NEED EASTER BRUNCH IDEAS? 🐣🌷
Here are some of our favorite sweets and cocktails to serve next Sunday!
Easter Sunday is a little over a week away. And for us, that means one thing…Peeps. Yes, our Easter tradition is strictly Peeps. Our mom loves to cut open her Peeps and let them sit for days until they are all stale and hard, or as she calls them, “perfect.” On the other hand, Jackson puts together his Annual Peep Hunt, with clever little clues and riddles to uncover the carefully concealed Peeps hidden throughout the house.
It’s like an Peep-easter Egg meets Scavenger hunt.
Candidly, we don’t do much else to celebrate. But when we do get invited to an Easter brunch or get-together, we never arrive empty-handed. You can always count on us to have a bottle of bubbly, ingredients to make a specialty cocktail, or a scrumptious sweet in tow. So in this spirit, we thought it would be fun to share our favorite Easter-ready desserts and drinks to celebrate the holiday and… hopefully and finally… welcome Spring.
DRINKS BEFORE DESSERTS
You don’t often think of bringing ingredients for a festive specialty cocktail to a party, but it’s really not that outlandish an idea. For one, it takes some of the load off the host, especially if they are more food-focused. It’s a great alternative if you aren’t sure what to bring and aren’t known for your sides and desserts. And, like we always say, having a specialty cocktail is, without fail, a welcome addition to any party. (And obviously, if you’re hosting this year, these cocktail ideas are a great option to serve as well!)
If last week’s Manischewitz Spritz wasn’t enough to convince you that we love spritzes, maybe our new Bunny Hop Spritz will do the trick. We saw a TikTok for a carrot-garnished Easter spritz with Aperol and orange juice. It was cute, but still pretty basic. Luckily, TikTok comments are in a league of their own, and someone suggested using carrot-ginger juice instead of OJ. Inspired by the idea, we took it and ran with it…. behold, the Bunny Hop Spritz.
This spritz combines the flavors of an Aperol spritz with a touch of carrot to add depth and color. For our recipe, we used a carrot-orange juice blend from Whole Foods. You can usually find a few different types of carrot juice blends at the grocery store. We tried a couple with pineapple, ginger, lemon, or mango, but we preferred the carrot-orange juice for the spritz (or you can always add a splash of orange juice to plain carrot juice too). Mixed with Aperol, the orange-red color of the juice blend created a beautiful, opaque, carrot color. For the garnish, make sure you get carrots with stems and leaves! The final result is very cute!🥕
Stoli Doli’s are a classic cocktail for a crowd. But beware: This delicious pineapple-infused vodka drink is “dangerously” good and also takes about a week of marinating in a pitcher before it’s ready to serve (luckily, you still have nine days until Easter).
Once the vodka infusion is ready, all you have to do is shake it up with ice, pour it into a martini glass, and enjoy! We store our marinating stoli dolis in the pitcher we plan to use on the day of the party (with a lid and a spout). The pineapple floating in the pitcher also looks very pretty sitting on the counter!
Also, if you’re ever in Birmingham, Michigan, stop by our favorite restaurant of all time, Phoenecia. Their Lebanese cuisine is 10/10, and we give them all the credit for our love of Stoli Dolis!
We usually order a French 75 whenever it’s on the menu. This bubbly cocktail is made from gin, champagne, lemon juice, and simple syrup. The lemon juice adds a refreshing tartness that is balanced by the sweetness of simple syrup. Champagne cocktails are more interesting than a bottle of sparkling and lighter than a full-on cocktail.
Because it doesn’t have many ingredients, it’s easy to bring with you as a guest or set up as part of a DIY bar if you’re hosting.
DESSERTS AFTER DRINKS
Growing up, we were obsessed with our Grandma’s lemon-poppyseed cupcakes, and we begged her to make them for us (and sometimes for our class at school lol). We don’t know exactly how she made them, but they were probably semi-homemade with a portion coming from a box. This new Mini Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Loaf recipe is a little more sophisticated take on her cupcakes, combining the flavor of lemon poppyseed with citrus olive oil cake.
We thought the mini loaves would look super cute displayed on a tray for an Easter spread. If you don’t have a mini-loaf pan, use a regular-sized pan or cupcake/muffin tin.
Little holes are placed in each loaf with a toothpick and then filled with a tart lemon syrup (honestly, to die for). The glaze is made from a combination of powdered sugar, lemon zest, and juice, and lightly drizzled over the top of the loaves.
Our Mom recently made two banana cream pies for a Cincinnati Chili dinner party, and they were a serious hit (shout out to Flo, Ken, and Marie!). This banana cream pie recipe is not your typical finicky pie recipe. You only need five ingredients: fresh bananas, instant vanilla pudding, milk, Cool Whip, and frozen pie crust! Easy, peasy.
It’s one of the simplest and most delicious desserts you can make. And while our Mom did bang around in the kitchen early that morning to get these done and set before the dinner party, it was worth it!
We also love that the pastel yellow and white retro color vibe of the pie goes very well with Easter and spring decor.
Now of course, the pièce de résistance… my most coveted Carrot Cake. Jackson is the luckiest guy in the world because he gets a freshly baked Carrot Cake every year for his birthday… a tradition that’s gone on for almost a decade.
While the recipe has changed a bit throughout the years, it’s always stayed true to the classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (because you can’t mess with perfection). I used to make a 9-inch, 2-layer cake, but I found that an 8-inch, 3-layer cake looks nicer and you get more frosting layers in each bite. This year I decided to add some fancy carrot peel rosettes to the top, which turned out to be very easy and pretty!
Happy Easter!
THANKS FOR READING!
Cheers 🥂
Hil & Nat
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