Your kids will be dying to eat these Easter Egg Pastries, and they’re a healthier alternative to Pop-Tarts! This is a delicious recipe that you can make for breakfast, or for at any time you’d like!
Easter morning was always so much fun when I was young. We didn’t have candy in our house unless it was a holiday, so awakening on Easter Sunday knowing that my pretty wicker basket filled with candy was hiding somewhere in the house got me to jump out of bed.
The four of us kids would scramble to find our own baskets. If the Easter bunny hadn’t hid one of our siblings baskets too well, it might get hidden again in a more out of the way location, like a closet or the oven. I remember the day my mom turned on the dryer to fluff up the clothes and heard a big thump.
Yep, one of the baskets ended up in the dryer but luckily no bunny was harmed. After our hunt, when we had all found our treasure, we’d enjoy a few jelly beans, a bit of a chocolate bunny ear, or marshmallow Peep before having to gobble down some breakfast and head out the door to church.
When I was dreaming up recipes for Easter, I imagined what I would have wanted to eat for Easter breakfast as a kid and Pop Tarts came to mind. My mom did not stock the pantry with Pop Tarts as a general rule, and I had only had them a few times as a kid, but have eaten my fair share of them as an adult and have to admit I really like them.
I’ve been seeing so many recipes for homemade versions of these breakfast pastries and I thought it would be fun to give them and Easter twist. This recipe is very simple and I wanted to keep the ingredients simple, so you can devote your time to the decorating process.
So, I used Pillsbury Pie Crusts to create my Easter egg pastries and filled them with a variety of store bought fillings: lemon curd, chocolate hazelnut spread, jam, and caramelized banana pie filling. There are so many fillings to choose from, that I’m sure you will find something to your liking.
Easter Egg Pastries (makes 4 pastries)
Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury Pie Crust, thawed according to package instructions
1 egg, whisked with 1 teaspoon of water for egg wash
4 tablespoons of filling (ex: lemon curd, chocolate hazelnut spread, jam, banana pie filling)
colored sanding sugars
Special Equipment Needed:
rolling pin
4″ x 3″ egg shaped cookie cutter
small pastry brush or food only paint brush
small cookie cutters, pizza cutters, ravioli cutters, knife
non-stick foil lined baking sheet or a non-stick baking sheet
Instructions:
Unroll pie dough onto a work surface (I used a pie mat.) The dough will measure 11″. Use a rolling pin to roll the circle out to about 12″. This will thin out the dough enough that when you sandwich two layers of dough together and add decorative pieces of dough, your pastry will not be too thick.
Cut out 8 eggs using a 4″ x 3″ egg shaped cookie cutter. Reserve dough scraps to make your decorations.
I would recommend that you place four of the pie dough eggs onto a non-stick foil lined baking sheet or a non-stick baking sheet (I put them on a cutting board then had to move them once decorated.) Spoon about a tablespoon of your preferred filling in the center of each egg.
Spread the filling out leaving a 1/2″-3/4″ boarder. I used lemon curd (so good), Nutella (yum), raspberry jam (tasted good, but a lot oozed out during the baking process), and caramelized banana fruit-tart filling (my absolute favorite) to fill my eggs.
Use what you and your kids will like. Of course, if you are like most families, everyone will have their own favorite filling, so a variety is nice.
Use a small pastry brush (or food only paint brush) to brush egg wash onto the pie dough all around the filling. Lay another egg onto top of each of the filled eggs. Press down all around the edges of the dough to seal the two egg shaped doughs together. You’ll want to make sure you have a good seal all around the egg. If you want, you can crimp the edges using a fork (I chose not to.)
Use mini flower and round cookie cutters, mini Easter cookie cutters, a pastry wheel/pizza cutter, alphabet cookie cutters
or a knife to cut out shapes from the dough scraps. I cut out some flowers, some polka dots, and even my name. If you want to put names on your eggs, using small alphabet cookie cutters
, they need to be short enough to fit.
Four to five letters will fit across the width of an egg and six to seven will fit lengthwise. There are so many mini sized cookie cutters on the market right now, that you will have so many choices in decorating your eggs. I also made some striped eggs. To get just the right size stripes for my eggs, I cut out an egg using the 4″ x 3″ egg shaped cookie cutter, then use the crimped edge of the pastry wheel to cut out my stripes.
Brush some egg wash on the top side of a pie dough decoration. Sprinkle colored sanding sugar over dough, completely covering the piece. Set aside to dry.
Sprinkle sanding sugar over all of your decorations. Lay them out next to their respective eggs.
Brush egg wash over the top surface of an egg. Attach the decorations by laying them over the egg and gently pressing down the edges.
Place your little eggs in the freezer for 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake Easter egg pastries for 5-7 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees half way through the baking cycle (to ensure even browning.) Bake until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Serve hot or cold. You can even bake them ahead of time and heat them up in the toaster before serving.
If this Easter Recipe interests you, then you should go and check out all these other delicious ideas.
I saw this recipe and tried it useing SHAMROCKS COOKIE CUTTER, I wish I knew "HOW-2" reguarding Taking pictures and LOADING them onto the internet, actually even just putting them IN to the computer, or even doing mp3 something–but I just LOVED how they turned out and so did every-one else,
I filled them w/mashed potatos,groundbeef,carrots,peas&corn mixture. All who got one really enjoyed it. I made a BeefGray dip which could be spooned
onto the inside(if for some the mix was to-dry) Atually Most of the dip was left-over. I dyed the dough w/a light greenmarble color, and used small-tiny shaped shamrocks in Dark-Green for contrast. All really enjoyed. I will use these egge the morning of but I think I'll fill them w/an Egg Mixture.I think these will have just a cute tan bunny sillouette, and for the desert ones will make like Ur's above. THANKS AGAIN. YOU AWESOME YOU!
I'm so glad you had fun making and eating your shamrock pastries. This idea is so easy to use for any holiday and I love that you did a savory filling. That's a great idea.
These look amazing! What a great thing to do for sleepovers with the kids as well! I love how you added Nutella! Of course I love Nutella!
Please come visit if you'd like! I am a new follower!
Warmest Regards,
Annamaria
Thank you and welcome to Hungry Happenings.
That looks absolutely delicious!! Thanks for sharing this as well..
Sooooooo cool!! What a clever, cool idea!!! And so pretty!
Beth (TGIF)
wow what a cute and good tasting idea.
I was totally going to make pop tarts for Easter! But I ran out of time and good thing too – your recipe and decoration is way cuter. Totally going to try it!
These are adorable! I love things like this for my daughter and I to do together! I shared them on my FB page since my spotlight post will be after Easter! Have a wonderful holiday weekend! https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Turtles-Life-for-Me/212508615444255
Thanks for sharing this recipe on your Facebook page. Have a sweet Easter.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your Easter recipe is being featured at Menu & Party Idea Round Up.
http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com/?p=27184
Thank you for sharing your recipe with us at Cast Party Wednesday. Please grab a "featured" button.
http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com/?page_id=1844 —Sheryl—
Thanks for featuring my eggs in your Easter round up!
Oh my YUM!!!!! These are fabulous!! They would make my mouth/stomach very happy!!
I HOPE you'll share this at The DIY Dreamer… From Dream To Reality!! PLEASE!
http://thediydreamer.blogspot.ca/2012/04/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-10.html
Wow I LOVE this idea!!!!!! Love the fillings you used! What a cute idea, the pastries look so festive and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
These are amazing! So beautiful! Would you be willing to link these up to my Springtime Holiday Link Party? I'd love to have you! Thanks, Michelle
http://michellepaige.blogspot.com/2012/02/springtime-holiday-link-party.html
Brilliant.
I've made homemade pop tarts before (love nutella!). I used pie dough the other day and still have some in the freezer. Might have to try this out tonight.
Beautiful…love them!
You are amazingly patient. These are gorgeous, and I wish I had the patience (and all the cookie cutters) to make them…but I’ll just sit back here and drool at how gorgeous they look and how delicious that nutella ‘Egg’ tart sounds! Thanks for sharing!
Love those fillings! Very grown up! Yum! And they look beautiful! What a fun way to start Easter.