Top: Pastel beet salad for Easter, from the Oyster Club. Middle: Gold beets is the name given to the orange varieties. Bottom: Chioggia beets, pronounced KYO-jah, sometimes called candy cane beets. Beet photos from Good Eggs.

We adapted this charming salad concept from the Oyster Club in Mystic, Connecticut, as our Easter salad. Look in specialty produce stores or farmers markets for the beets.

RECIPE: EASTER SALAD

Ingredients

 
Preparation

The first three steps can be done a day in advance.

1. ROAST the beets and cut into batons, approximately 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch x 2-1/2 inches.

2. TOAST the pine nuts. Pistachios, which we personally prefer, don’t need to be chopped.

3. BOIL and dye the optional quail eggs.

4. SUPRÊME the orange. Suprême (soo-PREHM) is a technique that removes the membrane from citrus fruit segments* so they can be served in slices. Slice off the top and bottom of the orange with a very sharp knife. Set the fruit on one of the flat ends and carefully cut the skin from the flesh, beginning at the top and following the curves down.

5. MAKE the vinaigrette, in the proportion of three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to 1 tablespoon of orange juice. Using fresh-squeezed orange juice is noticeably better. When ready to assemble:

6. WASH and pat dry the greens. Place the beets and orange segments in an arrangement as shown, with a plume of greens. With a tablespoon, spoon the vinaigrette in a circle around the plate. Garnish with nuts. If using quail eggs, tuck them under the other ingredients, peeking out. Serve.
 
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*In French cooking, suprême refers to the best part of the food. In the case of citrus, you’re removing the peel, pith and membranes to get to the best part—the juicy segments.
  

For an Easter weekend snack, how about some “Easter” popcorn?

Just combine plain popcorn with an Easter-theme confection: pastel sprinkles, mini pastel jelly beans or baking chips. We use pastel mint chips from Guittard, but a trip to the nearest candy store will yield other choices.

You can go one step further and make white chocolate popcorn bark with an Easter candy garnish. Because the candies adhere to the chocolate, you can use pastel M&Ms and other heavier confections (without the chocolate they’ll sink to the bottom of the bowl). This recipe is from Popcorn.org.

 
RECIPE: WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN BARK

Ingredients For 1 Pound (Twelve 3-Inch Squares)

 
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*We use Guittard white chocolate chips or chop Green & Black’s or Lindt white chocolate bars. We avoid white candy coating because it substitutes vegetable oil for the cocoa butter in real chocolate (and that’s the reason many people dislike “white chocolate,” as they’re actually eating white candy coating).

1. COVER a baking pan with foil or wax paper; set aside. Place the popcorn in a large bowl; set aside.

2. MELT the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. When the chocolate is melted, stir in the candy.

3. POUR the chocolate mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat. Spread the popcorn onto the prepared pan and allow to cool completely. When chocolate is cooled and set…

4. BREAK into chunks for serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
 
 

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Pastry chef Elizabeth LaBau of the blog SugarHero.com decided back in 2013 to create an egg-shaped dessert “pizza” for Easter: a cookie dough base topped with glazed fruit.

Looks delicious, doesn’t it? Here’s the recipe.

We always bake a cake with Easter decorations, and also serve a fruit salad. So three years ago, we adapted the “pizza” idea to a fruit platter.

 
Truth to tell, even with three years of practice, Ms. LaBau’s work is still far lovelier than ours. But we never claimed to be a professional pastry chef—just a professional pastry eater.

RECIPE: CREAM CHEESE FROSTiNG

Ingredients

 
Note: To frost a cake, you need a larger amount of icing. For vanilla cream cheese frosting, combine: 16 ounces cream cheese, 2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter, 1-1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar (sifted after measuring) and 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract.
 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the ingredients and place in a piping bag and pipe an Easter egg shape.

2. TIP: If you don’t want to pipe freehand, cut an egg shape from foil or parchment and use it as a guide. The trick is to fold the foil in half and cut half an Easter egg, so the halves will be perfectly symmetrical when you unfold it.

March 24th is National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day, honoring a confection that dates well before the introduction of Raisinets in 1927.

You need only three ingredients to make chocolate-covered raisins: raisins, chocolate and coconut oil. The oil thins the chocolate so it adheres better.

We loved this suggestion from TheRoadNotProcessed.com: Add a bit of spice to elevate the recipe.

You can coat the raisins in dark, milk or white chocolate using chocolate chips. But the better the chocolate quality, the tastier the results. We chop up a Lindt bar.

Look for jumbo raisins you can find. You can substitute jumbo sultanas (golden raisins) as well.

Below:

The recipe for chocolate-covered raisins.

The history of Raisinets.

Elsewhre on The Nibble:

> The year’s 60+ candy holidays.

> The year’s 69 chocolate holidays.

> The year’s 80 fruit holidays.

> The history of chocolate.

> The different types of chocolate: a photo glossary.

 
RECIPE: CHOCOLATE COVERED RAISINS

Ingredients For 1-1/2 Cups

 
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*Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, like vegetable oil. Virgin coconut oil is fresh-pressed, unrefined coconut oil—superior to refined coconut oil. Here’s more about coconut oil.

[2] Dipping the raisins. You don’t need a special spoon, but it helps (Abacus Photo).

1. MELT the chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler or microwave for 30-seconds, then at 10-second intervals as needed, taking care not to scorch it. Stir well with a whisk, adding the optional spice(s).

2. ADD half the raisins and mix well to coat them all; then add the rest of the raisins and do the same. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Harden in the refrigerator and break up the hardened pieces. For faster hardening, use the freezer (they’ll be ready in 5-10 minutes).

6. BREAK up the hardened pieces into individual pieces or raisin clusters. Refrigerate any leftovers.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF RAISINETS

Raisinets, raisins in chocolate shell, is a movie theater staple and the third-largest selling candy in U.S. history.

To make the candy, raisins are coated with oil and spun in a hot drum with milk chocolate or dark chocolate. They’re then polished to a shine.

Raisinets are the earliest brand of chocolate-covered raisins on record, introduced by the Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate Company of Philadelphia in 1927 (the brand was acquired by Nestlé in 1984).

The Blumenthals did not originate the concept. Hard chocolate was invented in 1847, enabling confectioners to develop all types of chocolate candies (the history of chocolate), including chocolate-dipped fresh and dried fruits.
 

[3] We toss them into popcorn for movie night (Abacus Photo).
 

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Top: A classic Easter cake with coconut “grass” and Easter eggs. Bottom: You can tint the batter different colors for a surprise. Photo courtesy Reynolds Kitchens.

Coconut cake has become an Easter tradition. Adults and children alike are tickled pink by the green coconut “grass” and Easter egg candies.

This recipe from Reynolds Kitchens is “double coconut,” made with coconut layers as well a coconut frosting.

RECIPE: DOUBLE COCONUT EASTER LAYER CAKE

Ingredients
 
For the Cake

 
For the Frosting

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment.

2. WHISK together the egg whites and shredded coconut in a separate bowl. Add in the coconut extract and then the egg whites and shredded coconut mixture in 3 batches into the butter-sugar mixture.

3a. MIX the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and add into the creamed butter-sugar mixture, while alternating with the coconut milk but beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Be sure to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl often.

3b. If you want to tint the layers, divide the batter into thirds and tint two of the three with a different pastel color.

4. DISTRIBUTE the cake batter evenly into 3 cake pans. Bake the cake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and firm in the center. Cool the cake pans on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes.

5. WHIP the butter and cream cheese in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Mix in the coconut extract and powdered sugar until completely blended.

6. TOSS together in a slider storage bag 1-1/2 cups of the shredded coconut and 4 to 6 drops of green food coloring, until the coconut becomes green. Frost the cooled coconut cake in layers with a small amount of frosting. After each layer has been frosted, sprinkle on ½ cup of shredded coconut and press into the frosting before adding on the next layer of cake.

7. FROST the entire outside and top of the cake and use the remaining shredded white coconut to coat the outside of the cake.

8. FINISH the top of the layered coconut cake by sprinkling on the green coconut shreds, but take care to not get any of the shreds around the outside. Garnish the top of the cake with assorted Easter egg candy and chocolate.

These tips for creating the perfect layer cake are from Reynolds Kitchens:

 
FROSTING TIPS