Can’t decide how to decorate your Easter eggs?

Check out this gorgeous array of 16 ideas collected by BehindTheCookie.com.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This website is not functioning as of March 2022)

We like these gold foil-accented eggs, but we’re creating a craft contest for our Easter guests—before the meal begins—from the Humpty Dumpty idea.

Don’t tell them, but everyone who completes a Humpty Dumpty design gets a prize (a chocolate egg, of course).

Take a look and decide on your favorite. The contest is optional.

Lachryma Christi, “Tears Of Christ,” a
delicious red for Easter. Photo courtesy
Vinmoldova.md.

What’s a holiday feast without memorable wines? THE NIBBLE’s wine editor, Kris Prasad, has come up with special recommendations for your Easter dinner.

Whether your main course is lamb, ham, beef or poultry, these affordable red wines are not only tasty, they’re clever: You’ll have an anecdote to share with your guests as they taste and comment.

Here are three wines with religious significance that should be on your table.

RED WINE FROM ITALY: LACHRYMA CHRISTI, “TEARS OF CHRIST”

With lamb or ham, you need a medium-bodied red wine.

Legend has Lucifer grabbing a piece of heaven as he was being cast out of it; he dropped it near Naples. When God found that a piece of heaven was missing, He shed tears and vines grew where his tears landed—on Mount Vesuvius.

The vines bear both red (Aglianico) and white (Coda di Volpe, Falanghina, Greco and Verdeca) grapes that produce wines called Lachryma Christi, “Tears of Christ.”

If you can’t find the Lachryma Christi from the producer Mastroberardino, substitute another producer.
RED WINE FROM FRANCE: ST. JOSEPH “OFFERUS”

This red wine from the acclaimed Rhone producer Jean Louis Chave has a religious reference to Joseph of Arimathea. St. Joseph, canonized by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, was allowed to remove Christ’s body from the cross and bury him; he was supposedly present at the time of the Resurrection.

According to the Gospels, Joseph, a man of wealth, donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion.

This is the St. Joseph for whom the great northern Rhone wine appellation is named—a west bank appellation that primarily produces red wines from the Syrah grape, along with some white wines made from Marsanne and Roussanne. There’s a faint illustration of him behind the print on the label.

The doubly-aptly-named “Offerus” is a wonderful Easter offering. Pair it with either lamb and beef.

WHITE WINE FROM GREECE: MERCOURI REFOSCO

A Greek wine for Easter? Absolutely! There are important connections.

The very word “Christ” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” the Anointed One. Paul the Apostle spread the gospel throughout Greece.

Refosco is a grape variety indigenous to the Friuli region of northern Italy. In 1870, Theodore Mercouri imported Refosco cuttings and planted the first vineyard in the western Peloponnesian Mountains of Greece.

This wine has velvety tannins and uncomplicated red cherry fruit flavors, which pair well with lamb.

FOOD TRIVIA: The Peloponnese region of southern Greece is known for its currants—the Mercouris also grow them. The word “currant” derives from the nearby port of Corinth, from where the currants were shipped.

They use a Pink Lady cocktail, but you can use other pink cocktail recipes, including two different pink Martinis.

The first step is to make the special “Easter grass” rim. It combines lime zest with the sugar for a textured “grass.”

Alternatively, you can buy green sanding sugar, which is available in both emerald green and pastel green.
 
 
RECIPE: COLORED SUGAR RIM

Ingredients

1. PLACE the sugar in a plastic sandwich bag or quart bag with a drop of food coloring. Shake well to infuse the color. Add more color (green or yellow) as required to reach the desired hue. (Color the sugar lighter shade of green than the lime zest.)

2. ALLOW the sugar mixture to air dry. Spread it on a paper towel or a plate. When ready to make the sugar rim…

3. GRATE the lime zest and mix it 50:50 or as desired with the green sugar. Place on a plate.

4. DIP the rim of a Martini glass or sherbet champagne glass 1/4-inch deep in a shallow bowl of water. Remove, shake to eliminate drips and place in the sugar mix, twisting the glass to coat the rim.
 
 
RECIPE: PINK LADY COCKTAIL
EASTER VERSION

The Pink Lady is a classic gin-based cocktail that may have been named after a 1911 musical of the same name. The pale pink color comes from grenadine; the foamy top is created by an egg white.

A favorite of society ladies of the 1930s, the drink was widely known during Prohibition (1920-1933) but fell out of favor in the 1960s. One theory is that the [typically male] journalists who wrote about cocktails and the [typically male] bartenders who mixed them had little interest in pink, “girly” drinks.

The original recipe had only three ingredients—gin, grenadine and egg white—shaken and strained into a glass. Over time, some versions added lemon juice, applejack (apple brandy) and even cream (which could be substituted for the egg white or used in addition to it). Here’s more Pink Lady history.

We’re opting for the version with apple brandy, for more flavor. If you don’t have apple brandy, you can substitute apple schnapps (apple liqueur), which Appletini lovers will have on hand.

If you don’t want to use any apple brandy, make the cocktail with two ounces of gin. If you don’t want to use an egg white, use heavy cream (but don’t use lemon juice—it will curdle the cream).

The classic recipe uses a maraschino cherry for garnish, but for our Easter cocktail, the cherry gets replaced by a pink Peep.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the first six ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until everything is mixed well (the shaker should be frosted over). Strain into a rimmed Martini glass.

3. SERVE with a shot glass or ramekin of miniature jelly beans.