Easter sweets and nostalgia

[lperry]

When I was little we always had Easter out at my Grandmother's house in Florida. Somebody would be talked into hiding eggs, and then scads of kids would run around for hours trying to find them in tree trunks, azaleas, and under piles of Spanish moss.

My Mom would make the best Easter baskets for my sister and me. There were all sorts of candies and confections and these incredible pressed sugar eggs that she made. They were hollow, decorated with royal icing, and had an oval opening where you could peer inside and see a tiny Easter scene. My favorite had little tiny chicks walking along in a row. This year I spotted some of those sugar eggs at Williams Sonoma and I started thinking about Easter sweets and how they have changed since I was a kid.

Now I always end up eating vast quantities of Cadbury mini eggs, and I'm sure that the health police would arrest us for having boiled eggs out in the Florida heat for hours on end. I find this turn of events depressing, and I am now inclined to make something fabulous. What sorts of wonderful food plans do you have for Easter? Does anyone follow traditions from when they were small? Is anyone making sugar eggs?

-Linda

[Allura]

I'm not sure I've ever seen "real" sugar eggs - how do you make them? Are they actually edible; I think I've only seen porcelin versions.

The one sweet we always have is an "Easter pie" - it's an Italian wheat pie, usually with citron & other dried fruits in it. Lots of chocolate & Italian pastries. I've become the "fancy" cook of the family, so I need to think about something to make - I'll be watching this thread! :)

[iheartoffal]

Cadbury eggs, how I miss thee...

Who am I kidding, I still eat them all the time.

[Mooshmouse]

Cadbury eggs, how I miss thee...

Who am I kidding, I still eat them all the time.

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Good God. I remember loving them as a kid but, for the life of me, can't even imagine eating one now. My nephew offered me a bite of his a couple of years ago and it makes my teeth sweat to think about that cloying sweetness.

But more power to you... you can re-live my childhood for me!

[lperry]

I'm not sure I've ever seen "real" sugar eggs - how do you make them?  Are they actually edible; I think I've only seen porcelin versions.

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Porcelain eggs are new to me! I called my Mom last night to find out how she made the sugar eggs. She used egg shaped molds - you add some water and coloring to the sugar and press it into the mold. Then the halves get "glued" together with royal icing and the scene gets put inside. We never ate them. They are much too pretty, and there were better things to eat than pure sugar and hard icing .

What exactly is a wheat pie? Is it like an English fruitcake?

[jgm]

Actually, I've been looking for some molds to make the sugar eggs.

When I was in second grade (this would have been about 1962), a classmate's older sister made one of these eggs for everyone in our classroom. It was the most enchanting thing I'd ever seen, and absolutely the most beautiful thing I'd ever owned. It is one of my most treasured childhood memories, and I would love to make these eggs for some of the other children in my life.

Fortunately, a few years ago, I happened to strike up a conversation with a woman in a local store, while waiting for a friend who was doing business there. To make a long story short, she was "the egg lady"! I was so excited to be able to tell her how much that egg had meant to me, and she was dumbfounded that someone had remembered after so many years.

I'd appreciate any leads anyone has on where to find the sugar molds. Today's kids, with all their fancy toys, aren't going to be as excited about them as we were, but it's still worth a shot.

[touaregsand]

Cadbury eggs

Sugar eggs

Marshmallow bunnies and chicks covered with yellow or pink sugar

Those tiny chocolate eggs covered in foil

I actually have more pleasant memories of Easter candy than I do Halloween candy. Growing up in Los Angeles we went through a scare for a few years. Some freaks had begun poisoning candies and inserting needles and razor blades into apples and such. At one time a few local hospitals were offering x-ray services to detect metal in candy. News stories discussed how to weed out stuff that had potentially been tampered with. Needleless to say this put a damper on trick or treat (er poison? )

[lesfen]

I can tell you what I DON'T miss... my mom used to buy these horrible home made molded "chocolate" confections from a local woman. Rabbit heads on sticks, waxy chicks, mouth-coating egg shapes. Blah! What is that stuff, anyway?

BTW... I look forward to having one Cadbury Creme Egg every year.

[sarah o]

Ohhhhh,Sugar Eggs.And i would stare into them for hours and make up my own little stories about the scene inside!! Then i would try to keep them as long as possible hoping they would last forever.

[daniellewiley]

This site has a ton of detailed information and photos:

Confectionary Artists Guild of Orlando

[Sancerre]

Actually, I've been looking for some molds to make the sugar eggs.

I'd appreciate any leads anyone has on where to find the sugar molds.  Today's kids, with all their fancy toys, aren't going to be as excited about them as we were, but it's still worth a shot.

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I make these every few years, my kids are always impressed, as I was when I was small. You can buy molds at a crafts store in the Wilton section, or, if you're cheap, ah thrifty, like me re-use a L'eggs Egg.

If I get around to making them this year, I will post photos to show the process and finished product.

[jgarner53]

My absolute favorite things were made by See's. Little jelly eggs covered in white and matching color (pink, yellow, or green) nonpareils instead of a hard jellybean type coating. Occasionally, I would also get a See's bordeaux egg. My favorite See's flavor in a much larger size!

Also loved the Hershey's foil covered eggs in those lovely pastels and plain ol' jelly beans.

[patti]

This was always my very favorite:

There seem to be many fewer pecan pieces in them now, so they aren't quite as special. Mmm, chocolate and pecans, one of my favorite combinations.

[chow guy]

My mommy used to make a baby lamb cake with coconut coat and jellybean eyes. It would sit in the green grass( from the Easter basket) with Cadbury eggs and marshmallow ckicks around it.

[petite tête de chou]

I miss chewing the ears off a chocolate bunny and making low screaming sounds like the rabbit could feel what I was doing. The harder my parents stared at me the louder Mr. Bunnykins would plead "Please don't eat me!"

Except for my yearly freak-the-parents-out, Easter candy was usually too sweet for me. It was all about finding those darn eggs and the gloriously decorated basket. The spirit of the hunt, indeed!

But those sugar eggs sound awfully charming and beautiful.

[suzilightning]

OH...MY...GAWD... memories.

i was a sickly child(asthma) so our "egg hunting" was usually indoors. you don't want to know what it smells like the next week if you miscounted the eggs that were hidden !!! it was usually around easter "grandma" and "grandpa" conklin - the neighbors who had known our family for about 75 years migrated north from FL. they always had baskets for their real granddaughter sallie and their adopted "graddaughters" that included those sugar egfs. we loved the panoramas that they gave us. never was a big fan of jelly beans EXCEPT the black ones(like my grandmother) unfortunately the licorice does push my bp up a bit so i no longer scrounge them from wherever i can find them.

i do remeber the lamb - a point of contention in years past with the huband. we always had paschal lamb for easter. the first time i tried to cook it for my husband and his family i was told VERY forcefully that ham was the only thing cooked for easter in their family and to bring lamb up was tantamount to an insult(subsequently i found out his mom loved lamb but his dad hated it, therefore his kids hated it[except for one]) - now i sneak my mil lamb any time i can)

never cared for the cadbury eggs or any of the modern candies. give me a golden book any day - the books and coloring books were what we usually got in our baskets

course i also got my new spring coat(sewn by my mom) for easter every year.

[Allura]

What exactly is a wheat pie?  Is it like an English fruitcake?

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Wheat pie

I called my mom to ask her about the wheat pie. Basically, it's a variation on an Italian ricotta cheesecake, with wheat berries added. I've never actually made it; in fact, she says our immediate family doesn't normally make it - it usually comes from a friend of the family. The recipe is from "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen" by way of the Epicurious site. Every time I've watched Lidia's show, she seems to cook just like my family does, so I guess her's is prob close to what we have.

I did remember later that my aunt often makes an anise-flavored bread with hard boiled eggs baked in.

Also, my mother asked me to make our other tradition, although not a sweet one - "ham pie," which other Italian-Americans often call Easter pie. It's basically a ricotta-heavy tarte with ham, salami and provolone in it. Grandma frequently made it - I think she used the ends of the coldcuts from my grandfather's butcher shop.

Oh, and I like the hard-shelled chocolate eggs. I just saw a Lindt dark chocolate bunny at Target which I almost bought. In general, I like any solid chocolate bunny - hollow ones are no fun. We used to sit around the kitchen table a day or two after easter, my dad with a big knife & a cutting board, and he'd break off pieces of chocolate at a time, with all of us snagging shavings & chunks. That was fun - I miss that.

[hjshorter]

The best part of having little children is getting to do the holidays all over again. Black jelly beans, milk chocolate eggs with the crunchy outer shell, malted milk eggs, and a big chocolate bunny were always in our Easter baskets. Now I give my kids a little candy supplemented with crayons and stickers. No peeps though - hated those.

My mother taught cake decorating when I was little for extra money, and had the Wilton eggs molds. I wonder if she still does? She made the sugar eggs for my brother and sister and me. Mine was pink with rabbits inside. It lasted a long time before getting broken in one of our many moves. I'd love to make them for my kids.

[rosebud]

I was only given those sugar eggs with a sort of "diorama" in the middle of them once or twice when I was a kid. I couldn't figure out how to keep them pristine permanently and wasn't interested in eating what was essentially pure sugar.

Then, when I moved to this neighborhood many, many moons ago, there was a famous catering place here which made chocolate Easter eggs. Oh my, those were special. The place has long since closed and I miss those eggs still.

At my age, I'm not interested in the chocolate goodies. So, figuring out a "traditional" Easter meal for my DH and I has always been a problem.

I never had the Cadbury cream eggs when I was a kid so, after viewing all those TV ads for them, I bought one for myself. ICK!!! Pure sugar and lousy chocolate. Something only a kid would love.

[iheartoffal]

I never had the Cadbury cream eggs when I was a kid so, after viewing all those TV ads for them, I bought one for myself.  ICK!!!  Pure sugar and lousy chocolate.  Something only a kid would love.

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Hahah..well, looks like I'm the only one who still likes 'em.

[peppyre]

I still get 12 Cadbury cream eggs from my mom. One a month until next Easter! They are sickly sweet but I still love them. I remember coveting the sugar eggs when I was a kid, but they didn't seem to be that common here. It was chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. My mom would hide it all throughout our house and I would get up in the morning and just start hunting. By the time she finally got up I had found it all and was crashing from the sugar and ready for a nap....wait....she was brilliant....she had the whole morning to herself while I slept off the sugar high. Oh how I miss those Easters.

[elfin]

Mom refused to put any candy she did not like tin the baskets. We always had a Fannie Mae chocolate egg, malted milk balls and jelly beans. The green, purple and white jelly beans were the least favorite and always were the last eaten. On the other hand, Grandma's baskets were full of the typical candy especially those Robin malted milkball eggs that had the colored candy coating which we painted our tongues.

[hazardnc]

My mom bought pre-packaged Easter baskets. I loved the malted eggs, anything chocolate. Never liked jelly beans or Peeps. We got one of those fancy sugar eggs, but I never ate mine. I didn't see a Cadbury Creme egg until I was a sophomore in college - I thought they were so cool and I love Cadbury's milk chocolate.

My mom always hid our baskets in the house. One year, she forgot that she'd hidden one in the oven and turned it on to preheat for the morning's biscuits. Luckily, she remembered before tragedy struck!

My favorite post-Easter treat was devilled eggs made with all of those leftover Easter eggs!