Non Dairy Easter Desserts

                                                                

Easter has come and gone and I must say that it was very relaxing and I was so happy that the weather cooperated! . We were fortunate to have all of our kids here together for dinner on Good Friday. My oldest son is a fire fighter (so that means shift work), and my other son lives in Nova Scotia (about a 5 hour drive away) so getting everyone together at the same time is sometimes tricky. 

During these days of retirement when we (my husband and I) have more time than we know what to do with, planning for an event that involves food and entertaining, for either family or friends becomes great fun! Thankfully, hubby tends to the main menu and deals with the meat and veggies etc. which allows me to focus on desserts, decor and other treats. It has been a long time since the Easter Bunny has visited our house and to me the idea of doing the "Easter Bunny thing" for 30 yearolds is ridiculous. However, I couldn't resist getting into the spirit of the season by making up little gift bags with treats as well as some silly and practical items. In my eldest son's bag I included some new tea and dish towels (he lives womanless in his own home). I thought his eyes would glaze over when he saw these but to my surprise he was actually quite pleased to get them. Anyway, it was fun to put these together ..... I just hope it doesn't become a yearly expectation. I mean next year I might not have the time ... I might be busy working on my novel or white water rafting in South America!

Getting into the Easter spirit also meant thinking about what desserts I might prepare for the weekend. Since my (youngest) son's girl friend does not eat dairy products or anything that contains dairy products I began "Googling" dairy free recipes. After checking out some interesting and tasty possibilities that inevitably involved products like soy or coconut milk, I decided to investigate some old stand-bys. It turns out that good old molasses cookies and date squares do not use any dairy products! I also made a lemon meringue pie and carrot cupcakes. The pie called for a tablespoon of butter in the filling, for which I substituted vegan Becel (had that on hand anyway), and instead of the cream cheese icing on the carrot cupcakes, I made peanut butter icing (for some of them at least .... I couldn't deprive everyone of cream cheese icing!). Dairy free desserts .... who knew it could be so simple!

Check out my (in my opinion) blogworthy desserts. Click on the link for the recipes!

Molasses Cookies (food.com)

Gramma's Date Squares (allrecipes.com)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (allrecipes.com) 

Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie (allrecipes.com)