Kudos to the chef at Sushi Lounge (three locations in New Jersey) who created this Easter treat. (Based on their Facebook photos, there’s more than one creative chef behind the bar.)
You can recreate it at home, with
A strip of nori (dried seaweed)
Sushi rice* or regular rice
Hard-boiled eggs for the head and arm
Tamago (omelet) for the pillow and blanket
Carrot flowers† for the blanket design and the nose
Celery or fennel for the ears
Bits of black olive for the eyes and mouth
Whatever you’re eating on Easter, we wish you a joyous holiday.
The Easter Bunny, tucking in after a long day. Photo courtesy Sushi Lounge | NJ.
*Sushi rice is seasoned with rice vinegar. Here’s how to make it.
†Make them with stainless steel vegetable cutters, that can also be used to cut vegetables, cake, bread croutons, etc.
Our inspiration was this Easter cake from Black Jet Baking Co., a small San Francisco baking company committed to making nostalgic treats and baked goods. Photo courtesy Good Eggs | SF.
No dessert inspiration for Easter? Here’s an easy last-minute fix:
SHOPPING LIST
Store-bought plain cake -or-
1 box of cake mix (for a two-layer cake)
Decorations: jelly beans, multicolored sprinkles
For The Cake Mix
Eggs and other ingredients specified on package directions
1 pint whipping cream plus any flavorings
Preparation For Cake Mix
1. BAKE the cake mix in two layers, per package directions. While the cake cools…
2. MAKE freshly whipped cream—classic, flavored with vanilla; lavender whipped cream, rum-accented, salted caramel whipped cream or other favorite flavor (recipes).
3. DECORATE decorate with jelly beans and sprinkles.
Not enough chocolate in your Easter basket? Try chocolate whipped cream (recipe below).
RECIPE: STABILIZED CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM
If you’re going to fill and frost a cake, you need whipped cream that’s been stabilized with gelatin to keep its shape. If you want vanilla whipped cream, substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for the chocolate and skip Steps 1-3 and add the gelatin to both cups of cream in Step 5.
Ingredients
4 ounces milk or 60% cacao dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (use a good chocolate bar)
3 tablespoons sifted confectioner’s sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
8 teaspoons cold water
Preparation
1. PLACE the chocolate in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. COMBINE the sugar and 1 cup of the cream in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3. POUR the hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted. Transfer to the bowl an electric mixer and let cool.
4. COMBINE the gelatin and cold water in a small pan and let stand until thick. Then place over low heat, stirring constantly, until the gelatin dissolves. Remove from the heat and cool, but do not allow the gelatin to set.
5. ADD the second cup of cream and whip on medium speed (ideally with whisk beaters). While slowly beating, add the gelatin to the whipping cream mixture. Whip at high speed until stiff.
RECIPE: REGULAR CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM
Ingredients
4 ounces milk or 60% cacao dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (use a good chocolate bar)
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
For a cake filling, make a stabilized whipped cream with gelatin. Photo courtesy CookieMadness.net.
Preparation
1. PLACE the chocolate in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. COMBINE the sugar and 1 cup of the cream in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3. POUR the hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted. Transfer to the bowl an electric mixer and let cool.
4. ADD the second cup of cream and whip on medium speed (ideally with whisk beaters) until thick.
Fill an Easter basket with all six flavors. Photo courtesy Ricky’s Lucky Nuts.
It’s hard to believe, but not everyone likes chocolate. Our friend Maria, for example would rather have something salty, or a combination of sweet and salty.
So she, and other salt fans, are getting salted nut treats in their Easter baskets.
RICKY’S LUCKY NUTS
We don’t know why they’re lucky, but they sure taste good! One of the co-founders is a chef and restaurateur who knows how to please palates.
Ricky’s, of Durango, Colorado, takes non-GMO jumbo runner peanuts from Texas and turns them into distinctively flavored, all-natural treats. Flavors include:
Black Pepper & Sea Salt
Real Coffee
Spicy Chile Chipotle
Sweet & Smoky BBQ
Sweet Chai
Thai Red Curry
Even the sweet flavors have enough balance to please the yen for savory.
The packages, in a rainbow of different colors, deliver 7 grams of protein per ounce and a host of vitamins and minerals from this nutrient-dense food. Take that, chocolate bunny!
Fill an Easter basket with one or more packages of each flavor. Get them at RickysLuckyNuts.com.
Beyond snacking from the pack from the pack, toss them into salads (green and grain), mix them into cooked rice, add them to stir-frys and create ice cream sundaes (or toss them on a plain scoop). Yum!
PLANTERS NEW TART FLAVORS
Planters is known for salty nuts, sweet nuts and spicy nuts. Add to that tart nuts!
Two zesty new flavors deliver a pleasing pucker to persnickity palates.
Planters Sea Salt & Vinegar Peanuts look like regular peanuts; but oh, what a nice punch of vinegar!
Planters Chili Lime Peanuts have a red-orange tint from the chili powder, which adds moderate heat to natural lime flavor.
In pastel colors (green for Chili Lime, blue for Sea Salt & Vinegar), they deserve a place in any Easter basket.
As with Ricky’s, each serving contains seven grams of protein and the other peanut nutrients.
The flavors are packaged in six-ounce cans with re-sealable tops. You can find them at retailers nationwide.
One of two delicious new flavors from Planters. Photo courtesy Planters Nuts..
As many people who bake Toll House cookies know, the raw dough is as delicious as the baked cookies.
Some people, wanting to eat the raw dough but not wanting to mix it, buy rolls of ready-to-bake chocolate chip cookie dough for that purpose.
This led to a customer suggestion on the flavor suggestion board at the original Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop. The flavor was created and initially available only at that location, in Burlington, Vermont.
Finally, in 1991, it was released to stores nationwide, to great success. It has remained one of the company’s Top 10 flavors. Last year it was #3; #1 was Half Baked, which combines cookie dough and brownie bits.
But over the years, the dark side or raw dough raised its head:
Raw eggs can contain salmonella, a bacterium that can cause serious illness. When cookie dough is baked the bacteria are killed.
Commercial manufacturers of cookie dough and other products that incorporate uncooked eggs (Caesar salad, ice cream, mayonnaise and mousse, for example) began to use pasteurized eggs. (Be sure to check the package label for “pasteurized,” or ask your restaurant server to check with the kitchen.)
At home, most cooks continue to use conventional eggs, and many of us continue to nibble on raw cake batter and cookie dough. If you want to do that, we implore you: Use pasteurized eggs.
But now, Hampton Creek has created a refrigerated, dairy free, cholesterol free and allergy friendly cookie dough. It can be baked into vegan chocolate chip cookies (they’re kosher too, certified by KOF-K).
But more importantly to us, it can be eaten as raw cookie dough, called Just Cookie Dough. It’s currently available in Chocolate Chip.
Dough
POLISHED OFF WITH GUSTO
We received a sample of Chocolate Chip Just Cookie Dough—a riot of chocolate chips held together with a small amount of dough. We polished off the 14-ounce jar (MSRP $5.49) in two days of snacking.
How did it taste? Very pleasing, if not as redolent of brown sugar and vanilla flavors as the Toll House Cookie dough we adore (the Just Cookie Dough chocolate chip recipe uses molasses instead of brown sugar).
But we’ve certainly added it to our shopping list for those cookie dough fixes, and to make our own custom cookie dough ice cream.
Just soften a pint of your favorite flavor and stir in small balls of cookie dough; return to the freezer to harden.
The product is currently rolling out nationwide. Find a store locator on the company website, or phone 1.844.423.6637.
Americans love raw chocolate chip cookie dough. Photo courtesy Ben & Jerry’s.
