Easter Party Preparations at My Farm
It’s Easter weekend, and I’m busy preparing for my big holiday gathering. This year, I'm having more than 70-guests join me for Easter brunch.
With so much to do, everyone at my Bedford, New York farm is pitching in - pulling out all the Easter decorations, preparing festive Easter baskets for the children, setting tables and bringing in pretty tropical houseplants to decorate each room. I am in my kitchen preparing some of the dishes for our Easter feast - doughs for the brioche and my mother’s delicious babka, filling for my pierogies, and of course, all the dozens and dozens of sugar cookies I bake and decorate for all my guests.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- Whenever I host big parties, I always decorate my Brown Room – my large dining room off the kitchen in my Winter House. I love pulling out all the rabbits and eggs and finding new ways to use them.
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- The long dining table is set with drabware and pastel green napkins – so pretty for spring. The linen napkins are rolled simply and placed on each setting.
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- As centerpieces, we surrounded charming blue glass rabbit candy dishes with lots of natural colored small eggs in nests of natural brown. Remember, you can save eggs from years past and reuse them in different ways.
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- In my servery, the center counter is filled with more bunnies and eggs – these are all white porcelain – they look lovely in this antique glass stand.
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- Under this dome, a giant ostrich egg nesting on some white Easter basket “nesting” filler. It looks so pretty next to my bouquet of pink roses.
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- Across the counter, a lady’s slipper orchid from my greenhouse. Decorating does not have to be fancy. Use houseplants you already have, and use them as decorations when they’re blooming.
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- More eggs fill these vessels on another dining table. These eggs are blown out. If well-washed and cleaned, blown eggs can last for many years.
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- A whimsical woodland scene of chicks and toadstools sit atop this small table.
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- And here are more nesting chicks on a demilune in my front hall.
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- Under my giant falcon in the foyer – a lovely collection of rabbits surround the potted Chinese money plants, Pilea peperomioides, and ferns.
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- Outside my Winter House, more tropical houseplants wait to be brought in to decorate various tables. I keep all my houseplants in the main greenhouse so they can be cared for properly, but I love bringing them indoors for special occasions – they add life to any room.
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- Potted Rhipsalis plants sit on plant stands on my porch. These plants do best with morning sun and full shade in the afternoon.
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- Meanwhile, down in my Winter House basement, Easter baskets are filled with delicious candies.
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- These are limited-edition Bunny Bark chocolate bars from Sugarfina. Each one is made from Parisian chocolate and topped with sparkling sugar and confetti sprinkles. https://www.sugarfina.com
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- This candy is also from Sugarfina. It is called Suns Out, Buns Out Fluffy Bunnies – fruity sour bunnies and fluffy marshmallow tails.
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- Easter always includes jelly beans. This year, we bagged blue and green colored jelly beans for our Easter baskets.
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- Some of our baskets are embellished with Martha Stewart Crafts paints and stickers from Michaels. These baskets will be given to the children and used for collecting eggs at the hunt. https://www.michaels.com/crafts-and-hobbies/martha-stewart-crafts/938473843
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- Here I am rolling out my dough for my sugar cookies. Every year, I bake dozens of sugar cookies for all my guests. I spend a couple of nights preparing the dough, cutting out the shapes, and decorating them with the colors of spring. A rolling pin like this one, with ball bearings, will make the process easy.
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- I love making these giant egg-shaped sugar cookies – they’re about seven-inches across.
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- Here’s one of the first batches straight out of the oven – perfectly browned.
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- And here is another tray – this one with giant chicks. Use cookie sheets without sides, so it is easy to remove them once cooled. And always use a big spatula so you can get underneath the entire cookie without damaging it.
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- After they cool, I stack them in neat piles by cookie shape, so they’re ready to decorate.
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- Here’s another batch ready to go into the oven. The cookies are less than one-eighth of an inch thick.
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- The recipes for the dough and the icing are in my first “Entertaining” book – page 209.
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- Here I am pouring the icing into a flat dish. My process for decorating sugar cookies involves the four “Ds” – dipping, dripping, decorating and drying.
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- Here I am dipping the cookie into the icing. It is important to do this carefully, so the icing is evenly spread across the entire face of the cookie – and don’t get your fingers into the icing.
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- If you’re careful, they come out so perfectly. I sprinkle blue colored dragees on top for a fun and festive touch on my giant egg cookies. The important thing is to avoid bubbles. If you get one or two, just poke them with the end of a skewer.
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- And here are some of the eggs I will be hiding for my annual egg hunt – gold leafed eggs.
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- Here they are in a large tray ready to be hidden for all my youngest guests. It is sure to be a very fun and special Easter celebration. I wish you all a very happy holiday.
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