Sugar-free Chocolate Hearts for Easter

This treat is the perfect alternative to traditional chocolate and sweets at Easter time. Sugar-free and packed with healthy fats, your friends and family (and you!) will love these 'chocolate' skinny treats. Super easy to make and quick to set, you can prepare these in just over 30 minutes. The ingredients are quite flexible in amounts and you can be creative with what nut butters or flavours you would like to add or change.

I used a delicious coconut cashew cream I bought from a health food store here in Brisbane. If you can't find this (I've added a picture in the post), just add more almond butter and coconut oil. I froze my chocolates in a heart shaped silicone mould, and added some little berries into each one. Try adding desiccated coconut, goji berries or chopped banana for a different effect.

This recipe is inspired from the 'I Quit Sugar' cookbook from Sarah Wilson.

Sugar-free Cacao Coconut Hearts

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of almond butter
• 2 tablespoons of coconut cashew cream
• 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of powdered cacao
• 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar-free sweetener
• 2 tablespoons of small frozen berries

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients, except the berries, in a small mixing bowl. If the ingredients are quite cold, you may need to microwave on low for 10 or so seconds, just to make sure the ingredients easily combine.
2. Spoon the mixture into your silicone moulds about 3/4 full. If you don't have a mould, you can spread the mixture flat onto a tray lined with baking paper and cut into squares when frozen. In this case, add the berries into the mixture before pouring onto tray.
3. Top with frozen berries and drizzle remaining mixture over each mould to cover. 
4. Freeze for 30 minutes, until solid. 
5. Pop out each chocolate and store in an airtight container in the freezer.
6. To serve, remove 5 minutes before eating.

Easter Bunny Cookie Cake for a baking day in

In need of a fun day of baking to celebrate the Easter holiday season? Well set aside a cosy day in to bake this gorgeous bunny cake masterpiece. Beautifully presented and delicious, impress your whole family and friends with this beautiful Easter cake. 

This recipe is taken from the Food Network. 

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 5 large eggs, room temperature

Icing and Filling:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 5 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch fine salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup seedless red raspberry jam
• Rabbit Sugar Cookies, homemade or store bought, recipe follows
• Candied almonds
• Pastel sanding sugars

For the cakes:

Method:

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly brush 2 (9-inch) roundcake pans with shortening or butter. Line bottoms with buttered parchment paper and dust with flour.

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt into a medium bowl; whisk to combine evenly. Stir the sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup, and set aside.

Beat the butter in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on high until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape butter off the sides of the bowl. Continue beating while gradually adding the sugar-- it should take a couple minutes to add all the sugar. Continue beating until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the lemon zest. Add theeggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

At low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the sour cream in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the top with a knife. (Lightly tap the pan on the counter so the batter settles evenly.)

Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes; then turn cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

For the Icing:

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a mixer's bowl above the water. Whisk the sugar, the egg whites, lemon juice, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the bowl to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the whites at medium-high speed until they almost holds a stiff peak and are cool, about 10 minutes. Beat in the butter, a little at a time, until the icing is smooth and spreadable. (If the icing separates, just keep beating and it will come back together.)

To assemble the cake:

Slice each cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife, to make 4 even layers, taking care that they are as flat and straight as possible.

Set a large flat plate on a large inverted bowl or bottom of a salad spinner (of course, if you have a cake stand, use that), dabbing a little frosting on the bottom of the plate to secure it. Place a cake layer top side up on the plate. Using an offset spatula spread about half of the jam in a thin layer over the first cake layer, leaving about 1/4-inch border along the outside. Lay the second cake layer on top, stacking it as straight as possible. Using an offset spatula spread about 1 cup of the icing on the top layer. Place a third cake layer on top. Spread remaining red raspberry jam over the cake layer and place the final layer on top, pressing down lightly to secure all 4 layers together. Spread about 3/4 of the remaining icing around the sides with a knife or offset spatula, then ice the top of the cake. Use an offset spatulato smooth icing as much as possible. Press plain or iced cookies around the sides, taking care to leave space to cut the cake. Garnish with additional candied almonds and sprinkle the top of the cake with pastel colored sanding sugars.

Serve immediately or set aside at room temperature for up to 2 hours before serving. If refrigerating the cake, bring to room temperature 30 minutes before serving.

Cook's Note: Double wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Copyright 2007 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

Sugar Cookies for Decorating (and eating):

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide dough in half, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Generously flour a clean work surface. (For a nice, even layer of flour, lightly sift flour over the work surface.) Gently roll chilled dough about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter, working quickly enough so dough remains chilled. If dough gets too soft, refrigerate on a lined baking sheet until firm again, about 30 minutes.

Transfer cut cookies to un-greased baking sheets, leaving about 1-inch between cookies. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. Lightly dust off excess flour with a dry pastry brush. (Excess dough can be pressed into a disk, chilled and rerolled.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies, until the bottoms are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on shape. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool. Decorate as desired and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Yield: 4 dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies, depending on shape

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours

Ease of preparation: easy

Hot Cross Buns, the perfect Easter breakfast

The aromatic wafts of hot cross buns conjure vivid Easter memories, and are signature to the season like mince pies are to Christmas. I was determined to make my own hot cross buns this Easter, impressed by a memory of my father making his own many years ago. Don't be concerned by the thought of making a 'bread' of sorts, the instant dried yeast will do all the work for you to ensure the dough rises to create the right texture. To make these buns that little bit more Easter inspired, these are flavoured with dried cherries and dark chocolate. The perfect breakfast to celebrate with on Easter Sunday.


Cherry and Chocolate Hot Cross Buns


Makes 14. 

Ingredients:

• 750 grams of plain flour
• 1/3 cup of caster sugar
• 20 grams of candied orange peel, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• a pinch of all spice
• 2 teaspoons of sea salt
• 14 grams of dried instant yeast
• 1 orange rind, finely grated
• 1 lemon rind, finely grated
• 400 mls of milk (I use lactose-free skim milk)
• 70 grams of butter, chopped
• 1 egg
• 75 grams of dark chocolate (sugar-free if you can find it), chopped into small pieces
• 100 grams of dried cherries, chopped into small pieces

Glaze:

• 1/4 cup of caster sugar
• a pinch of cinnamon
•  low-fat margarine to serve

Method:

1. Preheat to oven to 200 degrees.
2. Place 700 grams of flour, sugar, candied orange peel, cinnamon, all spice, salt, yeast, and citrus rinds into a bowl. Mix to combine. Create a well in the centre.
3. Heat the milk and butter on low heat in the microwave until butter is melted and the mixture is just warm. Whisk in the egg.
4. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring to form a soft dough.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 - 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. I use my dough hook fitting in the Kitchen Aid, which does the work for me!
6. Place in a bowl sprayed with cooking oil spray and cover with cling film. Let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, until it double in size.
7. Take out of the bowl and knead on a floured surface to combine the cherries and chocolate. Do this until just combined.
8. Divide dough into 14 pieces and shape each piece into a ball.
9. Arrange dough 1 cm apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper and cover for 30 minutes, leaving in a warm place to let dough balls double in size.
10. Combine the remaining 50 grams of flour with 70 ml of water and using a piping bag, pipe a cross on top of each bun. If you don't have a piping bag, you can drizzle this mixture over to create a cross. Note: you can buy disposable small piping bags at most grocery stores.
11. Put the hot cross buns into the oven to bake on high heat for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
    
12. To make the glaze, combine sugar and cinnamon with 1.4 cup of water and stir in a small saucepan on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 - 2 minutes. Brush this glaze over the bunswhen they have come out of the oven, then transfer to them to a wire rack to cool.
13. Serve with low-fat margarine. 

* These hot cross buns are suitable for the freezer, tied tightly in a freezer bag.

Making your cookies look professional with cookie moulds

Taken from Bakerella

Using a cookie mould produces biscuits that look straight from a decadent European biscuit tin but are made with your own efforts. In the picture above, taken from Bakerella, these cookies are made with plain heart-shaped biscuits topped with moulded pink fondant icing. The fondant is secured with some frosting.

Cookie moulds can also be used to produce biscuits with decorative imprints, like the picture below (this is what they were originally designed for.) These can be a little trickier to make because when the cookie dough rises, it can skew the imprint and distort the desired image.

Taken from House on the Hill

Some tips to baking cookies with moulded shapes is to:

• let the cookies set adequately after removing them from the oven - leave them to cool completely.
• roll the dough to the correct width; if it is too thick, it will rise too much and distort the image and if you roll the dough too thinly, the cookie can become too crisp and the image can also be affected.

You can buy cookie moulds at House on the Hill and there are some gorgeous prints just in time for Easter.