Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Carol Taylor’s Food Column – Easter celebrations around the World and Baked Easter Treats.

This week Carol Taylor shares us the recipes for two sweet Easter treats that will please all the family… and getting the children involved in the kitchen produces some creative biscuits.

Easter Time will you have sun or snow? Easter is a time for Easter egg hunts and pretty coloured eggs …For prettily iced Easter biscuits…A time for kids who just love it!

How does the rest of the world celebrate Easter…? Bermudians they make pretty coloured kites with long tails, eat codfish cakes and Hot cross buns.

In the Netherlands a favourite Easter dish is waffles drizzled with Advocaat.

For many Europeans it’s bonfires on Easter Sunday and Monday which legend tells us is to chase away the winter darkness. It is traditional to sit around the bonfire and consume copious amounts of Gin, lager for the boys and snack…No mention of Easter eggs or hot cross buns here…

Ahhhh… The Swedes love their pickled fish and a popular dish is Janssons Temptation which is potato, onions, pickled sardines or sprats baked in cream…How yummy does that sound?…A recipe for my cook book methinks!

The children they dress up as Easter witches and exchange their drawing for sweets.

Now one for the readers…In Norway Easter is known as Easter Crime or Paaskekrim and the Easter weekend is spent watching crime shows on TV, reading Crime Books or playing Yahtzee now that sounds like a plan! Not an egg in sight…

As this is a cookery column I suppose I better do less chat and cook…

Pineapple Carrot Cake.

This is a really lovely moist cake and we all liked the addition of the pineapple and for Easter. You could also add some of those little carrot icing shapes you can buy but it is so hot here that the icing melts within minutes as you can see………

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp EACH ground cloves, ground ginger, + ground nutmeg
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 1 and 1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 large carrots, grated (about 2 cups)
• 1 cup (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 cups icing sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Let’s Cook!

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13 inch pan. I always use my glass dish.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and other spices together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a medium bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.

Fold in the grated carrots, pineapple, and walnuts.

Spread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours.

The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top or edges of the cake is/are browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.

Remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely. After about 45 minutes, I usually place it in the refrigerator to speed things up it’s so hot here nothing cools down properly unless you put it in the fridge.

Make the frosting:

In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.

Add the icing sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes.

If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of icing sugar (I added it).

Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This helps sets the frosting and makes cutting easier.

Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days although that was immaterial here it just disappears…lol

Easter biscuits I left to the kids and they did a great job…little Lily loves cooking …

Lily’s Biscuits.

I have my little 5 yr old granddaughter staying with me and she loves to cook.
Obviously, I supervise her and do anything which would not be safe for her to do but she sieves the flour, mixes and rolls out. She cut out her shapes and iced the biscuits herself and put the sprinkles on. They had to be pink though she didn’t want yellow and green…lol

Ingredients:

• 140 gm of butter
• 100 gm of soft brown sugar
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 350 gm flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg beaten

Let’s Cook

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup and then let it cool for 10 minutes.

Sieve the flour, baking soda and pour in the melted butter plus the egg. Stir to combine.

Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 10 minutes

When chilled roll out to 5 mm thick and cut out shapes. Put on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake at 200C for about 12 minutes until golden turning the tray halfway through cooking.

Turn out onto a wire tray to cool down.

When the cake is cold ice the top of the cake…

Lily wanted pink and white with sugar strands so everything was pink…lol
The icing apart from the first one when I showed her how to flood the biscuits she did herself…

It is the first time I have used this particular biscuit recipe but it is nice and the biscuits are quite soft in the middle but firm on the outside when cooked.

I would use again as it is nice and firm , easy for kids to cut out it is a little crumbly and soft when not cooked but manageable..Well Lily managed so I am sure anyone else can.

That’s all for my Easter bakes… No more cakes for a while…lol

What is your favourite Easter bake or tradition? Please tell us in comments…Happy Baking xxx

My thanks to Carol for another great column and it is just as well we are not neighbours… I would be over there every day for elevenses…. (lovely though that would be).

About Carol Taylor

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetables ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use have to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology:  https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

New additional Blog: http://myhealthyretirement.com/welcome-to-orienthailiving-my-first-post/

Blog: https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

If you have missed previous posts in the Cook from Scratch series you can find them here: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/cook-from-scratch-with-sally-and-carol-recipes/

Looking forward to your comments and it would be great if you could hit a few share buttons..thanks Sally