Every region of Italy has a different version of Easter Pie, or as my family calls it, Easter Pizza.  These pizzas are traditionally made with a sweet homemade pie crust.  Some families use ricotta cheese or vegetables. Others use sausage and rice.  In my extended family, everyone makes their own version but they all include ham and some kind of cheese.  This “pizza” is an easy, versatile dish that can be enjoyed at any time of the day, whether it be for Easter brunch or as an appetizer before your Easter dinner.  We usually serve ours as a hot appetizer but we eat it throughout the week.  My mother’s version of Easter Pizza is savory and easy, and is a hit every year.  No one makes this delicious Easter better than my beloved mother!  And this Easter, I am sharing this secret family recipe with you!
Fairytale Easter Pizza
(Serves 8)
Ingredients:
1 package of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts)
12-14 large eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 handful of chopped curly Italian parsley
1/2 pound of thin-sliced Munster cheese
1/2 pound of thin-sliced pepper ham
Salt + pepper
Directions:
1) Roll out one Pillsbury pie crust and fit into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan.

2) Crack all eggs into a bowl. Add milk. Beat with an electric mixer until the mixture becomes frothy and light.

3) Add the Parmesan cheese and parsley. Lightly beat again until combined.

4) Layer the bottom of the crust with a thin layer of the pepper ham.

 5) Add a layer of the Munster cheese on top of the ham.

6)  Top the ham and cheese layers with about 1/3 of the egg mixture, or just enough that the ham and cheese layers are covered.

7) Repeat step numbers 3 through 5 two or three times, laying the ham, cheese and egg mixture until the pie is filled. 

8) Once the pie is filled, roll out the second Pillsbury pie crust and gently lay on top of the pie, squeezing the ends of the two crusts together. Brush the top of the crust with an egg yolk.

9) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick is inserted into the center and comes out dry.

10) Serve and enjoy! This pie tastes wonderful at room temperature, but I also enjoy it reheated in an oven. Can be made ahead of time.

Enjoy!
Hope everyone has a magical and happy Easter holiday!
For last years Easter blog, the Bunny Cake recipe, click here.

Growing up in Irish/Italian Catholic family, Easter Sunday has always been a pretty big deal and it was always one of my favorite holidays. I remember as a little girl, when my parents yelled for me to get up on Easter Sunday Morning because “the bunny came” there was only one bunny I was concerned about and he came in the form of a cake. Creamy frosting, tangy coconut flakes, moist white cake and semisweet chocolate chips all in one forkful was reason enough for me to wake up and rejoice.

 Even though I am now in my late 20s, I have refused to let the Bunny Cake tradition die. Every Easter Sunday, my mom and I still make the Bunny Cake.  I force my cousins into helping me decorate it (we’re all in our 20s, but I think they secretly enjoy it too).  We have so many desserts that I usually end up eating a big chunk of this cake (ears and bowtie included) myself.  Luckily, there are some ways to tweak this recipe to make it helpful and save on calories. (I have included these below).

Now, I am certainly NOT a baker. Whenever I have baked something from scratch, I’ve ended up with vanilla cupcakes with black, charred bottoms, cookies that were harder than rocks, and cakes that tasted like cement and weighed more than a ton of bricks.  Oh, and I can’t forget the chocolate peanut butter fudge that could ignite the gag reflex of the strongest stomach.  I’m working on the baking from scratch, but until then, I will rely on help from two amazing and reliable friends, Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker. They play a big part in the tastiness of the Bunny Cake.

This recipe is simple, fun at any age, and a great project for kids. Most importantly, it tastes great! This Bunny Cake makes me want to skip along a sidewalk lined with tulips, singing, “Hippity, hoppity, Easter is on its’ way!” I hope you’ll feel that way too!

THE BUNNY CAKE

1 box of white cake mix (Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker)
3 eggs
1/4 cup of oil
1 container of cool whip
1 package of coconut
1 bag of jelly beans
1/2 bag of Nestle Semi Sweet chocolate chips
Small bottles of food coloring (red, green, blue)
Optional: Twizzlers

2 10 -inch cake pans
1 large pan or tray to display cake
3 small bowls (to die coconut in)

1) Prepare cake mix according to directions. Pour into two 10 inch round baking pans. Bake. Let cool.
2) When completely cool, take 1 10 inch round cake and cut out bowtie shape from one of cake. (in the shape of two half moons).
3) Assemble the cake to look like the bunny in the picture in a large pan or on a large tray.
4) Ice the bunny with cool whip icing.
5) Outline the ears and the bow tie with the chocolate chips.
6) Die the coconut in small bowls. I usually use green coconut for the grass around the bunny, pink to outline the ears, and blue, yellow, or purple for the tie.
7) Use jellybeans for the eyes and nose.
8) Use twizzlers for the whiskers. I use chocolate chips – the more chocolate, the better.
9) Garnish the grass with the jellybeans.

Healthy tip: To save calories, use the 1/2 sugar boxed cake mix and fat free cool whip.

Happy Easter or Buon Pasquale to you and yours! Enjoy 🙂