Happy Easter, my friends!

The cold and snow of earlier this week has passed and Toronto has now been embraced by the sun.

Finally.

On this day of new beginnings, I hope it’s a new beginning for all of you in so many ways. I hope it’s a beginning to a season of new ideas, lovely food, the best baking and many warm moments.

For me, Easter is always a beginning. For starters, soon I shall put away my socks and let my feet live freely in sandals (have I ever mentioned my hatred of socks … no? … a post for another day …). I’m also hopeful that it’s the beginning of some better baking. As you know from this post, I’ve been struggling of late, but it seems that with the Chocolate Coffee Dacquoise pictured here, things are beginning to get back on track. Mostly I’m hopeful, that it’s the beginning of many joyful days for all of us!

A new beginning. That sounds very nice.

Happy Easter! Buona Pasqua from Cream Puff and family to you!

Ciao!

Today is Easter Monday and in Italian, we call this day Pasquetta. For many (myself included), today is a holiday. I always enjoy having the day after a big holiday to myself as it gives me a chance to reflect.

I’ve had such a lovely Easter this year.

Not only did my work schedule calm down, but I had the chance to spend time with family and friends.

While Christmas is still my favourite holiday, I find Easter to be just as enjoyable but in different ways.

It’s lighter outside and even though it’s cold, you know that spring is just around the corner. And even though there’s tonnes of food, just as at Christmas time, everything seems just a bit lighter and the pace is a bit slower and not as pressure-filled.

This Easter was also special for me because I finally tried a traditional Easter specialty from Le Marche, the region of Italy where my father is from.

When I was growing up, my father would always regale us at Easter time with fond memories of a type of bread made at this time of year called Pizza di Pasqua or Easter Pizza.

A few times we were given a recipe for this bread by our family in Italy but for some reason, we just never made it. I was a bit reluctant to ask for the recipe again so instead I did some research and cobbled together a recipe that I think is very similar to the one that my father spoke of.

My father told us that they would add salami to their pizza but I decided that for my first try, I would keep the bread simple.

The bread started out with a very basic pizza dough recipe to which I added, after its first rise, flour and grated cheese (Parmigiano and Pecorino) and then beaten eggs. After a second rise, I spread the dough out into two earthenware dishes and let it rise again.

It finally went into the oven and I watched as my dough puffed up into two lovely offerings that were a cross between pizza and bread.

Once out of the oven, it was hard for me not to immediately cut into the bread but I exercised some patience and instead covered my little sweeties up and kept them safe for Easter lunch where I reheated and then served them with thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma.

Hope the Easter Bunny hops on by!

Ciao!

Easter Egg Nest Cupcakes

Note: If you can’t find superfine sugar (also called fruit sugar), simply put regular sugar in a food processor and process for a few minutes until very fine.

For the cupcakes:

1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the chocolate frosting:

1 tbsp. heavy cream (35% cream)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
sweetened shredded coconut (for garnish)
mini chocolate eggs (for garnish)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and lightly grease the top part of a 12-cup muffin tin (but you will only be using 9 of the cups).

Line 9 of the muffin cups with paper cup liners and set the tin aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and extract. Mix on low speed for a minute until the ingredients start to come together.

Increase speed to medium high and beat for three minutes.

Spoon the batter equally among the 9 muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes and check that the cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick into the centre of one. If it comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. They should also be quite springy to the touch.

Remove to a cooling rack and let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely before making the chocolate frosting.

For the frosting, place the heavy cream and chocolate chips in a small pan. Melt the chips over low heat until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.

Spread the frosting equally over the cupcakes and then garnish with coconut and mini eggs, or however you wish.

Enjoy!

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