Easter is one of my favorite childhood holidays for many reasons, but none of them based on a religious notion. After all, who doesn't love the idea of a magical bunny that hops around leaving delicious and colorful treats for you in a cute little basket filled with plastic grass as well as dropping plastic eggs filled with treats all around town - no brainer.
Having lived in New York for 20 years I was exposed to many traditions from all over the world, but Easter is one of the big holiday hallmarks of the year for many cultures. For Italians, Easter is in many ways more important than Christmas because it represents the resurrection of Christ and the celebration of that mystery which is the foundation of the Christian faith. One of my favorite Italian holiday culinary traditions is the preparation of Pane di Pasqua, a lightly sweetened yeast bread with dyed eggs baked into the top.
This year, I tried my hand at this tasty tradition for one of the Kindergarten cooking class projects. I researched bread recipes and tested the method at home first before doing it with the kiddos. Boy did I need to workout extra hours to burn off those delicious carb calories, but at least there was a hard cooked egg for me to munch on and get extra protein.
I chose the following recipe because it was simple and didn't require a lot of time kneading.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17244/braided-easter-egg-bread/
After a bit of research, I discovered that far better results are achieved if you start the dough the night before, because the long, slow rise will build great flavors. Go ahead and make it as normal, let it rise a little bit (1/2 hour maybe) and put the covered bowl in the refrigerator. In the morning, pull it out and let it warm up enough to work it. It may take a while depending on how much dough you have. It'll go faster if you move it to a warm bowl instead of the one that's cold from the fridge. Once it's warm enough to work, handle it as usual.
On the day, I gave each child an equal portion of the dough and instructed them to separate it into two pieces and make those pieces into long snakes. Once they had their snakes, I showed them how to stick one end together and loosely twist the snakes around each other and then to bend the twisted snake into a circle and pinch the ends together and form a nest for their colored egg to rest in.
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| Freshly formed braided Easter Egg nests adorned with sprinkles and awaiting its egg. |
Then I brushed their nests with melted butter let the kids decorate them with sprinkles.
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| Each child put their own spin on their nest! |
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| Beautiful nests resting before baking. |
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| Colorful nests waiting for the oven. |
After dying the raw eggs, letting them rest for 15 minutes, we placed them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Delicious! |
| Finished Easter Egg Nests |
I really like the way you have indulged little kids in this baking procedure. It is fun and learning at the same time with deliciously awesome results.
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