I decided to make MACAROONS. My friend promised these were the easiest cookie recipe ever. So, let's see if she's right!


                       (little bit of Spring)
Preheat the oven to 350F.

 Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 bag sweetened or unsweetened coconut (depending on how sweet you like your cookies)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla or other flavoring

 Beat four egg whites, sugar, and salt until the white starts to stiffen. I didn't put in the vanilla at this point because I was going to make mine different flavors... and different colors.

 Adding the coconut to the big bowl, I mixed well, then separated into three portions. The first one we made green and added 1/3 tsp vanilla.

 The second portion we tinted pink.

 And added 1/2 tsp framboise.

 The third portion we made a pale blue and added 1/3 vanilla.

 Put it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Sit outside and contemplate nature... or the fact your wife is making cookies instead of dinner. (I'm kidding. He already ate. He just has such a funny expression I had to write something sarcastic.)

 When they're just starting to brown on the bottom, take them out of the oven and let them cool for five minutes. At this point, my four year old said he wasn't so sure about "those blue blobs".

 Even after getting a whiff of  up-close vanilla and coconut scent....

 The pink ones smelled amazzzzziiiiiing. I love raspberry and chocolate together, so I dipped these in dark, melted chocolate.

 I set them on a cake platter and made some tea. My oldest boy cut some flowers... which included crab apple blossoms. Very brave of him, you can hear the tree from 20 feet away. The bees are happy that Spring is here!

 The verdict? Definitely the easiest recipe I've made in a while. I'm not a real fan of coconut, but they were fun and different, which hit the spot today!

 Leaving you with a few flower pics. Miniature daffodils, in assorted varieties...

  And one little bottle of grape hyacinth.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!