07 Mar Chocolate-Free Easter Recipes

Just because you choose to pass up chocolate treats for Easter, doesn’t mean you have to miss out on celebrating with something yummy. These carrot filled recipes are sure to please both little ones and adults.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Makes: 20 muffins or 1 large cake

Ingredients
100g butter
100g rapadura sugar/coconut sugar
4 egg yolks
100g light spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp star anise
⅛ tsp cloves
⅛ tsp cardamom
⅛ tsp coriander
250 g (3 ⅛ cups) almonds, finely ground
250 g (2 cups) carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
equates to two medium carrots
4 egg whites

Frosting
150 g (1 cup) cream cheese
2 tsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla essence
juice of a lemon

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Grease a cake tin or muffin forms.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and add egg yolks one by one. Then add spices. Sieve the flour, combine with baking powder and mix with egg dough. Fold in almonds, carrots, and egg whites by hand.

Spoon into muffin trays or cake tin.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden or a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Mix all icing ingredients together and spread over top of cake or muffins.

Tip: Make your own spice mix by adding all spices into a pestle and mortar and grind them. You can also use a Chinese Five Spice mix.

Salmon, Corn, Dill & Tomato Quiche

Ingredients
15 g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
250 g salmon fillets, cooked and flaked
equates to two small fillets
or 200 g smoked salmon
equates to two large pieces
60g self-raising flour
125ml milk
3 eggs
120 g (1 cup) corn
4 cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp dill

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Melt butter in large frying pan and sauté onions for about five minutes. Set aside and leave to cool.

Combine milk, eggs, and flour then add all remaining ingredients.

Pour into a well-greased pie dish.

Bake in oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through.

This is an edited extract from There’s A Carrot In My Pinata, $24.95, available at all good book stores nationally.