Easter Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family [Paperback]

Jill O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Celebrate Spring Fever in style with the festive recipes and craft ideas in Easter Treats. From sweet Chicken Little Cookie Pops to a full-fledged Easter Bunny Cake and kid-sized Bunny Ears, families will find an array of tanta-lizing confections and simple craft projects that revel in the Easter spirit. Elegant menus offer options for entertaining, and craft projects will have the kids dyeing and decorating eggs, sprucing up their baskets, and creating decorations for the table, the front porch, and themselves. Easter Treats will have the whole family joining in the holiday fun.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Look no further for entertaining Easter ideas! From tasty recipes for a gourmet dinner to silly and simple crafts with the kids, you'll find the variety in Easter Treats most pleasing. Each recipe includes a lovely color photo of the finished project, as well as an ingredients list and, where appropriate, illustrated steps or traceable stencils. Party-favor ideas range from sturdy paper candy cones to simple jellybean bags, while more kid-friendly ideas include adorable bunny finger puppets and fuzzy pom-pom chicks.

Mouthwatering recipes include Red Potato Strudel, classic Hot Cross Buns, Grilled Asparagus Risotto, and for a hilarious centerpiece, a 3-D Easter Bunny Cake, complete with marshmallow cheeks and floppy fondant ears. Variations on the classic Easter egg are gorgeous--decorative touches include ribbons, origami paper, and intense colors made from paste food colorings--the deep-blue eggs with glittery stars are simply beautiful, and quite different from the traditional springtime palette. While no craft is extremely difficult, beginners should be sure to freely make use of the hints included for how to make projects "child-friendly"--this also translates to "novice-adult friendly." Author Jill O'Connor emphasizes fun over artistic perfection and she makes it easy to enjoy yourself, with thorough instructions, fresh ideas, and an easygoing presentation. --Jill Lightner

About the Author

Jill O'Connor was formerly the pastry chef at the Golden Door Fitness Spa. Many of her original dessert recipes have been featured in Bon Appetit, Chocolatier, and House Beautiful magazines. She is also the author of Sweet Nothings, published by Chronicle Books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811823849
• ISBN-13: 978-0811823845
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,180,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a pastry chef, food writer and author of six cook books including Sweet Nothings, Phyllo, Easter Treats, Simple French Desserts, and my two latest books, Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey and Sticky, Chewy Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids (Chronicle Books.) Along with writing cook books, I have developed recipes for Bon Appetit, Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful and Rodale Press. I am a member of IACP, and the San Diego chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier International. In 2007 I won the prestigious Greenbrier Award for excellence in food writing from the Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Food Writers. My cook book, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth, was recently named one of the top 25 cook books of the year by Food & Wine magazine, and was featured in their book Best of the Best (Food & Wine's compilation of recipes from their favorite 25 cook books of the year. I currently live in beautiful Coronado, CA with my husband Jim, and two sweet daughters Olivia and Sophia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easter Fun For All Families, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Easter Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Paperback)

This book contains ninety-five pages of fun for the entire family. There are projects for all ages. The author notes specific projects for the youngest family members with violet colored illustrations. The projects are divided into three sections: Easter Fun, Easter Feasts, and Easter Sweets and Treats.

Easter Fun focuses on egg decorating from dying hardboiled eggs to decorating hand blown eggs. There is even a project for family members that are "too old" to decorate eggs, Japanese washi eggs. The author includes other fun ideas on ways to decorate baskets, tablecloths, and marzipan playdough.

Easter Feasts features three creative menus using a wide variety of food. The recipes are well written with detailed steps. Traditional Easter recipes such as baked ham with raspberry and Dijon glaze, leg of lamb, and hot cross buns are included along with innovative ideas such as red potato strudel and asparagus risotto.

Easter Sweets and Teats includes fun edible ideas for all ages from Easter basket cupcakes for the younger children to truffles for the older ones. It also contains simple decoration projects for the youngest such as Peter Cottontail finger puppets and fuzzy chicks.

This is the best Easter project book that I have found. It was full of both traditional and innovative projects. It has beautiful photographs that can be used as project guides. Families can anticipate a lifetime of fun Easter projects from this selection. It is a book that will continue to grow with your family.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoppy Easter Treats, February 28, 2001

By 

Teri "photogeek" (Ramona, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easter Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Paperback)

Well, it all started with the Halloween Treats book and now I'm hooked. This certain book has many yummy recipes for dinners, drinks, sweets, and even a cute bunny cake. There are also adorable and easy to do crafts for the kids, such as making a little chick and cute bunny finger puppets and you can't forget the dying of the eggs. The instructions are extremely easy to read and follow and the colorful photos of many of the projects are very helpful. I highly recommend this book, as well as the others 'treats' books. You won't be disappointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for busy moms with small children, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Easter Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Paperback)

I LOVED THIS BOOK! AS A BUSY WORKING MOM WITH SMALL CHILDREN I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR CRAFTS AND RECIPES I CAN DO WITH THEM. ALL OF THE CRAFTS ARE EASY AND THE KIDS WON'T LOSE INTEREST. THE BUNNY CAKE MADE THEM LAUGH AND WE WILL BE MAKING IT FOR EASTER. I AM ALSO GOING TO MAKE THE POTATO STRUDEL. I AM GOING TO LOOK FOR ALL OF O'CONNORS BOOKS!