[2] Bunny rabbit rolls. Too cute to eat? Nah! Here’s the recipe (photo © Artisan Bread In Five).

What’s on tap for Easter breakfast? How about eggs in crispy hash brown nests (photo #1).

If you want to make the adorable bunny rabbit rolls to serve with them, bake them first. You can make the dough the night before, and bring to room temperature before baking.

See the tip on when to use dark- versus light-colored baking pans, below.
 
 
EASTER EGG NESTS FOR BREAKFAST

We adapted this recipe from one in Cooking Light. Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 30 minutes.

You can also place a bacon or ham surprise on the bottom of the basket.

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Combine the shredded potato, carrot and optional onion, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

2. MAKE the nests: Coat the muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin cup. Press it into the bottom and up the sides of the cup, to above the rim. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Once baked…

4. SPRINKLE the top with a dash of salt and garnish the egg and the plate with the chopped herbs.
 
 
WHEN TO USE LIGHT VS. DARK COLOR BAKING PANS

Depending on your age, all of your mother’s and grandmother’s baking pans were aluminum, a metal that absorbs and conducts heat evenly and is not reactive or corrosive.

Then, test kitchens discovered that food browns better (e.g., the bottom of a baking sheet and the bottom and sides of a cake pan). This is because dark pans absorb more heat and thus, more heat radiates off the surface.

For foods you want to brown (pizza, pie crusts, potato wedges, roasted vegetables), darker metal baking pans, sheets, and pie plates give you an edge.

For recipes where you don’t want the extra browning on the bottom (breads, cakes, some cookies, muffins), use a light-colored pan, which absorbs less heat.

That being said, we don’t know why Cooking Light specified a light muffin pan. There is no comments section on the page so we couldn’t ask; but we wouldn’t mind a browner potato nest (as opposed to a browner blueberry muffin).

You don’t have to get rid of your pans. According to Cooking Light, if you bake in either dark metal pans or glass dishes, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and check for doneness early.
Here’s an interesting article on the history of cookware and bakeware.

________________

*1 package (19.7 ounces, 560 grams) yields 6 egg nests.
 
 
  

How can you make your grilled cheese sandwiches more complex, more creative, more…celebratory?

Campbell’s did just that, creating four new approaches—if not exactly simple ones—to that American lunch favorite, grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Kudos to Chef Eli Kirshtein’s recipe curation: We love the flavor combinations and fun factor.

And we never would have thought of any of them!
 
 
RECIPE #1: GRILLED CHEESE BENEDICT

This riff on Eggs Benedict places the egg on top of a grilled cheese sandwich, and turns the hollandaise sauce into a tomato hollandaise with their iconic tomato soup.

It makes this Grilled Cheese Benedict recipe we published in 2015 look so tame.

Ingredients Per Sandwich

 
For The Hollandaise

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the hollandaise. Whisk the egg yolks and white wine over a double boiler until you have a ribbon consistency. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter.

2. WHISK in the tomato soup slowly. Taste and season.

3. MAKE a traditional grilled cheese sandwich with the bread and cheese. Cut in half. (Here’s a basic recipe and tips).

4. FRY two eggs sunnyside-up and place eggs on top of grilled cheese. Top with hollandaise and garnish with basil.
 
 
RECIPE #2: GRILLED CHEESE BREAD BOWL WITH TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Preparation

[2] Another view of Grilled Cheese Benedict.

[3] A sourdough bread bowl (recipe below)

[4] America’s favorite tomato soup (photo © Larry Lamsa | CC BY 2.0 License).

2. PLACE the bread in the oven until all the cheese is melted and browned. Let the loaf cool to room temperature.

3. SLICE off the top of the bread and reserve. Carefully scoop out the inside of the loaf, with care not to puncture the bottom.

4. PLACE the soup concentrate in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in the fresh thyme; then pour the soup into the bread bowl.

5. GARNISH the top of the soup with chives. Place the reserved top back onto the bread and serve immediately.

[6] The drinking man’s/woman’s lunch (photos courtesy Campbell’s).

Ingredients Per Serving

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F.

2. DEFROST the puff pastry and lay on flat surface. On two pieces, place the cheeses in the center, leaving a half inch border.

3. MAKE the egg wash: whisk the eggs with a splash of cold water or milk until they are pale yellow and completely integrated. Lightly brush the egg wash around the edges of the pastry.

4. PLACE the remaining sheets over the top, pressing the edges to create a seal. Trim neatly with a knife, and use a fork to impress a pattern (crimp) on the edges. Brush some additional egg wash on top of the pastry.

5. BAKE for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Meanwhile…

6. REDUCE the tomato soup concentrate slowly in a sauce pan, until thick and dark red. Serve the pastry hot, with the tomato sauce on the side.

Pronounced mee-cha-LAH-dah, a michelada is a Mexican “beertail” (beer cocktail) made from beer, tomato juice, hot sauce and lime, served over ice in a salt-rimmed glass.

This “adult” lunch gives you a michelada with a Mexican-style grilled cheese.

If you’ve never had a michelada, here’s some more information.

This recipe requires a panini press or a George Foreman-type grill.

The recipe can make one tall drink or two in rocks glasses.
 
Ingredients For The Michelada

For The Rim

 
For The Drink
1 can Campbells Tomato Soup concentrate

 
Ingredients For The Grilled Cheese

 
Preparation

1. CREATE the rim garnish by combining equal parts of salt and chili powder in a small dish. Or if you have Tajin seasoning, use it straight. Place the juice of half the lime in a shallow dish. Twist the rim of the glass in the juice, and then twist it in the dish of seasoning. You can use a Collins glass or a beer mug (or two rocks glasses). Set aside.

2. COMBINE the drink ingredients except the beer; set aside in the fridge.

3. MAKE the grilled cheese. Slice the roll open and toast the inside. Place the cold cheese inside the roll, press it into the bread somewhat so the layers adhere. Add slices of jalapeño to taste.

4. BUTTER the outside of the roll lightly and, using a panini press or in a pan on the stove top, toast it until the cheese is melted. While the cheese is melting…

4. COMBINE the beer and the michelada mix over ice and garnish the glass with a lime wedge.

5. TO SERVE: You can serve the sandwich, halved, on the side, or quartered on a long toothpick or skewer over the michelada.
  

Last year we made this Speckled Egg Malted Milk Egg Cake.

This year, McCormick sent us a speckled cheesecake recipe, developed by Amanda Rettke of I Am Baker.

For step-by-step photos and a video, visit Amanda’s recipe page.

Two white cake layers sandwich a bright yellow lemon cheesecake layer.

For even more springtime color splash, tint one of the white layers pink. Just add 3-5 drops of red food color to the white batter until you reach the desired shade.

RECIPE: SPECKLED ROBIN’S EGG CHEESECAKE

Ingredients

 
For The Lemon Cheesecake

 
For The Buttercream

 
Cocoa Water For The Speckles

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. BAKE the white cake layers per box instructions. Set aside. (We baked the cake layers the day before and wrapped them in plastic after cooling.) When they are cool, level the tops if necessary.

2. PREPARE the cheesecake: Heat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a springform pan: Line with parchment and spray with non-stick spray.

Allow it to cool for at least 3 hours before assembling the cake.

[1] and [2] A cake for Easter or other spring celebration (photos courtesy I Am Baker). [3] The blue color is created with McCormick Colors From Nature. [4] The real deal, robin’s eggs in their nest (photo courtesy Erica Lea | Flickr).

4. BAKE for 40 minutes or the until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

5. PREPARE the buttercream. In medium bowl, mix the sugar and butter with a spoon or an electric mixer on low speed. Stir in the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable. If too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. Add 1 teaspoon of the sky blue food coloring. You can add more or less to reach your desired color. Set aside.

6. ASSEMBLE the cake. Place the first layer of white cake on a cake stand. Carefully place the lemon cheesecake directly on top. Set the final layer of white cake on top of cheesecake. You may need to trim and level the cheesecake before putting the cake together. (No frosting between layers is necessary.)

7. COVER the cake in buttercream and smooth with a small offset spatula. Go back with a bench scraper to get extra-smooth sides and top.

8. WHISK together the speckling liquid ingredients. Place the cake on a table lined with newspaper and wear a protective apron. Dip the brush into the cocoa water and then hold it in your left hand near the cake. With your pointer finger of your right hand, run your finger along the bristles of the paint brush. The first time you do this, try to be a little farther away from the cake, just so you are able to gauge how much pressure you can use, how much liquid you need on your brush, and how close you need to be.

Spatter the speckles all over the top and sides of the cake. If you get a big spot or an area you don’t like, you can carefully dab a paper towel onto the area and remove most of the brown, while still blending in with the cake. When done, clean off the edge of the cake stand.

9. GARNISH the top with candy grass to center and add small chocolate eggs. Chill until ready to serve.

Our pots and pans don’t go into the dishwasher: They need to be hand-washed.

While hot sudsy water and a Scrub Daddy do the job, we wouldn’t overlook the opportunity to save our manicure.

So we were all ears when Good Eggs sent us this recipe to cook the main and the side in one dish. Home cooks have been doing this for years—but not the cooks in our family.

With great enthusiasm we made this recipe, and then ordered a couple of books on one-pan cooking to see how we could make kitchen life easier (recommendations below).
 
 
RECIPE: LAMB & ZUCCHINI WITH GREEK ACCENTS

We love lamb and Greek cuisine with its accents of lemon and mint, so we didn’t wait to try it. In 30 minutes, we were ready to dig in.

Note that this is a skillet recipe for the stove top, not a sheet pan recipe for the oven.

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
Preparation

1. SALT and pepper both sides of each lamb chop and set aside. Add about ½ cup olive oil to a cast iron pan and heat over high. When the oil is hot (almost to the point of smoking), carefully add the zucchini in one layer and cook on high heat until browned, flipping so both sides are crispy and deeply golden-brown.

2. USE a slotted spoon to remove the zucchini from the pan; place on a plate and set aside.

3. COMBINE the yogurt, garlic, lemon and a tablespoon of the mint in a clean bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

4. POUR off some of the oil from the zucchini pan, leaving a thin layer on the bottom. Turn the burner to high. When the oil is hot, add the chops and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Check for doneness—you want it still a bit pink in the middle.

If the chops sear before the meat cooks through, pop the pan into a 400°F oven until they are cooked to your liking. For medium-rare, the temperature should be 145°F on a meat thermometer.

5. FINISH the zucchini: Sprinkle with the red wine vinegar, add the rest of the mint, and a few pinches of flaky salt to taste. Arrange the chops and the zucchini on a platter and serve with the yogurt sauce.

[2] One Pan & Done, an oven-to-table cookbook (photo © Clarkson Potter).

[3] One-Pan Wonders for casserole, Dutch oven, pan, skillet and slow cooker (photo © Cook’s Country).

[1] and [2] Mini carrot cupcakes are a lighter version of dense carrot cake. Here’s the recipe (photos © Kraft).

[2] These carrot cupcakes have a pinch of ginger and spiced cream cheese frosting. Here’s the recipe.

[3] Shred extra carrots and add them to a salad (photo © Stylepresso).

[4] Lactose intolerant? Use Green Valley Organics’ lactose-free cream cheese. You can also substitute ghee for butter, at a 1:1 ratio (photo © My Lilikoi Kitchen).

Yesterday we made carrot cupcakes. Mini ones. With a recipe from Kraft.

While we usually dig into a slice of dense loaf cake instead of airy cupcakes, we deemed these just right for Easter week.

We don’t add pineapple to our carrot cake, but the fruitiness was just perfect in these cupcakes.

Bring them to work, bring them to neighbors, or enjoy the entire batch at home.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CARROT CAKE

According to the Carrot Museum in the U.K., food historians believe that modern carrot cake most likely descended from medieval carrot puddings.

During the Middle Ages, sugar and other sweeteners were expensive and difficult to come by, and carrots had long been used for their sweetness.

Printed recipes for carrot pudding have been found as far back as 1591, but no reference to carrot cake appears until the 19th century. Thus, we don’t know how cake got to here from there.

In the New York Cookbook (1992), Molly O’Neill says that in 1783, George Washington was served a carrot tea cake at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan.

She notes that an adaptation of that early recipe, which was printed in The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook (1975), is quite close to the carrot cakes of today.

 
RECIPE: MINI CARROT CUPCAKES

Ingredients

For The Cake

 
For The Cream Cheese Frosting

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Combine and mix the eggs, egg white, sugar, oil and applesauce in a mixing bowl.

2. COMBINE all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat together. Add the carrots, pineapple, and pecans and mix again. Spoon into 24 lined muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full.

3. PLACE the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes; then remove from the pan. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

4. MAKE the frosting. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Add milk to the desired consistency. (Don’t make it too thin or the frosting will slide off the cupcakes.)

5. FROST the cupcakes with a small spatula, or use a pastry and tip for a fancier presentation (you can use a plastic bag with no top, as shown in photo #2). Garnish with crushed pecans, if desired.