Readers share Easter sweets to end the feast
Easter is Sunday, and some of you readers, like my friends, are baking cakes and casseroles for church or family dinners. Some dinner-on-the-grounds meals are like preparing for a large home dinner, requiring entrée, vegetables and desserts.
"What can I make for dessert?" one of my friends asked.
"How about one of your cakes? I really like the chocolate one," I said.
"Oh, that's the only cake I make," she said with a laugh.
Another friend, Margaret Evans of Biloxi, Miss., made a cake for her church party that is sure to delight any coconut lover. She did a coconut cream cake to which cream of coconut is poured into holes poked in the baked cake for a moist, rich cake.
She placed a green coconut nest with candy eggs in the center of the cake, a nice Easter touch. Pictures of the cake were lovely, but I am sure eating it was much better.
My husband loves coconut, but lemon meringue pie may surpass his coconut passion.
"That lemon pie on your scrapbook page (Pinterest), do you have the recipe for it?" Allen asked.
Do you suppose that is a hint? Yes, I do have a mile-high lemon meringue on Pinterest, but longtime contributor to this column Pat Kerstetter of Gautier has an even better one. Hers combines lemon pie and coconut. That pie may never make it to our church Easter dinner, so I will have a cake in reserve.
For Pinterest fans, that site has a myriad of Easter sweet and savory ideas. One of my favorites is the chow mein noodle bird's nests. Instead of butter
scotch with the noodles, mini marshmallows are used, similar to rice cereal treats. The noodle mixture is shaped into a nest, and candy eggs nestle in the nests with a yellow marshmallow chick standing guard next to the nest.
Here are a few suggestions for Easter parties, egg hunts and church or family dinners.
COCONUT CREAM CAKE
1 package white cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1 (14-ounce) can coconut cream
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and coconut flavoring. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into the 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
In a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. When cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it in even rows, using a large fork or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, allowing it to soak into the cake. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continues whipping until stiff. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle top with flaked coconut.
-- Recipe from www.allrecipes.com
SKY HIGH LEMON MERINGUE PIE
2-1/4 cups sugar
4 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
6 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon lemon extract
1 (4-ounce) can toasted coconut chips
1 favorite pastry recipe for 1 9-inch crust
Prepare pastry recipe.
Roll out to a 12-inch round on a lightly floured pastry cloth or board; fit into a 9-inch pie plate.
Trim overhang to 1/2 inch; turn under flush with rim and flute to make a stand-up edge; prick well all over with a fork. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees, for 15 minutes or until golden; cool completely on a wire rack
Filling:
Mix 1 3/4 cups of the sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt in a medium-size bowl. Heat water to boiling in a medium-size saucepan. Lower heat to medium; slowly add sugar mixture, stirring gently but constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 to 7 minutes or until mixture holds a line when cut with a spoon; remove from heat at once. Do not let mixture boil. Beat egg yolks slightly in bowl; stir in 1/2 cup hot mixture to temper the eggs; quickly stir back into mixture in saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, for 3 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon rind, juice, 2 tablespoons butter or margarine until blended. Pour into cool pastry shell.
Beat egg whites with lemon extract until foamy, white and double in volume in bowl. Sprinkle in 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating all the time until sugar dissolves and meringue stands in firm peaks. Pile onto hot filling, spreading to edge of crust. This keeps meringue from shrinking. Sprinkle with coconut chips, or place them in a pretty pattern on top. Bake in moderate oven, 350 degrees, 12 minutes, or until peaks of meringue are a golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
-- Submitted by Pat Kersteter
My mother-in-law, Yvonne Yeager, had a fail-proof way of making meringue. She called it her seven success secrets. I'm so grateful that she passed this method on to us. Maybe this will help those whose meringues sometimes shrink.
MERINGUE (Seven Success Secrets)
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1. Beat egg whites until dry and stiff (better volume is obtained if whites are not too cold).
2. Add sugar gradually, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
3. Add flavoring.
4. Spread lightly over cooled filling, making sure meringue touches crust rim.
5. Make graceful swirls and peaks.
6. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) 25 to 30 minutes or until firm and delicately brown.
7. Cool pie on rack away from drafts. This makes enough for a 9-inch pie.
"Follow these instructions exactly for a perfect meringue," she would say.
BIRD'S NESTS
3 cups mini-marshmallows
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups dry chow mein noodles
Small candy eggs or jelly beans
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Over low heat, melt the marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan. Once melted, stir in the vanilla, then the chow mein noodles.
Coat your hands liberally with shortening, (butter doesn't work as well) and have some nearby for re-coating. Shape noodle mixture into small balls, placing a well in the center to resemble a nest. Place candy eggs in nest. A yellow marshmallow chick can be placed next to the nest like a hen watching her nest.
-- Adapted from "King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion"
For an easy bar recipe, here's another lemony idea.
LUSCIOUS LEMON DELIGHT
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped pecans, divided
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
2 (3.4-ounce) packages lemon instant pudding mix
2 2/3 cups milk
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine flour, 1/2 cup pecans and butter in a medium bowl and mix well. Press onto the bottom of an 11-by-8-inch baking dish. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Let stand to cool.
Place cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add 1 cup whipped topping to cream cheese mixture and fold in gently. Spread over cooled crust.
Combine pudding mix and milk in a medium bowl. Beat until thickened. Spread on top of cream cheese layer.
Top with the remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle with remaining pecans. Chill, covered, for 1 hour. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
-- Recipe fromgrandmaskitchen.com
Shower ideas
Get those baby or wedding shower recipes in quickly. I will share some in next week's column.
Andrea Yeager, a freelance writer, can be reached at ayeager51@cableone.net. Send contributions or requests to Cook's Exchange, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535-4567.
This story was originally published April 4, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Readers share Easter sweets to end the feast ."