Easter Recap

Excitement was felt.  Bunny ears were worn.  Easter eggs were dyed.  And food was made.  Lots of food was made.

I love Easter.  Not just because a giant bunny gives us free reign to buy and eat loads of jelly beans and chocolate (though that helps) but because of the overall feel of the day.  Religiously, it's a time of rebirth, starting new.  Just like spring.  And though it hasn't felt much like spring, the sun was shining, the flowers are starting to bloom and everything is starting to look green again.  All the snow we had makes me appreciate it that much more.  

Plus, Easter holds one of my favorite holiday traditions-  Easter Bread.  

We've made this in my family forever but usually when I mention it, people usually need to ask what it is.  Easter Bread, (also known as "Pane di Pasqua,"  literally "Easter Bread" in Italian) is a sweet bread that's best eaten fresh from the oven with plenty of butter. 

Growing up, it was a full weekend of watching my grandfather mix and tend to the dough.  The dough would rest in the largest bowl we had, covered in tablecloths and towels to help it rise.  Sometimes it would rise so much it would spill out onto the table.  Early the next day, we'd gather in the kitchen to watch Poppy and Nana make dozens of loaves with ease.  (When I got older I was allowed to really help with the process, but growing up I was lucky if they let me put on some sprinkles!) 

Eventually Poppy stopped making the dough and it lost something.  Then Nana couldn't find her recipe book and it really lost something.  The tradition lived on but it just wasn't the same.  And we were really missing something this year since both Poppy and Nana have passed.  But that's the good things about traditions.  Even though some things may change and people may be missing, there's still the comfort of traditions to bring it all back.   

We've been tweaking the recipe for the past decade it seems to get it back to what we remember, since it's changed.  We've found other similar recipes but they were all close to what we had, but not it.  This year though, we made a recipe that was totally different.  While our family recipe was a bit basic, this one has orange zest, lemon zest and anise extract.  I wasn't sure if it would live up to the legacy of what we knew, but it was just what we needed.  Golden, sweet and delicious.  It got the approval from the family and might just be our new traditional recipe.  

Special credit goes out to A Family Feast, where we found this recipe.  

Click here to see the recipe and try it for your family.  Try it this weekend, I hear we're getting more snow!