Spring Baking Season

Every year I know it’s coming, and every year it sneaks up on me. Spring baking season is upon me, and my mixers, bowls, measuring spoons and various baking dishes and sheets are about to go through a workout.

Just this weekend, C’s birthday, I’ll be making his family birthday cake (layers of cake, meringue, whipped cream and fresh berries), cupcakes for he and his group of friends who are going on an adventure together on Sunday, and masses of brownies for his class on Monday. Only the cupcakes will be from a mix.

Following C’s birthday, I will make several batches of what we call “bunny breads” in preparation for Easter. Bunny breads are orange flavored sweet yeast rolls formed into something of a bunny shape by first rolling a bit of dough into a long “snake,” coiling about two-thirds one direction (the body), then coiling the remaining third in the opposite direction on top (the head). A couple little rolls of dough sticking out the top make the ears, and a little ball makes the tail. They get a light orange flavored glaze after baking. Yum.

(Bunny breads are a long-standing family tradition. I’ve been making them for 18 or so years now, but the recipe goes back to my husband’s mother. Somewhere we have a photo of my husband as a towheaded seven month old gnawing on a bunny bread.)

The week following Easter is S’s birthday. She’ll also be getting the family birthday cake, and we’ll need to figure out a treat she can share with her friends at school.

The day after S’s birthday, a friend will be visiting from DC with her brood, and we’ll be celebrating the birthday of one of her sons. Well, maybe I can justify a purchase from the local French patisserie for that.

Oh, and somewhere in there is some Easter egg dying and Easter dinner.

Now, I love baking, and cooking in general, but these marathons of daily baking wear on me. Every year I say that next year I’ll cut back a little – the school treats, for example, don’t have to be homemade, but when it’s all done, I do enjoy the results. And the looks on the kids faces really is something to behold. This seems to be the kind of thing they (especially C and M) always appreciate and look forward to.

When it comes down to it, I'll do just about anything for their hugs.

I realize that what I am doing is not just baking, it’s giving the kids some traditions to hold onto. Just as I make stollen and certain cookies at Christmas and that is becoming part of their base Christmas memories, this baking is becoming a part of their base Easter and birthday memories.

Off to preheat the oven.