Time for some vegan, nut free, gluten-free chocolate fun! Lucky me was invited to sample Chocolate Easter Bunnies from Amanda’s Own Confections. I was also asked if I wanted to do a give-away. That was an easy decision, clearly. The bunnies were creamy, festive and caused a fight between my kids over who was going to sample which item. I think it is funny that they argue over who is more deserving-there was enough chocolate for everyone to sample?!?
Here’s Give-Away scoop: To be entered into an old-fashioned raffle of the darling gift pack below, simply share in my comments below your favorite allergy friendly Easter recipe or link to your favorite recipe. Let’s do an allergy Easter Recipe Exchange! Contest ends this Friday, at midnight, Pacific Standard Time, March 21st, 2014. Amanda’s own will ship directly to you! Update as of 9:22pm 3/17/14: If you don’t have a fav recipe or eat out for Easter, please simply leave a comment below to be entered!
Win this tasty and darling Easter Trio from Amanda’s Own Confections!
Amanda’s Own also offers Passover Chocolates, Jelly Beans and Chocolate Lollipops!
Food Allergies Stopped Easter Fun. Food allergies dramatically effected how my family celebrates Easter and maneuvered through Lent. I grew up in a Greek Orthodox family with Easter being my most favorite holiday–yes Santa, you were number two in my book. I loved Lent and giving up candy or chocolate while fasting. On Holy Thursday, my family would gather with my Godmothers to bake special Greek Easter Bread and sweets furiously all day and night. Every couch, tabletop and counters were full of trays of raising breads, cookies and sweets. Everyone helped with kneading bread, sprinkling sesame seeds–all ages and hands worked together. The precious results were eaten at 2am on Easter Sunday after the midnight church service. It was a magical time for me.
I need to brag here: our Easter Bread had sesame seeds and were beautiful! We even made little bunny heads!
No Safe Easter Candy. Unfortunately, food allergies brought that tradition to a screaming halt in one full swoop. My son was allergic to the main ingredients: egg, dairy, nuts and sesame seeds. No traditional baking was allowed and no safe Easter candies were available. The first safe chocolate we found was at the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory in Berkeley, CA. Unfortunately, the chocolate was luscious, rich and too strong for a three-year old boy.
Things changed. After several years of failed attempts at making chocolate bunnies and eggs, we discovered Amanda’s Own Confections, dairy free, nut free, egg free and gluten-free chocolates! These were like currency in our household and hidden alongside the safe deposit box key. Soon, my son’s Easter Basket changed from boasting only toys to including safe Easter Candy! To this day, he begs for chocolate Easter Bunnies (he is 15 years old now).
The joy of Amanda’s Own chocolate Bunnies are…
- The festive shapes and designs–my kids feel “normal” as they bite off little bunny heads (that doesn’t sound as sweet as I thought it would)
- The chocolate is creamy
- The flavors are more kid friendly, although I took Mr. Bunny out for a spin with a glass of Pinot Noir. The chocolate is light and sweet, thus requiring a lighter wine
Yes, I felt rather “dirty” drinking wine while eating the ears off of an Easter Bunny during Lent.
Please Enter to Win your own little Nut Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free and Egg Free Chocolate Easter Bunny gift by sharing your favorite Easter Recipe or link to an Easter recipe below in the comments. Contest ends at midnight, PST on Friday, March 21, 2014.
Winner will be announced on Monday, March 24th, 2014.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
We have two favorite recipes that we use at Easter-
SunButter Chocolate covered eggs as seen at http://jazzyallergyrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/03/chocolate-covered-sunbutter-eggs.html
Pecan Pie Without the Pecans from http://sugarcrafter.net/2011/11/17/pecan-pie-without-the-pecans/
Nutrimom, I made that Pecanless pie before–yum!!! I forgot all about it!
I actually like making our own safe Easter chocolates with molds and safe melting chocolate!
Laura, can you share which melting chocolates you use? I would love to be able to master this at some point in my life. I still have my old molds
This is the dish I plan to make to accompany our ham on Easter Dinner: http://www.vegan-heartland.com/2011/11/cheesy-scalloped-potatoes.html. It’s the first time I’ll be trying it, so wish me luck! I’ll be subbing with Daiya cheese alternative, and instead of wheat flour I’ll probably use brown rice flour or perhaps cornstarch or tapioca starch. I’m also thinking about adding a bit of garlic powder or onion powder to flavor it up a bit.
Starla,
When doesn’t garlic powder not work out yummy. I’ve had great success with Daiya so I’m sure it will be good! Do you use any gluten free pre-made mixes? Maybe one of those might work in replacement of the flour. Although, I can’t imagine how tapioca or cornstarch wouldn’t work out. Don’t forget to report back regarding how it goes!
What a cool give-away, Caroline! Here’s a link to my favorite Easter recipe: Easter Story or Resurrection “Cookies” (Soy, Wheat, Milk and Fish-Free, Can Be Nut-Free) http://naturalandfree.blogspot.com/2013/03/easter-story-or-resurrection-cookies.html
I would love for you to link up this giveaway on my Think Green link-up on Natural and Free. It would be a great addition. 🙂 You can link up other recipes or posts, too, that have to do with spring, Easter, green living, awareness, etc. I’d love to see you there, but understand if you don’t have time. Thanks either way.
Have a great day and best of luck to all in regards to the give-away! 🙂
Julie,
Brilliant idea..I will link up! You are always alive and thinking. Must be all that fabulous natural food right?
Could be! LOL 🙂 I must admit, my diet needs to be adjusted to be more natural, unprocessed foods. I wish I was 100% from scratch and as natural as possible, but I’m not there yet and may never be. I do know that I need to get soy-free completely again, or at least all the meals I eat at home. I feel so much better when I do that!
Thanks for linking up! 🙂
An Easter tradition in our family that my mom started when I was a child is edible Easter baskets. Take the largest orange you can find and cut out a handle and jagged edges to resemble a basket- one for each person. Scoop out the orange and cut into segments and place in bowl. Add cut up bananas and strawberries and toss with a few teaspoons of sugar to taste. Scoop the fruit mixture into your orange “baskets” and serve! Perfect for Easter breakfast or brunch!
Debi,
That is adorable! I think I will try that one out. I’ve done it with lemons, but it never occurred to me to use oranges. Thanks for entering!
I’m so excited!!! I got an ice cream maker for Christmas and just found a bunny cookie cutter at michaels… I will be making these allergy safe bunny ice cream sandwiches for Easter that I found on speedbump kitchen. Link is http://speedbumpkitchen.com/mickey-ice-cream-sandwiches/
My son hasn’t had an ice cream sandwich ever so I can’t wait to see what he thinks on Easter! Such a treat
Amira,
You need to make sure you let us know what he thought. Can you use dairy?
I definitely will! My son can have dairy (TN/PN) but my 10 month old daughter is sensitive to dairy ( when I ate it & she nursed) so I plan on going the non dairy version with the marshmallow ice cream!
Marshmallow ice cream…you speak my language!
What if I have no Easter recipes??? 🙁
Good question! Just leave a comment to be entered!
Since you left a comment…you are entered!
Don’t have recipes with me on vacation but would love some allergy friendly chocolate:)
Thanks for entering!!! I hope you are enjoying a nice vacation too. Us food allergy types really do need our rest
Super fun giveaway! No recipie, but I can share one of our traditions: We always have one special “golden” (eggless – AKA plastic) egg that the easter bunny leaves at our house along with the others. The person that finds the golden egg gets a special prize!
Kacey,
What is a fun tradition. Here’s the real question though: do the grownups get to play?
On a side note: I did not make my son a basket last year and he was sooooo upset! He is 15. I think I will have both kids go on the hunt for a special egg too. I really like this idea.
If you leave out the candy in the middle – these rice crispy eggs are great for my kids. No nuts, no eggs: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/krispy-easter-eggs/
I am a hard core rice crispy person so I’ll go check this one out right now….
We make a bunny cake, every year. We make it from scratch, to avoid our 25 food allergies. It’s 2 round cakes cut in half and stood upright. Frost in between the layers. We cut out ears from foam and stick them on the top. The eyes and nose are frosting. Super easy for the kiddos to help! I wish I could post a picture of ours. =)
Amy,
That sounds adorable—email me the picture when you have it and I”ll post it! Caroline@gratefulfoodie.com.
Ugh on the 25 allergens. When my son was two I tried to avoid counting the allergens, but I’m happy to report that he has outgrown MANY and is down to peanut, tree nuts, sesame and poppy seeds plus he is outgrowing dairy.
this is 1 of my favorite candy recipes
Hi Lisa,
Your link didn’t display, can you re-post it? Hate to miss out something potentially good!
We love Cybele Pascale’s carrot cake cupcake recipes http://veganalienguide.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/carrot-ginger-birthday-cupcakes-with-orange-buttercream-icing-vegan-and-gluten-free/ . Since DS is not allergic to eggs or milk, we add those back in and top with a cream cheese frosting, but obviously, is not necessary for those who have those allergies.
Holly, thanks for sharing. Cybele is truly an amazing cook and recipe developer!
I like to make these dairy, egg, and nut free cinnamon rolls as a special treat for Easter morning…http://www.foodallergymama.com/2009/12/19/dairy-egg-and-nut-free-cinnamon-rolls/
I love to make these dairy, egg and nut free cinnamon rolls as a special treat on Easter morning….http://www.foodallergymama.com/2009/12/19/dairy-egg-and-nut-free-cinnamon-rolls/. Yum!!
I’m Sorry…not sure why this posted twice!
No worries!!!
Pick me!! Pick me!!! I would love to win that gorgeous, adorable basket from Amanda’s. We have never tried their products and would love to – we are wheat and nut free!!
My favorite recipe is chocolate cupcakes decorated in an Easter theme.
Heather, I’m with your son! Me too.
I love Amanda’s Own! Was able to give the kiddos their very first store-bought Valentine candy from them 🙂 I’ve had great success with Enjoy Life and my own simple plastic molds too. I wonder if it has something to do with how you temper the chocolate…..I’d love to find colored food allergy free candy melt esq stuff to do designs with.
Hi Where did you get your Easter Bunny mold.
What a fun giveaway! I usually make lamb for our Easter dinner, lamb chops, rack of lamb, so seasonal and so good. I love your family’s tradition of making all the carbilicious treats! Xoxo
I do not have a favorite Easter recipe because I am usually too busy trying to pry the deviled eggs out of my inlaws hands. That said, R would love to be able to bite the ears off of a safe bunny for once. 🙂
Yummy bunny
Dairy free chocolate – 2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons raw local honey. Mix the above well and chill so the coconut oil sets. We mix nuts in ours since our allergy is just dairy. Only downfall is this has to stay chilled to stay set.
sounds yummy 🙂