5 Recipes For An Elegant Easter Brunch (2024)

Do you love Easter, but feel silly hunting for eggs and eating candy? Throw on your Sunday best and invite your friends over for an elegant Easter brunch instead. These six sophisticated recipes are sure to make your Easter extra festive.

Ricotta, Rosemary and Tomato Mini Quiche

These savory mini quiches are a cute twist on a classic brunch staple.

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

• 14 oz. pie crust, pre-rolled
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. ricotta cheese
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 c. cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 2 tbsp. rosemary, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut 3-inch circles of pie crust and press them into a greased mini-muffin pan or mini-quiche pans.

2. Combine the eggs, ricotta cheese and milk in a small bowl. Divide the tomatoes and rosemary evenly in the pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over the tomatoes and rosemary and into the pie crusts.

3. Bake the quiches for 25 to 27 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown and egg is cooked through.

Sweet berries, creamy vanilla yogurt and cruncy granola make these light parfaits a perfect palate cleanser.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 c. strawberries and blueberries
• 3 c. vanilla yogurt
• 4 c. granola

Directions:

1. Starting with the granola and ending with the berries, layer the ingredients in tall glasses. Top off the glasses with extra berries.

2. Don't feel limited by this recipe in your flavor choices. Parfaits are incredibly versatile, so use whatever is avaiable in your refrigerator. More fun fruit combinations include pineapples and mangoes, and blackberries and raspberries. Try to mix up the yogurt flavors as well to add more variety to your parfaits.

Yield: 4 servings

Crab Eggs Benedict

Ingredients:

• 4 english muffins, halved and toasted
• 12 oz. of lump crab meat, heated through
• 8 eggs, poached
• 1 tbsp. white vinegar
• 4 c. spinach

Directions:

1. Arrange the toasted english muffins on a plate and top evenly with the spinach and heated crab meat.

2. Fill a large sauté pan about two inches deep with water and bring to a rolling simmer. Add in the white vinegar and crack the eggs into separate small ramekins. Gently slip one egg at a time into the water by dipping the ramekin into the water and tilting until the egg slides into the water.

3. Make the hollandaise sauce (recipe below).

4. Place one egg on each half of the english muffin topped with spinach and crab. Drizzle the hollandaise sauce on top of the english muffins. Sprinkle the benedicts with parmesan cheese and pepper. Using a spoon, gently coax egg whites around the yolk.

5. Let the eggs simmer for two minutes per egg, or until the egg whites are set. Scoop the eggs out of the water with a slotted spoon and let the excess water drain away.

Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
• A dash of pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk the egg yolks until they are light yellow. This will take about one minute.

2. Gently pour in melted butter and continue whisking rapidly to create an emulsion. Whisk in the lemon juice and a dash of pepper.

Fruity, fizzy and sweet, these drinks scream spring. Make virgin mimosas with club soda or substitute champagne for a more adult verison.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. orange juice
• 1 ½ c. sugar
• 2 c. strawberries
• 2 c. water
• 16 oz. club soda

Directions:

1. Cook ½ c. sugar and orange juice in saucepan until a thick syrup forms. Set aside and combine the remaining sugar with the strawberries and water in another saucepan. Heat the strawberry mixture until the the strawberries become soft and begin to fall apart.

2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the strawberry mixture until only the strawberry juice remains. Fill your serving glasses one quarter of the way full with the orange juice mixture. Fill the rest of the glass with the strawberry juice and with club soda.

Sweet and simple, these danishes will definitely impress your friends.

Yield: 6 danishes

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, unthawed
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 2-3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 egg, whisked
• 3 tbsp. water
• Powdered sugar - for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.

2. Roll out the thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured surface, making a 12-by-9 inch rectangle. Cut the dough in half lengthwise. Cut the two strips crosswise into thirds, making six 4-by-4½ inch pieces.

3. With a knife, score a half border around the edge of each piece of puff pastry. Use a fork to make five or six pricks in the dough within the border of each piece; this will help keep the middle of each piece from rising.

4. Stir together the softened cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Spoon two or three heaping tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into the middle of each piece of dough and spread around evenly, ensuring the mixture stays within the borders. Add the blueberries on top of the cream cheese mixture and press down to set them in place.

5. Whisk together the egg and water and brush the edges of the puff pastry with the mixture.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown, on the oven’s middle rack. Rotate the baking sheet halfway about 10 minutes into the bake time.

7. Remove the danishes from the baking sheet and allow them to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle the danishes with powdered sugar before serving.

Reach Staff Writer Helen Carefoot here, and on Twitter here.