Easter Treats

Every year, the plan is made to organise an Easter egg hunt for the grandchildren, and every year the weather is watched extremely carefully! Too hot and the eggs melt, too cold and no-one really wants to go out and too wet, well same as before really. We have had a few very successful ones when the planets have aligned and all has been well.

I had thought that this might be the last year as granddaughter is nearly a teen and grandson is getting wise to the Easter bunny, but no, it’s my daughter who wants the hunt. Already the shops here in Blighty are full of a wide variety of eggs, but my favourites have to be the ubiquitous Cadbury cream eggs. Can someone please explain why they are so much smaller than they were and the taste I remember from my childhood just isn’t there? The only year I have ignored these mouthfuls of scrumptiousness was the year I was pregnant, I just could not eat them, the very thought made me sick. I should add, I made up for it the following year!

I also remember making my own eggs, buying a mould, painstakingly polishing it with a dry cloth, melting the chocolate over a bain marie and then painting it into the mould. The mould was then turned upside down over greaseproof paper until it had set. Easy so far but the level of difficulty was about to escalate. Now was the time to remove said egg from the mould, it looked so easy in the pictures accompanying the recipe, suffice it to be said, I was extremely glad I had made several in case of accidents. Eventually, I had two halves intact on the work top, ready to be filled with a variety of sweets, then carefully painting more melted chocolate around the edges. The egg was then stuck together and popped into the fridge ready to be decorated in yet more melted chocolate. This was the fiddliest and most

time-consuming thing I have ever made, and sadly there are no pictures to prove it. I notice that nowadays, the moulds are silicone so I am guessing they make it easier to release the egg.

During my teaching career, we regularly made bird nests to be filled with tiny chocolate eggs, shredded wheat was the favourite to add to the melted chocolate to make the eggs, although Rice Krispies were also used. Simnel cakes were also made, using small carefully washed cans so each child would have their own cake. Can you imagine the size of the marzipan balls used to decorate them? The children would also have to design a box for their cake and decorate it appropriately. I miss those days before the dreaded National Curriculum was imposed and we teachers lost our ability to go off piste slightly.

The family have a favourite Easter recipe which we ‘borrow’ from Nigella, her rich and decadent chocolate truffle cake, there is no such thing as too much chocolate at Easter is there? Whatever you choose to do, have fun and eat chocolate responsibly.

Di Xx