Wednesday Morning Wit

Can you believe that Easter is just a week away! I can't. I have been ignoring Easter but someone left me a comment that included a recipe for Easter Bread. The commenter mentioned that it came from a website called www.italiansrus.com. Well, since I am 100% Italian I felt compelled to check that website out. I looked through most of the Easter information and something popped out at me. Palm Weaving. Do you know what this is? When Catholics go to church on Palm Sunday, we receive palms that have been blessed. Some Italians use the palms to weave into various decorative shapes. My dad and mom always weave crosses and apples out of the palms. Unfortunately, this is a dying art. My dad is now 88 years of age and my mom is almost 80 years of age. I have tried to watch them when they weave the palms but I am not very good at it. There is a really cool tutorial at the www.italiansrus.com website if you are interested. Sadly, my parents are going to be in Phoenix, Arizona visiting my niece and her family for Easter this year so I'm not sure if they will be doing any palm weaving for me. I may actually have to do my own palm weaving this year. If I do, I'll post some pictures for you.

I will share the Easter Bread recipe even though I have not tried making it myself. If you try it, let me know how it works out. If I get a chance to make it over the weekend, I'll post some pictures.


Easter Bread
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package dry yeast
3 eggs at room temperature

Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. softened butter
1 to 2 tablespoons hot water or milk.

In small saucepan warm milk and butter to lukewarm.
In larger bowl mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar and yeast. Add warm milk mixture, stirring well. Add eggs, blend well and add remaining flour. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Stir down dough. put into greased tube or bundt pain. Let rise for 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 40 minutes. Prepare glaze by blending ingredients into a small bowl until smooth. Once bread is baked and cooled drip glaze over top.

My Italian mother also used to make ricotta pie for Easter and another type of pie with Italian cold cuts and hard boiled eggs in it. I think it was called Neopolitan Pie. I also have a vague memory of bread with whole hardboiled eggs in it. Can that be right? I will have to talk to mom and see if she still has the recipes so I can post them too! I just decided that I will stop ignoring Easter and start posting recipes that celebrate the season! I may even do a St. Patrick's Day Menu!

The Creative Cook