Chocolate Bunnies and Hot Cross Buns

Do miracles happen? You bet! The children are asleep, the kitchen's tidy and my brain can - for a change! - plan more than one day in advance. So what am I planning? Why, the Easter weekend, of course, which is why this is the second blog in a row about Easter. 

I remember the time when Easter would creep up on me unannounced. I would be looking forward to a 4-day weekend without remembering the occasion until the HR department placed a chocolate egg on my desk... but that was Before Children.

Nowadays Easter means school holidays, treasure hunts and sugar highs.  This year, I'm seriously considering making my own chocolate bunnies and eggs, but with sugar-free chocolate. Ditto for Hot Cross Buns.

The chocolate bunny recipe, incidentally, is so easy even the kids can make it. I love kid-friendly recipes! But I'm stuck on ideas for a good egg hunt. Anybody?

Easter with kids

Easter is for children. While Christmas may be about family and/or about religion, Easter is just a long weekend unless you have kids. I mean, when you grow up and do the maths, you forgo Easter Eggs in favour of straight-forward chocolate, anyway...

... until your toddler learns about the Easter Bunny.

This year's Easter Egg prices are particularly shocking compared to a year ago (and compared to a slab of identical chocolate, just flat instead of hollow) - or is it just that the current economic climate is making them look that way? Will 2009 go down in history as the year in which Easter Eggs as a luxury?

Personally, I'm considering melting a packet of chocolate bits or a big chocolate bar and re-shaping it into a home-made egg. Placed in an Easter Basket, it's sure to be as good as the real thing. I hope.

Speaking of Easter crafts, here is a great idea for home-made Easter Bunny Ears. Much better than the cheap plastic ones from the shop! And hey, if you use marshmallows instead of the pink-and-while pom-poms, your kids will love you forever.

Family traditions are vital for your children's development and they help raise happy kids. Our household, for example, is into painting chicken eggs for Easter, a European custom I picked up in my own childhood. What Easter traditions does your family have?