Easter Inspired Baking

Easter is totally about Chocolate! And that means any form of chocolate! Cake, egg, slab, milkshake,chick or bunny, in our house,we are anything but fussy!

 Which is what prompted me to whip up a batch of chocolate cupcakes while the Monkeys were being entertained at the park with daddy!

Yay for a clean, fuss free, assistant free baking session! (they are so rare in my house)

 

When the Monkey-Moos got home cupcakes were already cooling, and nearly ready to decorate. It didn't take long at all to whip up a quick batch of butter cream icing with a shot of vanilla for flavour, fill up the piping bag, break open the bag of Cadburys mini eggs, raid the pantry for some sprinkles and decorating supplies, then set it all out. And in less than 10 minutes the Monkeys had successfully decorated all the cakes! They may have gone a little overboard on the mini eggs, but that was egg-pected!

(Can you spot which ones I sensibly decorated?)

 

Gingerbread and Monkeys

School holidays can be very trying when you have two little Monkeys that need some structured entertaining and Mommy has a heap of work (lets not even mention the housework) to get on with.
Short of time, as working mom's often are, these little treasures were a godsend, Thank-you healthy baking mixes and the fabulous Sweetpea Pantry!

Setting aside some time to get two Monkey-Moos organised, hands washed, ingredients out, and everything measured, we made up the mix as per pack instructions. Leaving the mix to cool. (I grabbed this time to quickly shoot through some more work, the Monkey-Moos grabbed the time to drive some cars and argue about who gets to drive at the front of the traffic!)

Mixture cooled (a bulk load of work done) and once we had all gone through the whole washing hands, sorting through cookie cutters, (arguments over who gets what) and digging out the rolling pins, we are finally set for the FUN bit!

Roll and cut, lift and place on baking tray, repeat. Laughter filled the kitchen as we had amputated teddy bears, earless Easter bunnies and the joy of sharing cookie cutters finally sunk in!
So much fun! Into the oven they go, heavenly gingerbread smell wafting through the house (getting back to work is going to be tough) and two very apparently hungry Monkeys wait as patiently as possible for a taste test!

End result, Healthy, Yummy, Tasty ginger bread treats and Two very happily entertained Monkey-Moos! Success!