Easter treats: an eggstravaganza
These Easter treats are a hit with adults and children alike.
Holidays are marked by food and overindulgence of food. Chocolate from a loved one or yourself on Valentine’s Day; turkey or ham, pudding and everything else that comes with Christmas.
Then there is Easter, with hot cross buns tempting us as soon as the candy canes end up in the supermarket discount aisle, and chocolate eggs.
In my family, as a child we had chocolate eggs hidden about the house, but we also dyed and hid boiled eggs, although not all would be found immediately — a big problem when your parents were slightly forgetful and didn’t make a list of where the eggs were.
Easter indulgence is not just for children, however, and the message is a little can go a long way.
Here are some of the best treats for the holiday.
Melissa Ham is the force behind Missy Black Cakes in Melbourne and advertises her Easter treats on Facebook and Instagram.
Last year she created cupcakes with rabbits’ hindquarters popping out that were extremely popular with adults and children alike. Her creation this year took her 1½ days to make: a caramel mudcake with white chocolate ganache — not too sweet or heavy, and gone in a flash at afternoon tea time in a hungry office.
“Easter is the perfect time to overindulge with family and friends,” Ham says.
For those looking for a savoury hit, Melbourne’s Baker D. Chirico in St Kilda and Carlton is a go-to for sourdough hot cross buns.
The bakery also is putting out a dark chocolate chip hot cross bun with hazelnuts, and chocolate from Melbourne’s Hunted + Gathered, and is teaming up with Carlton gelateria Pidapipo to create a chocolate hot cross bun ice cream sandwich. The gelataria dehydrates Baker D. Chirico’s hot cross buns and infuses them into chocolate ice cream to create this seasonal treat.
The bakery’s director Allona Goren says she prefers her hot cross buns straight up with butter, having tasted them for several weeks before Easter finally arrives.
For the people who can’t go past chocolate at Easter, we have you covered.
Stalwart favourite Haigh’s refuses to support the Easter bunny, which is the bane of Australian farmers, and instead produces an Easter bilby.
The production team had a few issues competing with the South Australian heat earlier this year but went full steam ahead to ensure it could make more than 49,000 bilbys and 4.5 million eggs of all sizes.
New this year is the popular peppermint frog, but inside an Easter egg.
Chocolatier Monsieur Truffe in Melbourne usually sells only roosters and sardines covered in foil for the holiday but this year also will create a bunny mould in milk and dark. All the chocolate is gluten-free and organic, and the dark chocolate also is vegan.
Monsieur Truffe manager Caleb Fitzgerald says, for him, indulgence is about high quality in small amounts.
“Something rich and something strong,” Fitzgerald says. “As opposed to volume in something not as good.”
In Sydney, Just William Chocolates in Paddington has been a crowd favourite at Easter for more than 30 years.
Owner Suzanne Francis says Easter is a lovely time of year with quality handmade chocolates in beautiful tins, boxes and baskets.
“A perfect gift of pure indulgence without needing to feel guilty,” Francis says.
A few words of advice should you choose to dye actual eggs and hide them — make sure you boil the eggs first, dye them outdoors or over plastic and remember or write down where you hid them.