Easter
563 recipes found
Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
In this recipe, a rich and luxurious chocolate ganache enrobes an impressively tall chocolate cake with hidden layers of jammy raspberry filling punctuated by fresh berries. This cake is best served at room temperature so the chocolate coating is soft and easily sliced. If you like, you can also fill and frost the cake with chocolate buttercream instead of ganache; the buttercream is a bit easier to work with and less expensive to make. Fans of the combination of chocolate and raspberry may also want to consider this cheesecake.
Junior’s Cheesecake
In 1950, the year Junior’s opened on Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, founder Harry Rosen spent months with the Danish-born baker Eigel Petersen developing what would become one of the most well-known New York-style cheesecakes in the country. This recipe puts the cake in cheesecake: A soft, thin bedding of ethereal sponge cake, flavored with a whisper of lemon extract, supports the light but dense, dreamily smooth cream cheese layer. Alan Rosen, Harry Rosen’s grandson and now the owner, shared the restaurant’s recipe, which has been adapted here for home ovens. Though Junior’s cheesecakes are classically blonde, sometimes light golden, this one gains a deeper hue on top, which is not only okay but delicious, Mr. Rosen said.
Spiraled Spanakopita With Feta
The first thing you’ll notice about this savory Greek pie — called striftí spanakotyrópita in its homeland — is its alluring spiraled form. But the shape serves a purpose beyond aesthetics: It amplifies the irresistible contrast between the crunch of the crust and the tenderness of the filling by increasing the surface area of the flaky, golden, olive-oil-varnished phyllo that encases the herbaceous greens. A handful of dried currants balances the salty cheese, and fresh parsley helps bring it all to life. If you’re lucky enough to have a Greek grocery nearby, look for frozen “country-style” phyllo, which is thicker and more tender than the paper-thin variety found in most supermarkets, making it closer to the handmade dough preferred by Greek cooks.
Lemon Bars With Pecan Crust
Lemon bars, with their buttery shortbread crust and their tart-as-you-like curd, have become one of the great American desserts ubiquitous to the 20th century cookery canon. These have a little twist with a rich pecan short crust, making them just a bit more well-rounded, the toasty nuttiness serving as a counterbalance to the tart lemon zing. While there are some official notations of its origins in print — most notably in the Chicago Tribune in 1962 — it remains one of those desserts that has seemingly lived in the hearts of modern Americans for as long as we can remember. As a friendly harbinger of spring and a favorite for every summertime cookout or picnic or backyard hang, these bright bites are a great option to make ahead; chilling them overnight makes them easy to cut and sugar right before you plan to serve or carry them to your festivities. For all these reasons and more, lemon bars will likely keep their rightful place as a great American standard for many years to come.
Quick Lamb Ragù With Artichokes
While many meat ragùs are hearty and long-simmered, this 30-minute riff has a little spring in its step. Ground lamb, cherry tomatoes and canned artichokes quickly bubble into a pasta sauce that’s brawny, sweet and pleasantly bitter. This trio of ingredients, often stewed with herbs and white wine, is a common springtime combination throughout the Mediterranean. Fresh mint or basil add lightness, and if you have a bottle of wine open, add a generous splash. For additional richness, top portions with ricotta or grated Pecorino.
Pea and Ricotta Frittata
This frittata is a celebration of spring: Its color, flavor and tenderness capture the spirit of beginnings. A purée of mint and peas, as well as a sprinkling of both, give it its pastel green freshness. Heavy cream and a long cook time in a low oven give it a quivering, custardy texture that may remind you more of steamed eggs than most frittatas. To get this gentle wobble, undercook the frittata ever so slightly, and let the residual heat finish the job. Be brave and take it out of the oven right after you feel the middle go from swampy to jiggly, and allow it to cool slightly before slicing. As is always the case with frittatas, they are best at or right above room temperature, so do not refrigerate before serving.
Greens and Peas Salad With Bacon
This salad has all the snappy sweetness of spring, offset by the smoky saltiness of bacon and a bacon fat vinaigrette. Black pepper is a key ingredient, not an accent, so grind on. Bacon fat sets as it cools, so make the dressing when the bacon pan is still warm, and if you’re making it in advance, make sure it's just warmer than room temperature. If you store it in a jar, sit the jar in a hot water bath to melt the fat before dressing the salad. Also make sure that your salad ingredients are room temperature, rather than cold, when you dress. To make this salad vegetarian, leave out the bacon and replace the bacon fat in the dressing with olive oil.
Chewy Lemon Cookies
These cookies have an Italian-inspired taste and an American texture. The flavors of lemon, polenta and rosemary may remind you of biscotti, or a lemon-polenta cake, but the cookies are as crisp-edged and chewy-centered as they come. The recipe uses Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging technique, which requires quite a specific dough-ball size and wide spacing on the sheet pan to work. Make sure each round of dough is 3 ounces, and don’t bake more than four balls on one pan. These giant cookies are even better when they’ve cooled slightly — they become chewier and the rosemary emerges.
Spice Bun
Widely believed to be a descendant of hot cross buns, this Jamaican spice bun soars with vibrant spices. It boasts a moist, tender crumb, and a rich, earthy hue thanks to the inclusion of molasses and stout. While this anytime snack is enjoyed year-round on the island, it’s also a beloved Lenten and Easter tradition for many. Typically, it’s served with a generous slice of sharp Cheddar cheese, but spreading a small pat of good salted butter on a piece of the warm, straight-from-the-oven loaf also delivers a special kind of pleasure.
Crostini
Italian for ‘little crusts,” crostini are bite-sized slices of toast, often topped with vegetables, spreads or cheeses and served as an appetizer. A good crostini is crisp and lightly browned at the edges, but still slightly soft and chewy in the center. While crostini can be made with any bread, a French baguette’s long, narrow shape is ideal, and sliced at an angle, provides maximum surface area for topping. Crostini serve as a versatile base; try them in this recipe inspired by pasta alla norma, or this one with fresh peaches and ricotta. They’re also a nice addition to a cheese or charcuterie board, and a sturdy vehicle for warm cheeses and dips, such as baked brie, or spinach and artichoke dip.
Christmas Glazed Ham
There’s nothing quite like the smell of ham roasting with clementines and cloves to announce the holidays. Taking inspiration from Claudia Roden’s orange and almond cake, which uses boiled oranges for moisture and flavor, this recipe steams clementines alongside the ham, then blends them into a sweet mustard sauce to pour over the meat. The result is a sweet, sticky, spiced glaze coating the ham, plus extra pooling at the bottom of the pan. Any excess turns into a clever sandwich condiment to dress any leftover ham.
Chocolate Chess Pie
Classic buttermilk chess pie is quintessential in many Southern homes and its chocolate counterpart is all the more decadent. You can use store-bought pie dough or take the homemade route because the true star of this dessert is its luxurious chocolate filling, slightly firmer than custard but fudgier than a brownie. With just a few staple ingredients, this supremely easy filling requires less than 10 minutes of active time and minimal effort, but yields big-time flavor. It’s also highly adaptable: try adding a tablespoon of bourbon or a couple teaspoons of espresso powder with the cocoa powder. A velvety slice of this chocolate chess pie goes best with a dollop of whipped cream on top, and some bourbon, neat, alongside.
Easy Parker House Rolls
Using prepared pizza dough makes these Parker House rolls a snap to put together, and brushing them with plenty of melted butter gives them the moist interior and richness you expect. The trick to a tender texture is to cover the pan of just-baked rolls with foil, allowing them to steam and soften as they cool. This prevents the rolls from developing a crunchy crust. Be sure to leave plenty of time for rising; different brands of pizza dough will vary. To ensure the lightest rolls, wait until they are very puffy and risen before popping them in the oven. Serve these on the same day they’re baked, preferably still warm from the oven. Leftovers can be split and toasted for breakfast the next morning.
Parker House Rolls With Black Pepper and Demerara Sugar
These tender, fluffy morsels are everything you want in a Parker House roll. The secret to their particularly moist interior is adding instant potato flakes to the dough, a technique adapted from King Arthur Baking Company. Softened butter, seasoned with black pepper and Demerara sugar, is brushed on top both before and after baking, giving these rolls a glossy, burnished crust that gets a little crisp at the edges where the sugar meets the pan. (For a more classic Parker House roll, skip the pepper and sugar.) Like all rolls, these are best served warm from the oven or on the same day they’re baked. Then split and toast any leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
Hash Brown Casserole
This cozy dish of tender potatoes, cheesy with sharp Cheddar and rich with sour cream, easily feeds a crowd for brunch or a holiday potluck. Store-bought frozen hash browns do most of the work here, but you also can use frozen cubed potatoes. Traditionally, this casserole, also known as “funeral potatoes”, is made with canned cream of chicken soup, but this version calls for making the soup from scratch. While that may sound fussy, the homemade soup comes together in less than 10 minutes — and of course you can use a 10-ounce can of soup instead. For extra crunch, be sure to try the optional cornflakes topping.
The Watkins Co. Rainbow Sprinkle White Chocolate Popcorn
It's hard to resist Funetti flavored anything, but have you seen the viral sprinkles popcorn trend? We found that coating a better-for-you vessel like popcorn with tons of rainbow sprinkles is a slightly less indulgent way to satisfy that pesky Funetti craving. Looking for a way to make it even better? Try using Watkins Rainbow Sprinkles which are free from artificial dyes and still vibrant without using FD&C colors. Ready in under 20 minutes, this easy-to-make viral treat is a guilt-free way to brighten your day.
Mocha Chocolate
Coffee and chocolate!
Pink Grapefruit Bars
Think of these pink grapefruit bars as the ritzier, more alluring version of classic lemon bars. By swapping out the lemon for grapefruit juice, the bars take on a floral quality and bittersweet complexity. For the boldest flavor, avoid using store-bought grapefruit juice, which often contains added sugar to tame its tartness, and opt for juicing your own. To further enliven the bars, zest the grapefruits and massage the zest into the sugar for the filling. The oils in the zest will perfume the sugar and embolden the grapefruit flavor. For an eye-catching presentation, shower the bars in a blend of freeze-dried strawberries and confectioners’ sugar before serving. The dusting provides a subtle sweetness and a vibrant rosy hue that alludes to the flavor within.
Lamb Meatballs With Pea Pesto
These garlic-and-oregano lamb meatballs are an ideal weeknight meal, since they roast up in just 15 minutes. The ground lamb emerges tender and juicy in this recipe, thanks to milk-soaked bread crumbs and whole egg, while black pepper and red-pepper flakes provide heat. While classic pestos traditionally combine cheese and olive oil with nuts and basil, this recipe blends sweet, lightly blanched peas with basil, garlic and olive oil for a textural sauce that is as verdant as its inspiration. Fresh peas will provide the best flavor and texture, but you can use frozen peas for convenience. The sauce can easily be doubled and used on pasta or roasted chicken throughout the week.
Roasted Radishes
When roasted, radishes are no longer snappy and spicy but rather juicy, meaty and sweet. You’re in luck if they come with their greens attached, because they roast into delicate chips that provide great textural contrast. A drizzle of honey accentuates their sweetness, though the radishes could also be finished with something bright (like a soft herb or some lemon juice), spicy (like grated garlic or red-pepper flakes) or savory (like miso butter or anchovy butter). Eat as a light side dish to grilled fish, crispy chicken or stewed lentils, or folded into a grain or green salad.
Pineapple Ham
Though this retro classic — bejeweled with rings of canned pineapple, cloves and maraschino cherries — is still beloved and can be found on many holiday tables, using fresh fruit and a punchy, sweet-tart glaze results in a much brighter pineapple flavor. Baking a bone-in half ham, cut side down in a lagoon of pineapple juice, means the sweet juice infuses the pork as the ham releases some of its saltiness into the liquid. Don’t bother decorating the outside of your ham with fresh pineapple, as the enzymes in the fruit will turn the meat to mush. Instead, add slices to the pan in the final moments of glazing, which burnishes the meat’s diamond scoring that mimics a pineapple’s quilted peel.
Cozonac (Walnut and Raisin Easter Bread)
In Romania, this festive sweet braided loaf, cozonac, is most commonly baked for Easter and Christmas. There are countless versions among families and across regions and this one, from Irina Georgescu’s “Tava: Eastern European Baking and Desserts From Romania and Beyond” (Hardie Grant, 2022) is swirled with a blend of walnuts and raisins bound by sweetened and beaten egg whites. Tender and delicately sweet, this loaf is perfumed with both orange zest and orange blossom water. According to Ms. Georgescu, cozonac has been connected to pre-Christian celebrations and its baking process is still considered superstitious by some. She recommends making the sign of the cross over the dough before letting it rise for luck. Even if you skip that step, your bread will turn out just fine as long as your yeast is fresh.
Honey Ham
A little honey soaks into the slices and crackles on the brown sugar crust of this celebration ham, which ends up with a just-right salty-sweetness. Gently simmering presliced ham on the stovetop before blasting it quickly in a hot oven to caramelize its honey-mustard coating keeps the meat moist and makes it intensely flavorful all the way through. Warming a sliced ham with only an oven bake invariably dries it out and takes a long time. This faster method will give you a juicy ham with the surprising piney perfume of juniper berries and the warmth of cloves. You can double the ingredients below for a spiral-sliced half-ham and use a bigger pot. Leftovers make stellar sandwiches or a perfect filling for an omelet.
Hot Cross Buns
With their signature crossed tops, these lightly spiced hot cross buns are a delicious symbol of the Easter season. Stories of their origin stretch back to ancient Greece and Egypt, and they’re now best known as an English bun, forbidden during the reign of Elizabeth I except on Good Friday, Christmas and at burials. In the 18th century, a passage in Poor Robin’s Almanack refers to “one or two a penny hot cross buns,” which has evolved into well-known rhymes and songs. Some buns have a sugary icing cross. This version showcases a chewier bread with a dough cross baked right in, so you can — and should — eat them hot. Studded with raisins and candied orange peel, they’re just sweet enough to be a breakfast or teatime treat. If you have orange blossom water, be sure to add it to the glossy top for its floral perfume that evokes spring. (Watch the video of Genevieve Ko making hot cross buns here.)