Helping your little one navigate through life dairy-free is a challenge at the best of times. It’s a sad and sorry day when they can’t tuck into a gooey grilled cheese toastie, or have to pass on anything at all that’s topped with luscious whipped cream, and no ice-cream…well…what can I say? Could you imagine a more cruel and unusual punishment for a child?
Just when you think you’re on top of it all, Easter rocks around and everywhere you turn, chocolate is dancing oh-so-provocatively in front of your kid’s eyes!
This year will mark our sixth dairy-free Easter. To make it all the more challenging, we still have to check the small amount of dairy-free chocolate we can actually find to make sure it’s gluten & soy-free too. Trust me, it really doesn’t leave much of a selection!!
Because we live in a rural area with very limited options, the Easter Bunny hasn’t been able to find Easter Eggs that tick all the boxes – no dairy, gluten or soy, but he has been creative enough to keep our girls more than happy.
Luckily, Easter seems to bring out the creative and crafty side, and so there are all sorts of craft kits available. While I’ve always hated having to clean up paint from every surface within a 500 metre radius, there are some super-cute kits available to paint your own porcelain eggs, bunnies & chicks. When we walked through Big W last week, my almost 13 year-old had to be physically dragged away from the big, snuggly lamb plush toys, but then had the audacity to refuse to try on one of the cute bunny ear headbands that I’d love to see her in!
Books and pyjamas are another great option, but even I’ll admit, they hardly make up for a basket of chocolate eggs!
So on to chocolate choices! My two favourite brands are Pana Chocolate and Loving Earth. I like the rich smoothness of Pana Chocolate, but both of my girls prefer the Loving Earth. They both swear it’s not because the blocks are bigger, but I’m not entirely convinced! I made up a video where Madeleine and I talked about what we liked about each of them which you can check out here.
Both Pana and Loving Earth melt like “normal” chocolate, so you could melt them down and make your own eggs with moulds. But to be honest, it’s so quick and easy to make your own chocolate from scratch, you may as well give it a go. Once you’ve got it down pat, you can use it to drizzle over cakes, set it in ice-cube trays to have “blocks” of chocolate, or use it melted as a sauce for pancakes and waffles. It’s incredibly versatile. Here’s my recipe that I always use. It makes an incredibly rich and decadent dark chocolate.
So what does the Easter Bunny usually do in our house? My girls must be spoilt. They will be 13 and 15 this year, and he emailed me the other day to say he’d still like to bring them a treat if it was okay with me. Wink, wink!!
I suggested to him that they might like a little basket with some of the cute little chicks you see around at this time of year, perhaps with a block of their favourite flavour of chocolate, and a bunny ear headband – because I REALLY want a photo of them wearing one!
So from my dairy-free family to yours, have a happy and relaxed Easter, still filled with chocolate!
Best wishes,
Cindy xo
PS Oh, I nearly forgot, I’ll be sharing my gluten-free, dairy-free & soy-free Hot Cross Bun recipe next week, so make sure you pop back for that! Get the recipes here: Traditional Hot Cross Buns and Chocolate Hot Cross Buns.
