DIY COLOURFUL EASTER EGGS

I've never enjoyed Easter as much as I enjoyed yesterday. Do you know why?It's because it was our Little Boy's first Easter. did everything I could to make it perfect for him. I know, I know,a baby need not understand all of that but as a mother I think he knows and understands what we do with love, for him.Anyhow, it was a day of special's for him...starting from breakfast!
We had Appam and Chicken Stew for breakfast and it was the first time that he had a share of the real chicken.He is a big time foodie,so he did get his share of chicken in the form of soup a while ago. But this was new for him and he seemed to have really enjoyed it.And I enjoyed my breakfast enjoying the way he was relishing his little meal.

We had a get together on Easter Eve in our house for our friends. I started planning it as a party where I would cook everything but our friend's wanted to bring something over, so I gave the appetizers to them and cooked the rest of the meal by myself.I planned for almost a week as to what the menu should be,see,it's my Little Man's first Easter! There was Chicken & Bacon Bruschetta,Spiced Drumsticks,Baked Orange Ham,Green Beans in Chicken Broth,Scalloped Potatoes,American Biscuits -Gravy & a delicious Carrot-Pineapple Cake for dessert.The whole meal can be summed up in just one word - Delicious!

I made these Easter eggs for him,just for him to experience the fun of holding and feeling it.He absolutely loved the plastic eggs that I used as moulds for moulding these Easter eggs.I also hid some M&M's inside the eggs which would also act as a rattle if he shook it.I am so glad I found this recipe!

DIY COLOURFUL EASTER EGGS
Makes 8 large eggs

Ingredients:
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
16oz bag mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispies

Method: In a large non stick pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the marshamallows and still till they are completely melted. Add the rice krispies and switch off the heat. Stir well to mix.
Spray some oil inside the plastic eggs and oil your hands really well. Now,stuff each halves with the rice krispie mixture.Make a small well in the centre of each halves and place 2 candies in it and squish close the 2 halves together.Open the moulds and release the fresh eggs. Roll them in sprinkles if you like.

I wanted to post this before Easter so that if any of you were planning for it , you would have been able to make these even at the last minute. But I was so lost in the kitchen scrubbing potatoes and baking that delicious ham. Jobin did remind me once in a while about it but it had to happen post Easter :-)

Oh yes! For all those who are reading this section of my post just to know what Ian Vaava has been upto...well, he is now very fond of wires,phone chargers to laptop chargers to our lamps. He has started to crawl and it's quite funny how he crawls into the kitchen to find me when he needs me. That makes me so happy no matter what state I am in, in the kitchen ;-)

 

LACY OATMEAL COOKIES

This cookie is addictive!! You just cannot stop at one. If you think Potato chips are addictive, try one of these...I'm talking from my experience :-) Do I sound like a grandmother now? I baked these cookies to take with us to Chicago, to share with our family there. It was the first time I was baking something so thin, so light and so brittle. I don't think I would have handled anything so carefully other than my wedding bouquet in my entire life!



Everytime I feel like trying out something new,I first go through my navy blue recipe diary and if I don't get an inspiration, I turn towards the internet for answers. This time, it was no different. I knew I wanted to try out some new cookie, something which wasn't heavy or chunky but something light yet new. I've seen these kind of recipes many times before but never thought of trying it. I always wondered if I would get it right because these are so fragile and you need to really monitor the baking time and temperature.

Having baked quite a lot of finicky things successfully, I decided to go ahead with what I saw. I always had a thing for very delicate objects. It could be a well embroidered handkerchief or a tablecloth. If I see such stuff, I look at it, turn them over, look how they have knotted the stitches behind because the Grandmother in me wakes up then :-)

These cookies were no different. I felt it was a piece of art. I don't know if you can feel it just by looking at the photographs but when you bake one, hold it in your hands and look at the sky through it, you will see how lacy and thin it is. It's beautiful. It's super crunchy at the egdes, slightly chewy in the centre and toffee-ish to taste. The original recipe called for an egg but when I made the cookie batter, I used an extra one to get it to the loose consistency the recipe called for.

LACY OATMEAL COOKIES
Recipe source : Merely Marie
Yield about 50 cookies

Ingredients:
1 c oatmeal
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
1/2 c butter,softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method: Preheat the oven to 325 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper/silicone mat.( I am not sure if butter paper sprayed with oil would work here as a substitute for parchment. )
Cream butter and sugar for a minute . Add eggs and vanilla and beat again till blended. Tip in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.It will be a slightly loose batter. Pour 1 teaspoon of the batter at a time onto the baking sheet atleast 2 inches apart from each other and bake till the edges turn golden brown, about 9-10 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and peel the cookies carefully. You can shape them as tuiles,rolls or leave it as is. It will harden as it cools so work very quickly.

It is loaded with oatmeal but when I tasted it, I felt it tasted like coconut cookies. Jobin didn't agree to it but later, after pestering him and all who ate those cookies, they said even they felt so...maybe because of the chewy texture of the oatmeal. These cookies can be used for decorating cakes,placed on top of ice creams/ sorbet etc.It can also be rolled, filled with sweetend cream and served as dessert. When you do so, make sure you serve it immediately or else the cookies will get soggy from the cream.