4 Easter desserts for your family feast
Local chefs share their favourite Easter sweets
Spring is a time of renewal, and the Easter holidays are a perfect time for reflection, but it's also a good time to get re-acquainted with dessert.
These desserts from a few Island chefs are a great way to get back into the thick of it.
Chocolate toffee crunch
Chef Manuel Quesnel runs the kitchen at Upstreet's taproom, as well as the Craft Beer Corner.
He gave a quick answer when asked if he had a recipe for Easter.
The chocolate toffee crunch is a rich and chocolatey dish that gives you a little room for personalization.
You can find the recipe here.
Vegan Easter cookies
Sarah Forrester Wendt, owner and chef at My Plum My Duck, offers a vegan cookie for your Easter celebration.
She said she likes these are a healthier option over other types of dessert.
She also loves that her kids can make and decorate the cookies themselves.
Find the recipe here.
Savoury Armenian cookies
Chef Ilona Daniel, a hospitality consultant and freelance food writer, says Easter was a big event in her house growing up — with the cultures of both sides of her family becoming intertwined in the food and traditions they followed.
She remembers putting together a basket filled with "Hungarian sausages and sweets, pussy willow branches, strawberries, dyed eggs, salt, water (to bless the house), Hungarian Sweet Wine, Armenian Easter Bread and many other little Armenian cookies nestled into an heirloom basket."
Daniel says this savoury Armenian cookie is "unlike anything you have eaten before."
"It is an eating experience which opened me up to understand the breadth of possibilities found in the world of cookies," she said.
"My grandmother would make these cookies for the entire family, and she would in addition to the twists, shape the dough into doves — the ubiquitous seasonal symbol of peace. With a cup of tea or a strong coffee, nirvana is within reach."
Check out the recipe here.
Mini Eggs ice cream
Chef Lucy Morrow from Terre Rouge says Easter was also an important event in her family calendar.
"My favourite part of Easter, aside from the candy, was the quality family time — searching for Easter eggs on my grandmother's property with my brothers and cousins," she said.
Morrow came up with a recipe that is a little bit of work, but is well worth the effort.
"It's a recipe that is near and dear to my heart. Eight-year-old Lucy would approve with gusto (as does 25-year-old Lucy). It evokes a childlike sense of pure joy," she said.
"My favourite thing about Easter remains to be the food. Sweet, savoury, so long as it's enjoyed with people dear to my heart, I'm a happy camper."
The recipe for this ice cream treat is here.