Create Memories with Egg-ceptional Easter Recipes

Written by Lydia E. Harris, Author and Grandmother

Easter — what a glorious season to celebrate the triumph of Jesus’s resurrection!

As we plan time with our family, let’s seize the opportunity to intentionally share our faith with our grandkids.

Create delicious memories and share the true meaning of Easter by making one or more of these egg-ceptional recipes together.

Let’s get started! Making Empty Tomb Rolls is a tradition our grandchildren enjoy; yours may too!

Empty Tomb Rolls

The marshmallows inside melt, leaving a sweet-tasting center. These rolls are delicious for breakfast or dessert.

Gather with Grandchild(ren)

• 1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls or biscuits
• 8 large marshmallows
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Make with Grandchild(ren)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
2. Separate rolls into triangles, or flatten each biscuit.
3. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon.
4. Dip marshmallows into melted butter; then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture.
5. Place one coated marshmallow on each roll or biscuit and wrap it in the dough. Pinch seams together to seal them so marshmallows don’t ooze out while baking.
6. Place rolls seam down on the baking sheet. Brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool slightly before eating. (Melted marshmallows in the center will be hot.)

Just like the tomb on Easter Sunday, these rolls are empty!

Makes 8 rolls, but this recipe can be doubled. (They’re so yummy, you’ll want seconds.) 

These rolls are perfect for teaching grandkids the Easter story. Each ingredient has symbolism:

• Marshmallow: Jesus’s body
• Butter, cinnamon, and sugar: oil and spices used to anoint Jesus’s body
• Dough: burial clothes that Jesus was wrapped in
• Roll: the tomb
• The hole inside the roll after it’s baked: the empty tomb following the resurrection of Jesus

Donut Tomb

(Quick and easy for young children)

Stand half a glazed donut on a small plate with a donut hole “tombstone” in front. Roll away (eat) the “stone,” and reveal the empty tomb!

Easter Nests

These no-bake cookies are a family favorite. The colored jelly beans in the nests help tell the Resurrection story.

Gather with Grandchild(ren)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups rolled oats (regular or quick-cooking)
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• Green food coloring
• Small jelly bird eggs

Make with Grandchild(ren)

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Set aside.
2. To tint coconut grass: put coconut into a plastic bag that seals. Add two drops of green food coloring. Seal bag. Shake and squeeze bag to color the coconut.
3. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and milk.
4. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute. Time carefully. (If cooked too long, the nests will be dry and crumbly. If too short, the cookies will be too soft.)
5. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix to coat.
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Work quickly.
7. Use the back of a teaspoon to hollow the center of each cookie.
8. Immediately press tinted coconut grass and a few jelly bird eggs into the nest.
9. After cookies cool and become firm, serve in individual cupcake liners if desired.

Makes about 24 nests.

Store in a covered container in a cool place.

Tell the Easter story using the colors of jellybeans. What part of the story could these colors remind us of?

• White (Jesus’s purity) cloth within
• Black (sin) evil planned that night
• Red (Jesus’s precious cleansing blood shed for our sins)
• Green (spiritual growth) grass beside the grave
• Yellow (heaven’s streets of gold) God’s Son who is Light
• Purple (royalty—Jesus is the King of kings)

Where is Jesus now?

What does Jesus’s resurrection mean to us?

You can read the story of Jesus’s resurrection in Matthew 28:1–10­, Mark 16, Luke 24:1–12, and John 20:1–18. If you don’t make the cookies, you could give your grandchild a little bag with colored eggs and share the Easter story.

Resurrection Snack Mix

For this eggs-tra fun egg hunt, purchase colorful plastic eggs to fill with your favorite sweet and salty snacks. Plan ahead and save empty egg cartons to gather Easter eggs (or use baskets).

Gather with Grandchild(ren)

• Empty egg cartons (one per person)
• 12 clean plastic eggs for each person
• Small snacks such as:
  • Popcorn (at least one cup per person)
  • Pretzels
  • Crackers, e.g. Goldfish, oyster
  • Teddy bear or bunny crackers
  • Dried fruit (raisins, pineapple, or cranberries)
  • Nuts (almonds, peanuts, or walnuts)
  • Cereal (squares or O’s)
  • Candies (jellybeans or Easter M&M’s)
  • Miniature marshmallows

Make with Grandchild(ren)

1. Place sweet and salty snacks and empty eggs on the table.
2. For an egg hunt, each person fills 11 plastic eggs with favorite snacks. Color code the eggs for each person or add stickers so each person can identify and hunt for his or her eggs.
3. Leave one egg empty as a reminder of the empty tomb, and place a verse inside such as, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matthew 28:6 NIV).
4. Place eggs in a carton and label it with your name.
5. Hide each other’s eggs indoors or outdoors.
6. Search for your eggs and collect them in your egg carton.
7. Open each of your eggs and pour the contents into a bowl. Add one cup of popcorn. Mix together to create a snack mix that is eggs-actly what you like.
8. Read the Easter verse, and give thanks for Jesus’s death and resurrection.

If you don’t want to hunt for eggs, just enjoy the surprise of what’s inside each egg you filled and make your snack mix. Remember, Jesus’s resurrection on Easter morning was the biggest surprise of all!

Hidden Surprises

If you like hard-cooked eggs and breakfast sausage, you’ll enjoy this easy, tasty recipe. Great for breakfast, brunch, or snack. A good way to use extra colored eggs.

Gather with Grandchild(ren)

• 6 hard-cooked eggs, shells removed
• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork breakfast sausage (your favorite blend)

Make with Grandchild(ren)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Divide sausage into 6 portions (about 1/4 pound for each).
3. Roll each portion into a ball; then flatten it to an oval about 5 inches long.
4. Wrap each egg completely in sausage. Dip your fingers in water and smooth together the seam and any cracks.
5. Place wrapped eggs in a baking pan with sides.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until sausage is well done.
7. Cut in half to find the surprise. Serve warm. Pass mustard if desired.

*Makes 6 portions

Tip: You can prepare the eggs and sausage through step five the day before. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake. Uncover to bake.

While eating this treat together, share the Easter story from a children’s storybook or the Bible.

This Easter, why not proclaim, “Christ is risen!” And let your family joyfully reply, “Christ is risen indeed!”

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About the Author: Lydia Harris offers additional help to be an intentional Christian grandparent in her two books: Preparing My Heart for Grandparenting (Bible study) and In the Kitchen with Grandma: Stirring Up Tasty Memories Together.

Lydia has been cooking with her five grandchildren since they were old enough to lick a spoon. They are now 11 to 22, and her oldest grandson is in the army.

Lydia’s recipes have appeared in Focus on the Family magazines—Brio, Clubhouse, and Clubhouse Jr. Her column “A Cup of Tea with Lydia” has been published in The Country Register papers for 22 years. No wonder her grandchildren call her “Grandma Tea.”