Have you ever heard of Italian Easter Bread? I hadn’t until last year, when I happened upon it on Pinterest.
courtesy of recipes100
It is visually quite stunning – a plaited wreath of sweetened dough with dyed hard-boiled eggs placed in the wreath, plus some sprinkles. Very Eastery, not just because of the colours, but of course the eggs – which have all sorts of religious connotations.I’m not religious, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, but I still like the holiday and it's colours and tastes.
I thought I would try making it this year, but then I mentioned Italian Easter Bread to Disneyboi who baulked at the thought! He’s not a lover of real eggs at all. I say real eggs, as he does like chocolate ones, which set me to thinking.
How about a cookie made to look like Italian Easter Bread and instead of real dyed eggs, I could substitute mini chocolate eggs?
I made a plain cookie dough and chilled it overnight. The next day I twisted lengths of cookie dough together (I cannot plait to save myself, twisting was much easier) and added some micro eggs, before chilling the unbaked cookies for a few minutes (helps them to keep their shape) before baking them.
I tried both mini eggs and micro eggs and I have to say the micro eggs won. They did crack a little when baked, exposing their choccy innards, but I loved the look of them.
When cooled I made a simple glaze from icing sugar and water, brushed it over the cookies and sprinkled some multi-coloured sprinkles – very festive!
Disneyboi enjoyed these immensely and I think they would cheer up any Easter celebration table!
Italian Easter Bread Cookies
Cuisine: snack Category: cookies Yields: 20 cookies
Prep Time: 2 Hrs Cook Time: 10 Mins Total Time: 2 Hrs 10 Mins
Ingredients
- 200 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 400 grams plain flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 bag of chocolate micro eggs
- Icing sugar
- Water
- Multi-coloured sprinkles
- In a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and mix in followed by the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt and mix until a dough forms.
- Split the dough in two and wrap each half in clingfilm. Refrigerate for a couple of hours at least or overnight.
- When ready to make your cookies, pre-heat the oven 180C. Line two cookie sheets with greaseproof paper.
- Split the dough into 40 grams balls and separate each ball in half. Roll each half into 20cm long snakes and place each snake side-by-side. Twist each end until you get a full twisted ‘log’. Wrap it into a circles and then take the micro eggs, dotting 5 or 6 around the folds of the dough.
- When all cookies are made, chill them for 15 minutes before baking in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Allow to cool completely before making a glaze from some icing sugar and water, Brush over the cookies and sprinkle with sprinkles.
- Allow the glaze to dry before tucking into your Italian Easter Bread Cookies!
I am entering these into this month's Tea Time Treats hosted by (this month) Janie at The Hedgecombers and Karen at Lavender and Lovage. The theme is biscuits and cookies.
