Easter Egg Cupcake People

When reader Christine Mitchell made my Easter cupcakes baked in real egg shells, she filled the shells too high with batter.  The cupcakes overflowed out of the eggs instead of resting neatly inside the egg shell (as shown below).

Instead of tossing the eggs, she created a new Easter sensation - Easter egg cupcake people!

Easter Egg Cookies

Flat Easter egg cookies are fairly common and can be striking and adorable (the Easter egg cookies over at I Am Baker are a prime example).  But, not all of us have the artistic talent, time, or patience to create such intricate cookies.  To make my Easter egg cookies, you need only enough skill to form dough into a shape somewhat resembling an egg.  Trust me, you can do this.  What makes my Eater egg cookies cute is the colored foil they are wrapped in - reminiscent of the ever-so-popular chocolate Easter eggs.

Let's forgot about the cute factor for a minute and focus on the taste of these Easter egg cookies.  They are nutty (I used hazelnuts, but you can choose from any of your favorite nuts) and loaded with coffee flavor.  They taste a bit like biscotti dunked in coffee, but with the texture of Christmas snowball cookies or the similar Mexican wedding cookies.  In fact, I may repeat the Easter egg cookie recipe again as a ball come Christmas-time. 

Easter Egg Cookies Recipe

I based my Easter egg cookie recipe off of the nut ball recipe from The Passion Fruit.  My adapted recipe is below.

Yield: 18 Easter Egg Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 2 cups finely chopped toasted hazelnuts (or any other chopped nuts)
• powdered sugar, to taste

Special Supplies:

• Colored foil candy wrappers in whatever colors you like (you can buy them at kitchen specialty shops or online)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.
3. Mix in flour, salt, and coffee. 
4. Stir in hazelnuts. 
5. Shape dough into eggs.  I suggest having an egg on hand as a model.  You could also use an egg serving tray like the one in the photo to test the eggs for size (they will not rise in the oven). 
6. Freeze the cookie dough eggs for 20 minutes to help them hold their shape.
7. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet or Silpat for 12 minutes. 
8. Once cool to the touch, roll in powdered sugar.  If you lift them off of the cookie sheet too soon, they may crumble in your hands.
9. Wrap in colored foil.

Hot Cross Buns Stuffed with Chocolate and Strawberries

The chocolate cross on these hot cross buns provides just a small hint of what's inside.  Take a bite into the hot cross buns and you'll be surprised by the melted chocolate and chopped fresh strawberries you'll find in the center.  These hot cross buns are far from traditional, but they could easily become a new tradition.  

Easter Egg Cupcakes with "Yolk" Centers

Last year, I (and many of you) discovered the magic of Easter cupcakes baked in egg shells.  You can bake any cupcake recipe in cleaned out egg shells and when you are ready to eat the cake, you just crack the egg and dig in. Ah-mazing!

Easter Cupcakes Baked in Real Egg Shells

I watched my Grandmother's face when she realized that I hadn't handed her a hard boiled egg but rather a cake baked inside a real egg shell.  Her eyes were filled with wonder and I could envision what she must have looked like as a tyke the very first time she saw a red balloon float across the sky or the the trunk of a giant elephant spewing a stream of water.

"Crack it on the table," I told her.

 

Eggs were cracked, cupcakes were eaten, and I was perceived as a cupcake Houdini.

How to Make Cupcakes in Egg Shells

Bunny Tails - Donut Holes for Easter

The egg hunt is done and the Sunday dresses have been traded for play clothes. You're frantically looking for the next activity that will entertain your kids and all of their cousins before they decide to play another game of "Let's empty the entire closet onto the floor."  You suddenly remember this post and heave a sigh of relief.  You click on this download link to print out a bunny coloring sheet for each child (the same as the bunny above, minus the color). 

While the kids are coloring, you entice other adults to hang out with you while you prepare the bunny tails.  As each child finishes coloring his/her bunny, you present them with a tail, take a photo for posterity (if that's your thing), eat the tails, and optionally start over.  Warning: You might want to have a special prize for the best coloring job.  Otherwise, you'll find that the bunnies will be hop-hazardly colored as every-bunny hurries to be the first to enjoy their treat.  To stretch out the fun - head over to my Facebook page and upload your pictures.  I'd love to see them!

How to Make Bunny Tails

Goldbunny Crackers for Easter

There is no reason that your homemade goldfish crackers have to be fish. Why not surprise your egg hunters with some adorable goldbunnies?

Are you thinking goldturkeys for Thanksgiving and goldsantas for Christmas? I sure am!

Tips:

• I bought the bunny cookie cutters from Copper Gifts.
  
• Check out my homemade goldfish cracker post for the recipe.
  

Easter Trivia

Q: What part of the chicken's body determines the color of its egg?

The answer is at the end of the post.

Last night, I attended a Slow Food trivia night (Convivial Pursuit). I never attend trivia nights because I suck at trivia, and frankly, I don't like doing activities I suck at. I love food, however, so I thought a trivia night with only questions about food might be something I could excel at. Wrong! I was of no use to my team. There was only one question that remotely related to cupcakes. They showed the following cookbook on the big screen without the title and author and we were supposed to know the author.

I felt like the whole room expected to me to know the answer. "Come on, Cupcake Girl. Here's your chance to shine." Did I know the answer? Nope.

Any foodies who like trivia and live in St. Louis should consider attending next year. I'd go again, but only to volunteer. No more trivia for me. I've given it a fair chance and I'm going for the clean break-up.

To see the pictures from last night, go to J. Pollack Photography and enter the access code QJPKAKSW at the bottom of the page.

Congrats to the Sauce Magazine staffers on winning the trivia night and to Iron Stef for her big 50/50 raffle win! As you can see on left, Steph was a bit excited.

A: The ear. Chicken breeds with white ear lobes lay white eggs, whereas chickens with red ear lobes lay brown eggs.