Easter Recipe Roundup

We’re buzzing about Easter!

There’s no denying that Easter can be the sweetest of the all the holidays. Here at Hilltop, we love an excuse to get together with friends and family over a good meal and- let’s face it- plenty of chocolate! Never mind Christmas, with its fairy lights and Elf on the Shelf- Easter has natural springtime daylight and the Easter bunny makes it magical instead! And we all know that Easter bunnies love their honey!

Jokes aside, have you ever wondered why we have an Easter bunny? Or why do we eat chocolate eggs? Easter traditions are fascinating

Why is food so important at Easter?

The good old Easter egg has an important significance for Christians, as some believe it represents new life, and the resurrection of Jesus. Others believe the egg represents the stone that was paced at the opening of the cave Jesus rose from.

Either way, eggs are an important symbol at Easter, and it’s thought that the tradition of chocolate eggs began during Victorian times, when people in France, Germany and then the UK began to gift them during the holiday.

But it’s not just eggs- there are other traditional foods that we eat at Easter too. Hot Cross Buns, Simnel Cake, a nice, hearty roast dinner… but why are these foods so important? Because if we gave up foods for Lent, Easter marks the end of abstinence, and the start of a feast. Bring it on!

 

Hilltop’s Easter Recipes

Here at Hilltop, we love coming up with bee-rilliant and creative ways to use honey in our cooking, and we know that lots of you do, too. We LOVE Easter recipes. This is such a wonderful season or fresh produce and the extra hours of daylight at this time of the year really do put an extra spring in our step!

Here are some of our favourite recipes for Easter, the dishes we’re really buzzing about this year…

Recipes to try with the kids.

Nothing says ‘bank holiday’ better than an afternoon in the kitchen with the kids! And it gives us an excuse to bake a few sweet treats too. Our Lemon and Blueberry Breakfast Muffins always go down a treat with little ones- I mean, who doesn’t love cake for breakfast?!

These are simple to make, and this recipe has a sneaky hit of protein in there too (leave this out if you wish) to keep you feeling full for longer. This recipe uses our dark maple syrup to sweeten them naturally- delicious!

Of course, Easter isn’t really complete without a crispy cake either, and we all know that grownups love them as much as kids do! Our Caramel Date Crispy Cakes are a little more refined than the usual offerings, but we still recommend a few little chocolate eggs on top for an extra treat.

Recipes to make your Easter dinner buzz.

The meal you serve on Easter Sunday needs to be special. And we think you’re going to love our recommendations!

Why not go for a beautiful honey glazed ham as your centrepiece this year? Our recipe uses the perfect combination of honey and mustard to bring out some pretty awesome flavours, and if you don’t want to use cloves that’s fine- but we think they add even more depth to this dish. As long as the honey’s there, you’re on to a winner!

Serve your ham with our amazing honey roast carrots and parsnips with garlic tahini drizzle and our sweet and herby roast potatoes. Yum!

Then for dessert (because we all know it’s just not a roast dinner, let alone an Easter Sunday roast dinner, without something sweet!) try our scrumptious Apple Crumble with Cinnamon Crumble- honestly, we cannot believe we ever had this classic any other way! The Spanish Lavender Honey and cinnamon combination is just perfection.

British Easter recipes

We told you we love creating and making unique and innovative dishes… well, we think you’re really going to love this one: Baked Apple Hot Cross Bun Pudding! Oh yes. It’s a cross between a traditional bread and butter pudding and the traditional Hot Cross Bun, and it’s definitely one we’ll be serving up this Easter.

Oh, and not forgetting our delicate Hilltop Honey Scones for afternoon tea. Two British recipes you have to try this Easter!

Welsh Easter recipes

Our Welsh Blossom Honey is so versatile, we use it in lots of dishes all year round- but since this post is all about Easter, we managed to narrow it down to just two recipes that are just perfect for this holiday.

Our Welsh Honey Loaf cake is the perfect alternative to the traditional, heavy Simnel cake, and it can be decorated any way you like if you still want to add the marzipan balls. This one is really light and delicate though, with a superb yet simple orange icing. Delicious!

And of course, no Easter weekend picnic lunch is complete without our Honey Mustard Sausage Rolls- make sure you go for well-seasoned Welsh sausage meat for an authentic flavour!

Scottish Easter recipes

We’re taking some Scottish inspiration with our final two Easter recipes. First up, our simply stunning Hot Cross Bun Baked Oats- use Scottish rolled oats for the best results, and honestly, you will be blown away with how good these taste. It’s literally like having cake for breakfast… yum!

And let’s round it all off with our traditional Scottish Heather Honey Cake- a simple yet truly delicious cake with a gorgeously light texture and a comforting taste. This one is a real crowd pleaser, great for entertaining, or just for relaxing with a cuppa.

So, these are our recipes of choice for Easter. Now, where do we start, and how long do we have to eat it all?!