Easter Recipes: Quick And Easy Treats To Make With The Kids

Staying in this Easter? Keep the kids busy and enjoy some sweet family time as you whip up these Egg-cellent recipes!

Easter gives us the perfect excuse to get little hands covered in chocolate. Keeping kids busy in the kitchen has countless benefits — younger kids benefit as it helps create a positive relationship with food while getting them familiar with various forms of stimuli (texture, smell and taste), and older kids hone practical skills such as reading recipes, measuring and counting. If you haven’t signed your kids up for a whole host of Easter camps and classes yet and are looking for ideas for indoor activities, why not start cooking (or baking) up a storm?! Taking inspiration from traditional delicacies, like hot cross buns and Easter eggs, here are some rather egg-ceptional Easter recipes that the kids (and you!) will enjoy making.

Read more: Easter Holidays Kids’ Activities: Things To Do With Kids In Hong Kong

Hot Cross Cookies Recipe

Ingredients (makes 18 cookies)

Cookies
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon, fine
¼ teaspoon ginger, fine
1 tsp baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
200 ml butter, softened
250 ml light brown sugar
250 ml granulated sugar
2 eggs, large
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup currants
10 ml lemon zest

Cross frosting
½ bar white chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a baking sheet with baking paper or by buttering a sheet pan.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt) in a bowl, mix through with a whisk and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one by one. Mix well after every addition.
5. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix only until all the ingredients are incorporated.
7. Fold in the currants and lemon zest.
8. Drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and softly flatten.
9. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until light brown.
10. After the cookies have cooled down, melt the chocolate in the microwave (make sure to use short burst so you don’t cease the chocolate). Pipe the melted chocolate into crosses and allow to cool.

Read more: Midweek Meals: Cooking With Kids

Easter Egg Blondies

Ingredients (makes 12 blondies)

1 egg
1 cup light brown sugar
100 g butter salted
5 ml vanilla essence
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 ml baking powder
¼ cup almonds
½ cup Easter egg chocolates, split in half
¼ cup marshmallows

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a deep baking sheet (20cm x 20cm) by lining it with baking paper and buttering all the sides.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave and allow to cool slightly.
3. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and mix until the mixture looks smooth. Then add the egg and mix until the egg is incorporated fully.
4. Add the flour and baking powder and mix with a wooden spoon. Do not over mix! The trick is using 10 to 12 strokes.
5. Stir in the chocolate eggs, nuts and marshmallows.
6. Pour the batter into the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
8. After cooling, cut into bars and decorate as you wish!

Read more: The Best Baking And Cooking Classes For Kids In Hong Kong

Easter Eggs In A Nest

Ingredients (makes 8 nests)

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup marshmallows
2 cups Cocoa puffs (or any chocolate puffed cereal)
1 packet of M&M’s or other small candies

Method

1. In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.
3. Remove from heat and add the cereal.
4. Mix well until all the cereal is coated.
5. Lightly coat the inside of a muffin tin with a little bit of butter or olive oil.
6. Place some of the mixture in the hollow of the muffin tin and form into a nest. Allow to cool completely.
7. Place candies, marshmallows or Easter chocolates inside the nests.

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Cake Bunnies And Chicks

This is an idea we got from a Hong Kong mama and home baker, whose 6-year-old daughter put this together.

Ingredients:

Your favourite cake baked from scratch or a cake box mix (a good option is Betty Crocker’s Devils Food Cake)
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or dark)
1 cup whipping cream
Desiccated coconut or nut powder
Almond slivers/marshmallows (for ears)
Eye-shaped candies (available at baking stores and supermarkets)
Small candies/chocolate pearls
Pink sprinkle pearls

Method

1. Bake your favourited box cake mix following the instructions provided.
2. Make the ganache by warming one cup of whipping cream in a microwave oven till it bubbles. Add one cup of chocolate chips to the hot cream and let it sit for a minute till the chocolate melts. Stir it well till the chocolate and cream is incorporated to give a glossy frosting. Let it cool.
3. Now crumble half the baked box cake into a fine sand-like mixture
4. Add the chocolate ganache one tablespoon at a time till the cake starts sticking to itself. Take chunks of the cake mixture and roll them into equal-sized balls.
5. To decorate and make a bunny:
   Roll the ball in desiccated coconut or nut powder, add the almond slivers sticking up for ears or marshmallows cut into long bunny ears, two candies for eyes and a pink sprinkle for the nose.
6. To decorate and make a chick:
   Roll the ball in desiccated coconut powder or nut powder, add candy eyes and finally a V-shaped almond sliver for a beak.

Read more: Staycations In Hong Kong: Hotels And Packages To Book With The Family

More Easter Cooking Ideas!

Because it’s Easter, you could easily bake your favourite goodies and dress it up with chocolate eggs, marshmallows and jelly beans.

Bake a batch of cupcakes, dig out a small portion from each, hide a chocolate egg in it and then cover with frosting and create an edible version of an Easter egg hunt. You can also use egg, bunny and chick-shaped cookie cutters when you make simple sugar cookies that you let the kids decorate with frosting and sprinkles. Want to wake the little ones up with festive cheer? Make bunny-shaped pancakes them by using the same cutters to cut out the shapes. If you want a failsafe Easter recipe, make carrot cake and decorate the cream cheese icing with carrot fondant toppers or gummies.

And, from all of us here at Sassy Mama, we wish you and your family a hoppy Easter!

Read more: Birthday Cakes In Hong Kong: Cake Shops And Patisseries

Editor’s note: This post was originally published by Leandi Archer in March 2018 and was updated most recently by Jess Mizzi in April 2022, with help from Elizabeth Thomas.