Easter Recipes

Best Chocolate Easter Eggs

1 cup soft butter
2 tsp salt
4 tsp vanilla
1 can condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
10 cups icing sugar
1 tsp. yellow food coloring
1 lb. semisweet chocolate

Beat butter, salt and vanilla until fluffy. Add milk, beat in sugar.
Blend until stiff. Dust with brown sugar. Knead til smooth.
Set aside more then 2/3 of mixture. To the remaining mixture add yellow food
coloring. Blend in well. Divide yellow and white into 16 or 24 pieces. Shape
yellow into ball, mold white around yellow to form an egg shape. Dry at room
temperature on paper towels for 24 hours.
Melt chocolate in double boiler or in microwave until smooth. Dip eggs in
chocolate. (paraffin wax may be added and melted with chocolate to prevent
chocolate from melting in your hands). Once dipped cool at room temperature.
Refrigerate after cool.

These cream filled eggs taste just like the foil wrapped ones you can buy.
When sliced these eggs will have a white cream filling with a yellow filling
that appears to be the yolk.






Lemon Tea Cookies

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 egg
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, powder, soda
and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter with 3/4 cup sugar. Set
aside. In a small bowl combine milk and vinegar and add to butter mixture. Add
egg and 1 tsp lemon juice. Stir well. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop mixture by
spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes till golden. Remove
to wire rack. In a small bowl combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup lemon juice and
stir to form a glaze. While cookies are still warm, brush with glaze. Makes
approximately 2 dozen cookies.




Spring Orange Custards

4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp orange extract, divided
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly. Stir in milk,
1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp of the orange extract, and salt. Place 6 ungreased
6-ounce custard cups in a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Divide custard mixture
evenly among the cups. set pan on the oven rack. Carefully pour boiling water
into the pan around the cups to a depth of 1 inch. Bake 30 to 45 minutes or
until a knife inserted at the edge of a cup comes out clean. Remove cups from
the pan and cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
In a small mixing bowl, combine whipping cream, 1/4 tsp orange extract, and 2
tsp sugar. Beat until soft peaks form. Spoon on top of the custards. Makes 6
servings.



Easter Egg Nests

1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 drops yellow food color
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups flaked coconut
36 jelly beans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat cookie sheets with nonstick
cooking spray. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, egg, vanilla, and food
color until well blended. Beat in the flour until smooth, then fold in the
coconut. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the cookie
sheets. Flour your thumb, then press an indentation into the center of
each cookie to create a nest. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the
edges are golden. Remove from the oven and gently push 2 jelly
beans into each nest. Let the nests cool slightly on the cookie sheets, then
remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.
Yields: about 18 small nests




Easter Nests

7 oz marshmallow cream
1/4 c peanut butter
2 tbsp margarine, melted
5 oz chow mien noodles
1 c M&Ms plain chocolate candy, pastel colors

In a mixing bowl, combine marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and margarine
until smooth. Fold in noodles and M&M's. Chill until easy to handle. On waxed
paper, form mixture by 1/3 cupfuls into 3" nests. Chill for 30 minutes. Place
several M&M's in each nest.




Bird Nest Cupcakes

Your favorite cupcake mix
Your favorite frosting mix
Long strand coconut
jelly beans (pastel Easter colors)

Bake your cupcakes. When cool frost with white or chocolate frosting. Decorate
with coconut around the outside circle of cupcake. Place colored jelly beans
in center. Coconut can be toasted if you prefer a brown nest!





Bird's Nests

1 bag peanut butter chips (10 oz. )
1 TBSP. solid shortening
1 large can (5oz.) thin chow mein noodles
1 bag pastel colored M&M peanut candy

Melt entire bag of chips and 1 tbsp. of shortening slowly in microwave or in
double boiler on stove top. If using microwave, heat full power in intervals
of 30 seconds at a time and then less as chips begin to melt. You want the
chips and shortening to be well blended and creamy and hot. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
Immediately pour the can of chow mien noodles into the peanut butter mixture
and toss lightly to coat noodles. Avoid crunching noodles. Using a spatula can
help. Do this quickly, making sure the noodles are evenly coated. Drop by
spoonfuls onto WAX PAPER and gently form into the shape of a nest, leaving a
hollowed area in the center in which you immediately place three M&M peanut
candies for the "birds eggs".
Helps to have two people! Each batch makes approximately 14 nests.



Jelly Bean Fudge

2 c. white chips
1 can vanilla frosting
2 c. jelly beans
Melt chips; add frosting.
Cool slightly so jelly beans won’t melt. Mix then spread evenly in a foil-lined
& greased 9x9 pan.