Easter Ice Cream - With Chocolate, Nuts & Honey

Every Easter I'm aware that many of my readers will be thinking of doing some home entertaining or, at the least, a little home cooking. So Easter recipes are high on the agenda for Internet searches around this time of year - and I don't want to disappoint anyone who is looking for ideas!

Last Easter I suggested a rich white chocolate ice cream recipe. Great for using up any white chocolate easter eggs you might have left over. The same applies to milk chocolate too - here is my chocolate ice cream recipe using real milk chocolate. So if your family gets a lot of chocolate this Easter, remember they don't have to eat it all at once - make some ice cream with it or, indeed, keep some of the chocolate until after the holidays and then make ice cream with it. After all, the 'best before' date on chocolate is usually pretty good. In fact I met a chocolatier a couple of years ago who told me that, generally speaking, chocolate can be good for up to as long as a year after it's been made. Even so, you should always check the manufacturer's date on the packaging.

However, I digress .... back to Easter ice cream!

This Easter I'm going to suggest 2 ice cream recipes:

Something 'nutty' - my crunchy pecan & maple syrup ice cream recipe. The reason? It has proven to be one of the most popular with people I know which makes it a pretty good bet for when you have visitors over the holidays.

Something 'sweet' - my honey ice cream recipe. The reason? Most people like honey. It also gives a great texture to the ice cream and, funnily enough, is an ice cream flavor that many people have yet to try. So the reaction to be offered it is usually one of surprise and interest.

Honey is always great to have in your kitchen at Easter anyway - it's delicious served on hot cross buns or scones!

Indeed, if you serve honey in any shape or form over Easter, you might like to share with your guests a few, fascinating facts about the wonderful honey bee. The link I've given is to a great BBC web page - nothing too scientfic or overbearing, just some great information.

Happy Easter ice cream making!

Ice Cream & Bluebells For May Day

As this wonderful picture (courtesy of my good friend Mary Spain) shows, the bluebell woods are blossoming at the moment which, hopefully, means that summer is just around the corner. The approaching May Day holiday is of course an affirmation of that - according to tradition, the celebration of May Day is to mark the beginning of summer.

Believed to have originated in Roman times when there was a festival of Flora (Roman goddess of flowers & fruit), May Day affords us all the opportunity of appreciating the wonderful world around us.

Here are two suggestions of how to celebrate flowers and fruit over this May Day holiday weekend:

• Flowers - venture out into the countryside if you can with family or friends. Find a bluebell wood perhaps or visit a special country garden open to the public.
  
  
• Fruit - after your refreshing day out in the country, return home to makesome delicious homemade ice cream. Try one of my top 10 ice cream recipes such as Butter Pecan Ice Cream.
  

Whatever you do over this holiday weekend, if possible take a little time to relax and appreciate the world around you and the people closest to you. After all, that what celebrations are for!