Limoncello "Biscotti Truffle" Balls

Well now that the Easter to-dos are squared away for another year, and the dinner leftovers have been frozen for later or given away to guests, the fun part of the Easter clean-up can start. I`m talking of course about the task of powering through all the goodies Mr. Cottontail dropped around the house on Saturday night! For the kids (at least to my recollection), it really doesn't seem to matter if the chocolate is the $2,600 / lb Knipschildt or the dollar store milk bunnies - like on Halloween, accessible and universally liked sugar rushes are the order of the day.

For those of us with older, more discerming palates, the pleasures of simple sugar and cheap fat overload quickly lose their charm. The appreciation of more "adult" flavour combinations and textures (think fruit, nuts, crisps and liqueurs) comes into bloom, and with it a world of possibilities in the home kitchen. For the final round of Easter goody-making I undertook (after the marshmallows and the eggs) I went back to the tried and true "cake ball" style of candymaking, but this time in place of dried out cake crumbs I used crushed biscotti and leftover buttercream filling from the walnut meringues. Given that the biscotti was somewhat drier than cake would be, it took a couple extra glugs of Limoncello to supplement the rehydration into a scoopable dough. Coated in rich, high quality white chocolate (and the debate regarding it's status as "real chocolate" notwithstanding), the bright yellow hearts radiate the glow of great flavours to come. The kids will likely turn their noses up at them (a good thing if you're overly concerned about the whole 3 tbsp of alcohol in the batch) but really, that just means more for you! Who ever said the Easter bunny ignored Mom and Dad?

Creme Eggs and Cake Eggs - Happy Easter!

Are you a candy fiend at Easter? I know that my sister and I couldn't wait to wake up on Easter Sunday (doubly so if it was one of our birthdays, which always bracket the holiday) to scour the house for those tiny, milk "chocolate" foil wrapped eggs and maybe a "big" treat somewhere along the way. I remember as a small child finding a huge (to me) hollow chocolate Mickey Mouse in his Sorcerer's Apprentice robe and hat, and trying to make it last by eating it so slowly that my mom finally told me just to eat the darn thing or she'd throw it out.

Then, the infamous Creme Eggs came out and any hint of restraint I might have had disappeared. My "big treat" was a 3-pack of them, and a handful of the miniature ones as well. While at least one of the larger ones disappeared within about 30 seconds of me finding them, Mom would insist that I save the rest for later - and the best way we kept them out of sight was to stash them in the freezer. In effect, this move slightly backfired, since I discovered that freezing the mini eggs made them taste better than at room temperature.

School was another Easter blowout in terms of treats. We had a weekly "bake sale" fundraiser to subsidize our field trips at the end of the year, and just before we all went off for our long weekends the table was always laden with things you wish the Bunny would leave you. Orange jelly beans in cone-shaped bags with a layer of green ones on top for the "fronds", Jell-O eggs, storebought cupcakes and sugar cookies (there was always one in every group) and the like. But my (and most other students' favourite) were the chocolate covered, egg shaped cakes that one of the kids brought in. This was before the world of food blogging (we were still working off DOS at school), and certainly before the Cake Pop exploded onto the scene, but they were essentially the very same things, just egg-shaped. We had lemon, carrot, vanilla and chocolate varieties over the years, and when I finally found out that it really just was a case of marked down, slightly stale cake from the bakery in the grocery store, a little flavouring extract and either milk or frosting that made them taste so delicious I couldn't believe it.

So, for Easter and it's memories, I'm sharing these two memories and some updated versions of the recipes. You will need a special, high-tech tool for the chocolate coatings though:

I know, right? Cheap (or free!), so dead simple, but so effective to get the coatings done with minimal mess!

So, without further ado:

California Walnut Meringues with Limoncello Buttercream

Walnuts are one of those amazing foods. We know they're healthy, full of Omega-3 fats, clean-burning vegan protein, stay-full fibre and minerals - a great snack for midafternoon with a piece of fruit (and maybe a small piece of chocolate, I won't tell). But these rich, slightly bitter nuts are also super high in phytonutrients that are in almost no other foods, including anti-inflammatory agents that protect against bone loss and blood vessel damage (amongst other things). Walnuts even have a special form of the all-important vitamin E in them that lowers men's risk of developing heart and blood vessel problems! After all, there's a reason the nuts are heart-shaped.

Sadly (and shockingly, to me at least) only about 6% of adults eat any tree nuts at all. It's a shame, since those who do eat the bounty of the local trees enjoy the benefits of increased fibre, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin E, and can kiss up to 157mg of sodium good bye! Given the general state of the Western world's health (especially blood pressure and diabetes) I think it's time we gave the humble walnut a second chance.

Thankfully, we have more resources (and foodies) than ever that are packed with ideas, tips, recipes and lots of inertia to get us all on the bandwagon. When the Canadian chapter of the California Walnuts Commission approached me with some new recipes perfect for your next Springtime soiree, I jumped at the chance - especially when one of those new recipes was for a foodie favourite: The macaron.

Even if you think you've had macarons before, I'd give this recipe a go - the richer, slightly more "adult" flavour of the walnuts really stands out against the tangy, slightly boozy cream filling. If you wanted to avoid alcohol completely you could certainly use a touch of lemon juice or orange juice for a more "all inclusive" citrus flavour, but for a recipe that made more than enough filling for the 8 sandwiches there's a grand total of two tablespoons. Even if I had used all the filling, you'd get a measly 3/4 of a teaspoon of Limoncello per sandwich! That's a pretty good deal, if I say so myself.

My macarons (which I tinted green and yellow for a more "Springlike" feel) never got the signature "feet" of their fancy French counterparts, but in all honesty it doesn't really matter. I gave some of them to a prospective client of mine who shared them with her household and reported back not that there was a missing "appendage" to the cookies or that they looked imperfect (which, lets face it, they were) but that they adored these "nouveau" sandwich cookies and could she please have the recipe! Well, I'm happy to oblige, and hope that the rest of you find these just as wonderful.

Decadent Oatmeal Bars

This is the culinary version of the story of the wolf in sheep's clothing. Think about it: Decadent Oatmeal Bars... sounds like it should be at least somewhat healthy, right? And look at the ingredients, not to mention the photos - tons of whole grains, unsweetened cocoa, flax, natural peanut and Three Legume Butter, even fruit and almonds! Should be the healthiest snack in the world.

Well, leave it to me to take all those ingredents, perfectly nutritious in their own, natural form, and basically turn them into a brownie that thinks it's a health food bar. Don't get me wrong, these are healther than most restaurant or bakery desserts by sheer virtue of the ingredients - and the relatively low added oil and sugar factor (I opted for a mixture of sweeteners and most of the fat came from the legume and peanut butters, not oil). But if you're counting calories, fat grams or carbs, these are probably not going to make your "must bake now" list. Come to think of it, if you are counting those things (especially the carbs), should you really be reading this blog? I mean, thanks and all for your support, but maybe you'll find my other, more nutritionally-oriented journal a bit more suited to your purposes. Or scan through some of my diet specific recipes (categories on the sidebar) - I do have some gems!

But back to these bars. I think their name says it all, honestly. They are very oatmealy, extraordinarly decadent, and once they've cooled completely, slice perfectly into bars or cubes perfect to wrap individually or pop into zipper bags and toss into your lunchbag or backpack. They even make a great meal replacement option for those who are used to grabbing a granola bar (or Oatmeal-to-Go type concoction) to eat in the car. There's lots of slow-burning, complex carbs; some cholesterol free, omega-3 rich fats and a decent amount of stay full and energized protein in a delicious, chocolatey package. There's even a hint of coffee in the mix - no need for the drive thru cafe!

 

Eggless Citrus Marshmallows

Forget Peeps... these are the "real" Easter marshmallow candy. Because I don't know about you, but I've never seen a neon-yellow chick or a fluffy magenta rabbit, and if I remember correctly I doubt they taste of much more than crunchy sugar and air. A sponge might be similar, if saturated with simple syrup.

Considering this is candy, though, it's not like these are light on the sweet stuff either... but they are light. And spongy... and bouncy! Not to mention filled with a fresh, bright lemon-orange flavour and just a hint of natural food dye. I had no idea marshmallows were as easy as this, given my whole fear of hot sugar (a fear I'm trying to overcome), but I came across this recipe a month or so on Frills in the Hills for eggless marshmallows (the usual recipe has egg whites) and I thought "perfect! No scrambling, no worry of straining, no worries about them setting up!". I had one of my Easter gift basket goodies decided on, I just had to wait until today to make them! Stale marshmallows (I'm looking at you, candy companies) are nobody's friend.

All I can say is that today, thank Goodness they were that easy, because I was in a wee bit of a funk early this morning. I think I've been out of the bread baking ring too long - first I couldn't find the jar of yeast I kept in the freezer, then I couldn't get the dough for the bagels I was attempting to make to come together to the right consistency (and it's not like I haven't made those before!). You'd think I'd quit while ahead, but nooooo... I went to try boiling the poor, misshapen blobs and they just got waterlogged and squashy, then (of course) I attempted to bake the suckers and got half-baked in the centre, burnt on the top rings that superglued themselves to the sheets. In my attempts to scrape off the burnt refuse (I was dangerously close to binning the whole sheet by then) I managed to stab my finger on the edge of the cookie sheet! So yes, something even I could do half asleep and have it turn out the way I hoped was pure comfort.