Easy Easter Brunch
Easter has always been the ultimate celebration of Spring! It’s been beautiful in Phoenix this spring, 70’s and sunny with some much needed rain. Spring is my favorite time of year because there are sign of new life EVERYWHERE! Plants and trees budding, baby rabbits and birds being born, and of course, Easter! My mom, Jill, and I created this simple brunch that will wow guests and celebrate the beauty of Spring.
Let’s start with the decor! A festive tablescape invites guests to come and eat! Everything we used is from local home and craft stores, Home Goods, Target, Ross, Michaels etc. The early bird definitely gets the worm when it comes to seasonal décor, so start shopping right after Valentine’s Day. Michael’s and Hobby Lobby have great sales as Easter approaches and you can often find décor items for 40=50% off. We found these pastel plaid napkins, small ceramic pieces, egg and flower garland, iridescent wine glasses, a pretty pink glass plate, and my “Gather Here” sign to complete the look. Some of these items double as seasonal home décor and can be used every year.
Next is the food! My Mom and I kept things simple, our favorite Prosecco with fresh raspberries, mini caramelized onion and goat cheese quiches, vanilla bean custard pies in three flavors, and a few Easter candies made for a light brunch!
We like the Kirklands Prosecco from Costco. Its crisp, a little dry, and is $6.99 a bottle! For a special twist, put out carafes of juice such as peach, pineapple, mango to create unique mimosas. A tray of fresh berries or sliced citrus completes the mimosa experience.
On to the food! The mini quiches start with gluten free pie crust mix pressed into cupcake tins. Next we caramelized a sliced onion in butter and put a few in the bottom of each crust. Caramelizing onions is easy but takes a bit of time. Slice the onion into thin strips, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a hot saute pan and add the onions. Once the onions start to get sizzley, turn down the heat and cover for 5 minutes. This softens the onions and makes the process go quicker. Remove the lid and let the onions cook over low heat for another 5 - 10 minutes until they are golden brown and kind of gooey. The low, slow cooking brings the natural sugar out of the onions and it literally caramelizes.
You can also make these without the crust! Just butter the muffin tins well. They become low-carb bites of deliciousness! The recipe for the mini quiches follows!
The custard pies are always a big hit and look so pretty! We made three kinds, toasted coconut, lemon blueberry and raspberry white chocolate. Start with a basic graham cracker crust pressed into small pie tins or glass ramekins. We ordered our tiny tins online. If you are gluten free, try the gluten free graham cracker crumbs from Sprouts.
We made a silky vanilla bean custard the day before our brunch, recipe to follow, and split it into 3 parts. We added coconut to one, lemon zest to the second and left the last one plain. These became the base for our cream pies. For the coconut pies, we added the coconut flavored custard to our crust. For the lemon blueberry, we put a layer of lemon curd in the bottom, then added the lemon flavored custard and fresh whole blueberries. Lastly, we swirled raspberry jam into the custard for the raspberry white chocolate pies and added white chocolate chips, although next time I think we will add shaved white chocolate instead. The white chocolate chips were a bit lumpy for the light creamy custard.
All the pies were topped with fresh whipped cream, scantily sweetened, and garnished with a couple of berries or toasted coconut. This helps your guests to know which pies are which flavors.
