popsyandmamaEaster Baking With Your Littlies
Delicious Easter baking treats for all of the family.
Popsy and Mama's favourite Easter bakes
Do you and your littlies love to bake together? Do they love licking the spoon and bowl out? Then read on to see our favourite sweet bakes for this time of year.
This week is part 1 of our 2 part Easter celebration, let's face it this year has been a bit of a write off celebrations wise so far and with the warmer days coming and the chance to see our family and friends in our gardens over Easter, we thought we would share our baking ideas.
Part 1 of our Easter celebration is all about tantalising our tastebuds, I asked my team for their favourite Easter bakes, I hope you enjoy!
I'm off to update my shopping basket to get my bake on.
Sam x
Easter One Pan Brownies
Make them your own Easter brownies
The most delicious looking brownies just in time to celebrate Easter with friends and family on our much anticipated outdoor meets, they're perfect for making in advance and popping into a container to enjoy on a picnic or as a mid-walk snack. They're also super easy to make with your little people as they require minimal mixing, if you take on the heating activities where needed to protect their little fingers. They are the perfect chewy fudge brownies, with minimal washing up, which is always a bonus! One of our newer reps Jamie-Lee has shared her brownie recipe with us and beautiful Navy got in on the action too!
Ingredients
100g milk chocolate
200g dark chocolate
250g salted butter
300g light brown sugar
4 eggs
175g plain flour
Whatever toppings you want
Method
Preheat the over to 180° and line a deep baking tray with parchment paper
Pop the chocolate, butter and sugar in a saucepan together, on a low heat stirring as little as possible to stop the sugar burning on the side of the pan. Once the butter has melted turn the heat up to medium and stir slowly for 5 mins until everything is combined. Take off the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes
Beautiful hand thrown bowls from Sytch Farm Studios
Add the eggs to the pan, one at a time and stir each on in. Then fold in flour
Pour into the lined baking tray and add whatever toppings you would like. I've gone for a mix of mini eggs, galaxy eggs, creme eggs and dairy milk eggs
Navy wearing 'Snowdrop Bunnies' bummie shorts and bib from our Easter Edit
Pop into the oven for 25 minutes. Take out and put straight into the fridge for a couple of hours minimum. If you cut the brownies too early they will be too gooey and messy
Top Tip - after an hour of cooling take the brownies out of the tray (leaving them in the parchment paper) and score the brownies with a knife into 12/16 pieces depending how big you want your brownies to be. This will make them easier to cut later and also stop any potential sticking of paper to your brownies
Once completely cooled, cut and enjoy!
Thank you to Jamie-Lee @lifewith_navyandduke
Birdie Nests
Everyone's favourite childhood favourite
Louis had a lot of fun making these, let's be honest so did Soph! These are a real favourite from my childhood and I always think it can't be Easter without these scrummy nests. These are so much fun to make and the little ones can really be in charge with these once the hot chocolate has been managed carefully, they can go wild with breaking and smashing up the shredded wheat! They can be made in advance and popped in a container, making the perfect Easter gift to proudly share with grandparents.
Ingredients
Shredded Wheat
Milk Chocolate
Mini Eggs
Method
Mash up the Shredded Wheat
Melt the chocolate - carefully in the microwave (checking every 20-30 seconds to make sure it doesn't burn) or over a bowl of hot water, being careful to keep the base of the bowl above the water
Add the melted chocolate to the mashed up Shredded Wheat and sti
Spoon the mixed ingredients into paper cases and mould with the back of a spoon to make a nest shape
Add 3 mini eggs into the nest
Chill to set
Once set, remove the paper cases and store in an airtight container ... until you eat them!
Thanks Soph and Louis, they'll be back shortly with another 2 recipes.
If you're a Cadbury's fan like me you might also love this Easter recipe Creme Egg Hunt
Easter Egg Cheesecakes
The most perfect cheesecakes I ever did see
Our rep Wendy got creative with some easter eggs and made these stunning individual cheesecakes, they're on my list to make with the girls for Easter! I'm not sure how many we'll be sharing though!
Ingredients
200g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter, melted
400g cream cheese, full fat
200ml double cream
80g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract (I add more, it depends how vanilla you want it)
200g crushed mini eggs or chocolate eggs of your choice
3 Easter eggs split in half
Your choice of Easter chocolate for topping, I used Malteser Bunnies, mini eggs and flakes
Method
Blitz biscuits in a food processor or use a rolling pin to crush them, mix the melted butter into the crushed biscuits
Leave to cool for about 10-15 minutes, as this can melt the chocolate eggs if too hot
Place equally in the Easter eggs and place in the fridge
While the eggs are in the fridge, you can make the filling
In a large bowl, whisk together the soft cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth
Add the double cream and whip it all together until thick
Fold through the crushed Easter chocolates
Spoon the mixture between the 6 egg halves and smooth over
Gorgeous wooden decorations by Wooden Treasure
Set the cheesecakes in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or in the freezer for 2-3 hours (don't forget to get them out or they'll be rock hard)
Once they're set add your topping and serve
These have been so popular with Wendy's Mum she been making extra batches for her Mum's work, as well as these being enjoyed by the whole family. I can see these being really popular in our house.
Thank you Wendy @wendy23woo
The Yummies Easter Cake
Keeping it simple and decorating with subtle pastels
Soph and Louis are back with their own version of an Easter cake, isn't it just stunningly gorgeous for all its simplicity! Soph has made her's with vanilla sponge but I think you could sneak a chocolate or even coffee sponge in here if you wanted too!
She's kept this super simple and suggests you make your favourite sponge cake, she made a vanilla sponge and cover with your favourite light coloured cake frosting or butter cream and decorate it anyway you wish with mini chocolate eggs. They used mini eggs and what a finish they've given! I think I'll need to buy an extra bag of mini eggs as I can already see a few popping into little mouths ...
Ingredients for icing
250g Trex vegetable fat
500g icing sugar
Vanilla extract for taste
This is the cake recipe Soph prefers to use
Easter Style Vanilla Cheesecake
Making it pretty with Easter chocolate
This really is a stunning looking cheesecake and would be perfect for a family meal in the garden this Easter weekend, lets face it we've not seen each other for a while and wouldn't it be nice to share with parents. I'm thinking of getting the girls to make one when we go to visit the grandparents.
Ingredients
250g shortbread biscuits
100g butte, melted
Vanilla flavouring
600g full fate soft cheese
100g icing sugar
284ml double cream
Mini eggs
Flake
Method
Make the base by crushing the shortbreads to crumbs using a rolling pin in a bowl, pour over the melted butter. Mix thoroughly until the crumbs are completely coated. Tip them into the tin and press firmly down to create an even base layer. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour to set firmly
Pour the double cream into a bowl and whisk until it's just starting to thicken, set to one side
Place the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla flavouring in a separate bowl, then beat until smooth and starting to thicken. Add the double cream and fold into the soft cheese mixture. You're looking for it be thickened enough to hold it's shape when you tip a spoon of it upside down. Keep whisking if its not thick enough
Divide evenly into 3 bowls (or as many colours as you'd like) and add 2 drops of desired food colouring and mix
Spoon onto the biscuit base, starting from the edges and working inwards, making sure that there are no air bubbles. Repeat for each layer. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down
Cheeky Louis
Crumble the Flake on the top and place mini eggs as wanted
Leave to set in the fridge overnight
How delicious does this look? Cheesecake is one of my favourite puddings and I'll admit to loving a Mini Egg or two, do you have a favourite colour? I love the yellow and lilac ones, I think the coating tastes a little different to the others but Mr P&M thinks I'm crackers as they all taste the same to him
Thanks Soph and Louis @life_with_the_cookes
I hope you've loved all of these recipes and have some inspiration for Easter bakes this coming week, with the school holidays looming I will be stocking up on some of these ingredients for sure.
Next week, we're bringing you part 2 of our Easter blog celebration and will be sharing our Easter crafting ideas.
Easter Bonnet Parade
I'm a big fan of the old films and love watching Easter Parade with Bing Crosby and Judy Garland and I wanted to bring a little bit of Easter cheer to the grid over the Easter weekend and will be running a Popsy and Mama Easter Bonnet Parade competition to share your Easter bonnets with us! Send us photos of your Easter bonnets being worn and we will share them all on our stories, for every photo shared we will pop your name into a random prize draw to win store credit. 1st Prize £20, 2nd Prize £10 and 3rd Prize £5 P&M store credit. I will share bonnets from Good Friday through Easter Monday and draw the winners on Tuesday 6th April. You don't need to have bought from us or be wearing P&M clothes to enter.
Our favourite online shops for Easter crafts are Hobby Craft, Baker Ross and The Works
Let's fill the grid with bright, fun snaps full of Easter cheer!
Easter Gifts and More
One last thing before I go, my friend Georgie @georgie_minisandmore has written a fabulous blog post on the alternative to the chocolate egg Easter Gifts For Kids with lots of ideas. She also included a decadent treat for us grown-ups ... anyone for a Creme Egg Espresso Martini by @thisisnessiecom?
Some of my favourite Shop Small Easter gift websites are:
The Wishbone Collective for personalised gifts www.thewishbonecollective.com
This is Nessie have some fabulous handpainted gifts www.thisisnessie.com
Pop and Punch for Easter and beyond baskets www.popandpunch.com
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