Photo Credit: Cooking Classy

Whenever I have company for a holiday celebration, I always like to have some kind of homemade gift for our guests to take home.  Generally, that’s some kind of cookie or individual cake, but my tasmanian devils often preclude me from just taking a shower!  Obviously, finding time to bake something gets moved so far down the list of priorities that I’d have to walk down the street three houses to find its place.  Nevertheless, it is important to me, so I have to find a way to make it work.

My answer?  Bunny Food aka Bunny Bait.

I made a variation of this for Halloween with candy corn and black & orange sprinkles.  Candy corn.  Do I need to say more?  Nah, didn’t think so.

For Easter, I’ll be whipping up this nut free confection on Saturday and making pretty take home bags tied with pink satin ribbon for my guests.    It’s so easy to pull together.  If you’re pressed for time and would like to do something special, give this a try.  The supplies are very inexpensive….well, for us anyway.  ;)

Bunny Food (Nut-Free)

Ingredients:
2 Bag Orville Redenbacher Tender Popcorn (microwave)
1 – 12oz Hershey’s White Chocolate Chips* (*see bottom of post)
OR 2 – 6oz packages of  Bakers White Chocolate*
1 & 1/2 cup Pretzel Pieces (coarsely broken whole pretzels)
2 – 5oz bag Easter Sixlets*
Pastel nonpareils or jimmies/sprinkles

Directions:

• Line a 13×18 jelly roll pan with wax paper.  If you don’t have a jelly roll pan, you can just use a cookie sheet.
• Pop popcorn according to package directions and pour into large bowl removing all unpopped kernels.  Add pretzel pieces.
• If you’re using Baker’s White Chocolate, cut it into smaller pieces before melting to hasten the process.
• From here, I generally melt either the chips or chunked chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each cycle, until almost melted.  Small unmelted pieces throughout are fine.  They will melt with the residual heat in the bowl.
• Drizzle half of the melted chocolate over the popcorn/pretzel mixture and fold it into the popcorn until coated.
• Add Sixlets and fold again.
• Drizzle the remaining melted chocolate over the popcorn and fold until the popcorn is fully coated.  Don’t over mix because you don’t want the color coating on the Sixlets to start running.
• Pour evenly onto jelly roll pan in a single layer.
• Coat evenly with Easter sprinkles.
• Allow to cool and harden.  Break into pieces.

*Note: This recipe is nut free for my son, but you can use Easter M&M’s in yours if you don’t have sensitivities in your home.  Also, feel free to swap out the white chocolate chips for candy melts.

Recipe adapted Cooking Classy

When I think of Easter candy, I think of Cadbury Creme Eggs.  In my youth, I ate far too many of those.  Ready for a shock?  I have no cavities.  Knock. on. wood.  I know, I can’t explain it either.

Well, Cadbury Creme Eggs are one thing.  Nut allergies are another.  Yeah, that throws a wrench into most holiday candy staples, but we roll with it.  So, whaddya think?  Wanna roll with me?  I thought so.

Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs are surprisingly simple to make.  If you’ve ever made your own Chocolate Covered Cherries or any fondant-like filling, you’ll recognize the similarity.  This is exactly the same…only with yellow food coloring.

Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Yellow food coloring (I use Spectrum Gel Coloring in Egg Yellow.  The color is perfect.)
1 – 12oz bag Hershey’s Chocolate Chips

Directions: 

• Cream butter, corn syrup, vanilla until smooth.
• Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar and beat on medium low until well mixed.
• Separate 1/3 of mixture into a small bowl and tint it yellow (one drop is sufficient).
• Once the color is evenly distributed, refrigerate both bowls for at least an hour, but not much longer or the mixtures will begin to dry and crumble. Listen. to. me.  
• Roll the yellow mixture into small balls and place on parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet.
• Freeze 15 minutes until firm.
• Remove them from the freezer, coat evenly with white mixture, and form into a small egg shape.  Keep in mind you’ll be covering these with chocolate, so plan your shape accordingly.
• Freeze shell-less eggs for 30-45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, melt the chips in a bowl in the microwave on high  for 30 seconds.  Stir the chips around in the bowl.  I find that those on the bottom seem to melt FIRST, so it’s best to give them a spin.  Microwave on high again for another 30 seconds.  Stir.  Continue to microwave on high in 15 second bursts until they’re mostly melted.  At this point, there should be enough residual heat to finish melting them completely.
• I use a fork to hold and dip my eggs to coat them, allow the excess to drip, and place them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Of course, you can use a candy rack if you have one.
• When you’re done coating all  of them, use the remaining chocolate to drizzle pretty zigzag lines on the top of the eggs with a fork.
• Refrigerate until set or speed the process by freezing.

You can keep them in the refrigerator for firm filling or at room temperature for more traditional runny filling.

*Recipe adapted from instructables.

I saw this post the other day from Nestle and I thought you’d enjoy some of their baking ideas to go along with the cheapy cheap NestEggs you’ve all been picking up.  These are all easy to make, and if you have kids, they can easily help decorate them.

Egg-ceptional Easter Nests

Egg Hunt Cookie Cups

Chocolatey NestEgg Shortbread Cookies

Mini Spring Cheesecakes

NestEgg Macaroons

If you haven’t printed your coupons, here they are with their corresponding locations:
$0.55/1 NestEggs HERE
$1.00/2 NestEggs HERE or HERE (select save $1 now below the picture)