Easter Treats - Resurrection Day Cookies

As a family, you can celebrate a miracle - right in your own kitchen! Here's a baking project that is fun, and it helps you to teach your children in a very tangible way about the real meaning of Easter.

This project begins Saturday evening, the night before Easter (Resurrection Sunday).

Materials and ingredients:

Gather your materials. Here's what you need:

1 cup of whole pecans

1 teaspoon of clear vinegar

3 egg whites (separate from yolks)

1 pinch of salt

1 zippered plastic bag (gallon-sized)

1 large wooden spoon

1 large mixing bowl

1 roll of waxed paper

1 large metal cookie sheet

1 roll of masking tape

1 Bible

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 300 (F) degrees. You must do this first, before you begin the recipe.

Place the whole pecans in the zippered plastic bag. Instruct your children to take turns beating the pecans with the wooden spoon, breaking the nuts into small pieces. Explain to them how the Roman soldiers beat Jesus after He was arrested. Read John 19:1-3 together.

Measure out the vinegar, and allow each child to smell it. Pour the vinegar into the mixing bowl. Explain to the children how Jesus became thirsty, as He hung on the cross. The guards offered Him sour vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30 together.

Separate the egg whites, and add them to the vinegar in the bowl. Explain how eggs represent new life. Jesus was willing to give His own life to give us new life. Read John 1:10-11 together.

Sprinkle a bit of salt into each child's hand. Let them taste the salt, then brush the rest of it into the bowl. Explain how the salt represents the salty tears of Jesus' followers, who were so sad when He died on the cross. Salt tastes bitter, just like our sin. Read Luke 23:27 together.

Ask an older child to measure out the cup of sugar and add it to the mixture. Explain how the recipe is not very appetizing, until the sugar is added to sweeten it. The sweetest part of the Easter story is that Jesus willingly died because He loves us. He wants us to know Him and to belong to Him forever. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16 together.

Using a hand mixer, beat all ingredients on high speed for several minutes, till stiff peaks are formed. (You can place the entire bowl inside the kitchen sink, and give each child a chance to hold the mixer.) Explain how the color white represents the purity we can have, in God's eyes, when our sins are washed away because Jesus paid the penalty for them. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3 together.

Open the zippered bag, and fold the broken pecans into the mix. Stir well. Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto sheets. Explain how each mound represents the rocky garden tomb, where Jesus' body was placed after He died on the cross at Calvary. Read Matthew 27:57-60 together.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven. Close the door, and turn the oven off. Explain how the opening of Jesus' borrowed tomb was shut with a big rock. Read Matthew 27:61 together.

Give each child a piece of masking tape. Seal the oven door shut with the tape. Explain how Jesus' garden tomb was sealed and guarded. Read Matthew 27:65-66 together.

Go to bed. Explain how you may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers grieved when they left His tomb. Although He told them beforehand, they did not understand what would happen next. Read John 16:20-22 together.

Easter morning surprise!

The next morning (Easter Sunday), gather in the kitchen together. Open the oven, and give everyone a cookie. Look at the cracked surface, and take a bit. The cookies are hollow! Explain how, on that first Easter morning, Jesus' followers were amazed to find that His tomb was open and empty! Read Matthew 28:1-9 together.

Happy Easter! The Lord is risen!

"Jesus said to her,
'I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me
will live, even though he dies.'"
(John 11:25)