Joyeuses Pâques (Happy Easter)

Easter makes me happy, but I love the way the French say Joyeuses Pâques. For me Easter is a joyous holiday filled with hope. We certainly felt that way on Sunday. Richard and Jeremy Ensign (neighbors & good friends from Browning Circle) arrived Saturday night. Jeremy and the kids lined up on the bridge awaiting orders to start looking for their Easter chocolate.


Richard helped Lilly and when it was all over everyone had a different chocolate to display. Richard had the bell: In France they say that the church bells fly to the Vatican on Good Friday. When Christ was resurrected on Sunday the bells fly back to France ringing out Easter chocolates all over the land for children to find and eat! Taylor got the fish which was filled with tiny fish, Clara & Olivia received chickens, Lilly a bunny and Spencer & Jeremy got the least traditional...a chocolate soccer ball & cleats.


Church was great. Spencer had to give a talk and he did a wonderful job, all in French. After church we had an Easter dinner with the Punnells, Reeds, Ensigns & the missionaries. It was a fun big group. We fixed two kinds of quiche, cinnamon rolls, salad, fresh veggies, baked brie, springtime strawberries, fish & honeycomb. Richard commented that the combination of fish and honeycomb was tasty & to think it's been suggested for thousands of years together!



Xavier Punnell grew up in a family who owned a boulangerie (bakery). He was trained as a patissier. What luck for us because he brought his big kitchen aid & utinsells and he fixed us the most melt in your mouth dessert ever, chouquette. It is like a cream puff that is dotted with pearl sugar & sometimes chocolate. Really you didn't even have to chew once. Just pop it in your mouth and voila! heaven.

CHOUQUETTE
1/2 litre d'eau (water)
10 grams de sel (salt)
200 grams de beurre (butter)
300 grams de farine (flour)
8 to 10 oeufs (eggs)

Melt water, salt & butter until it boils. Add flour & mix well until soft. Put back on stove 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add 1 egg at a time. Stir well after each egg. Keep stirring until firm so that the dough doesn't fall (draw a line with your finger in the dough...if the dough comes together it's not done & add one more egg until the sides of the dough stay up).

Put batter into piping bag and pipe into flattened little balls on parchment lined cookie sheet. They are not tall and puffy like cream puffs, but rather a flat ball. Make sure to give enough room between each ball so that it can rise in baking. Pour pearl sugar over the batter and then quickly turn pan upside down so excess sugar comes off from the pan. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Voila! Eat and enjoy.

(you can add small chunks of baking chocolate with the pearl sugar if you want)
After our grand feast we had a fun little egg hunt with the little plastic American eggs that Margaret Ensign sent with Richard. The kids enjoyed it all, but were a little perplexed as to where the "golden egg" was hiding. They tried to get it out of the missionaries, but didn't succeed. Spencer found it in the end. Joyeuses Pâques!