Hello and happy Easter everyone!!
Hope you are spending today surrounded by chocolate, roast dinners and family. I've spent mine trying to solve the Easter egg hunt my mum put together for me and my brothers (it's been quite hard but that could be because I am slightly hungover, oops). If your easter eggs aren't sweet enough, I have some easter themed baking inspiration to send your sugar high into space. Earlier in the week I pulled in the help of my extremely talented brother and brainstormed some super cute yet yummy easter bakes. We decided on making little bunny macaron (vanilla macaron with Nutella filling and buttercream ears and tails) and french toast burrows. I know french toast isn't really 'easter inspired' but it makes for a cracking easter breakfast.
The little bunny macaron are quite easy to make, my brother is a professional (ish) and he taught me and I still managed. For the macaron the recipe is as follows:
For about 8-10 macaron:
- 1 egg white
- 32g caster sugar
- 40g icing sugar
- 42g ground almonds
- Nutella
Buttercream to decorate:
- 40g softened unsalted butter
- 40g icing sugar
- 1tsp of vanilla extract
Equipment:
- 3 mixing bowls
- a whisk or electric mixer
- a small circular object
- baking paper
- baking tray
- piping bag
-scissors
- a mug
- a knife
- spoon and flexible spatula.
1. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C, and sieve the dry ingredients (NOT THE CASTER SUGAR) together into a bowl. Put the caster sugar and egg whites into two separate bowls.
2. Whisk the egg white until foamy, then add half the caster sugar while still whisking. When that is all combined add the other half of the caster sugar and whisk that until shiny and the mixture is forming stiff peaks. At this point you can add any colouring or flavouring you would like (gel is best), we didn't use any colouring or flavouring.
3. Add half of the dry mix into the sugary egg whites and fold in. This is a figure of 8 pattern, but be sure to get underneath the mix to make sure none sticks to the bottom of the bowl. When that is combined add the other half of the dry mix and continue folding the mixture.
1. foamy :) 2. looking shiny 3. adding the dry mix
4. When it is all combined beat across the top of the mixture, hold the spoon up and if the mixture folds over itself like ribbon then you are done. If not, repeat until the mixture folds over itself.
5. Use any small circular object (we used a salt shaker) and draw around it on baking paper to create outlines for your piping. You will want to keep a small distance between them in case the macaron spread. Once you have drawn them flip the baking paper over and you are almost ready to pipe.
6. A top tip from my brother when it comes to piping was use a mug to help fill the piping bag (hopefully the pictures I have included will help). Place the piping bag in the mug and wrap the sides over the edge of the mug. Put the mixture in the bag and squeeze the mixture almost to the end of the piping bag, try to avoid any air bubbles as this will make piping quite hard.
4. (bad picture of the ribbon effect) 5. circles 6. (this is not my mug)
7. Cut the end of the piping back about 1cm from the tip and away from the tray you are piping on (just incase you end up baking it too). Pipe in the centre of your circle stencil and when the mixture reaches close to the edges, twist the piping bag on top of the macaron to stop a peak from forming. This will help with a smooth shiny top.
8. Pick up the tray and drop around 3 times from a small height. This evens out the mixture. You can now leave the macaron for around half an hour on the side (if you wish), this forms a skin and is more traditional. As I am quite impatient, we just put it straight in the oven for 16 minutes.
9. To check that the macaron are cooked pinch the sides (but not too hard), they shouldn't wobble and should feel rigid. Then leave to cool on the tray for around half an hour and they should come of the tray clean.
7. snip snip 8. piping 9. passing the squeeze test
10. For the filling, place a small ball (as close to a ball as you can get) of your filling (we used Nutella) in the centre of one of the halves you have made. Get the other half and sandwich them together while twisting them slightly to ensure the filling is spread evenly. Be very careful as you don't want to break them and they are very delicate. Then pipe on a little butter cream tail and ears (if you want to make little bunnies like we did) if not leave them as they are. There you go, an easy macaron recipe for any one who craves a bit of this french delicacy.
And for the french toast burrows follow this recipe:
3. Add half of the dry mix into the sugary egg whites and fold in. This is a figure of 8 pattern, but be sure to get underneath the mix to make sure none sticks to the bottom of the bowl. When that is combined add the other half of the dry mix and continue folding the mixture.
1. foamy :) 2. looking shiny 3. adding the dry mix
5. Use any small circular object (we used a salt shaker) and draw around it on baking paper to create outlines for your piping. You will want to keep a small distance between them in case the macaron spread. Once you have drawn them flip the baking paper over and you are almost ready to pipe.
6. A top tip from my brother when it comes to piping was use a mug to help fill the piping bag (hopefully the pictures I have included will help). Place the piping bag in the mug and wrap the sides over the edge of the mug. Put the mixture in the bag and squeeze the mixture almost to the end of the piping bag, try to avoid any air bubbles as this will make piping quite hard.
4. (bad picture of the ribbon effect) 5. circles 6. (this is not my mug)
7. Cut the end of the piping back about 1cm from the tip and away from the tray you are piping on (just incase you end up baking it too). Pipe in the centre of your circle stencil and when the mixture reaches close to the edges, twist the piping bag on top of the macaron to stop a peak from forming. This will help with a smooth shiny top.
8. Pick up the tray and drop around 3 times from a small height. This evens out the mixture. You can now leave the macaron for around half an hour on the side (if you wish), this forms a skin and is more traditional. As I am quite impatient, we just put it straight in the oven for 16 minutes.
9. To check that the macaron are cooked pinch the sides (but not too hard), they shouldn't wobble and should feel rigid. Then leave to cool on the tray for around half an hour and they should come of the tray clean.
7. snip snip 8. piping 9. passing the squeeze test
10. For the filling, place a small ball (as close to a ball as you can get) of your filling (we used Nutella) in the centre of one of the halves you have made. Get the other half and sandwich them together while twisting them slightly to ensure the filling is spread evenly. Be very careful as you don't want to break them and they are very delicate. Then pipe on a little butter cream tail and ears (if you want to make little bunnies like we did) if not leave them as they are. There you go, an easy macaron recipe for any one who craves a bit of this french delicacy.
And for the french toast burrows follow this recipe:
for about for about 16 sticks:
- 4 slices of thick white bread (day old works best)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (236 ml) of double cream
- 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 tbsp of caster sugar
- 1tbsp of vanilla extract.
- 2-3 tbsp of butter to cook the sticks
- maple syrup
Equipment:
- knife
- mixing bowl
- whisk
- frying pan
- firm spatula
- 4 slices of thick white bread (day old works best)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (236 ml) of double cream
- 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 tbsp of caster sugar
- 1tbsp of vanilla extract.
- 2-3 tbsp of butter to cook the sticks
- maple syrup
Equipment:
- knife
- mixing bowl
- whisk
- frying pan
- firm spatula
1. Cut the bread into 4 sticks per slice.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, caster sugar, vanilla extract until it looks like a custard.
3. Place each piece of bread into the mixture, shake off the excess then place on a plate or tray.
4. Heat a large frying pan and place in the butter. Once the butter has melted place a few sticks in the pan (be sure not to over crowd the pan). Fry until one side is golden brown then flip and wait for the other side to turn golden brown.
5. Serve warm and with lots of syrup and ENJOY!
Our french toast did not turn out as amazing as planned due to not having thick bread but they still tasted pretty good. Also deepest apologies for the photography I tried quite hard to make sure the pictures were clear but I do not have a steady hand. Some other baking inspiration I found on pintrest if these aren't to your taste (although I really hope they are).
2. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, caster sugar, vanilla extract until it looks like a custard.
3. Place each piece of bread into the mixture, shake off the excess then place on a plate or tray.
4. Heat a large frying pan and place in the butter. Once the butter has melted place a few sticks in the pan (be sure not to over crowd the pan). Fry until one side is golden brown then flip and wait for the other side to turn golden brown.
5. Serve warm and with lots of syrup and ENJOY!
Our french toast did not turn out as amazing as planned due to not having thick bread but they still tasted pretty good. Also deepest apologies for the photography I tried quite hard to make sure the pictures were clear but I do not have a steady hand. Some other baking inspiration I found on pintrest if these aren't to your taste (although I really hope they are).
(Images from Pintrest)
Hope you have been inspired to pick up a mixing bowl and spoon this Easter Sunday. Check out my Twitter and Instagram for sneak peaks into future blog posts (links are on the side).
Hope you have been inspired to pick up a mixing bowl and spoon this Easter Sunday. Check out my Twitter and Instagram for sneak peaks into future blog posts (links are on the side).
Have a fabulous bank holiday Monday and see you Wednesday,
Love Katie x
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