Expand those Easter baskets

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This article was published 16/04/2025 (464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Add some home-baked Easter treats to this weekend’s cache of chocolate eggs and marshmallow chicks.

This week, we have some sweet, sentimental reader recipes for Dolly’s Easiest and Yummiest Sugar Cookies from Dolly Kuzyk, Babka from Shirley Kalyniuk and Daffodil Cake from Karen Stepaniuk.

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eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

Dolly’s Easiest and Yummiest Sugar Cookies

• 250 ml (1 cup) butter or margarine, softened
• 250 ml (1 cup) white sugar
• 1 egg
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
• 10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder, divided
• 750 ml (3 cups) all purpose white flour, sifted and divided

Using an electric or stand mixer, add butter and sugar to a bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Add 250 ml (1 cup) flour and 5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder and mix well with a wooden spoon or a mixer with a dough hook.

Add another cup of flour and remaining baking powder and mix well again.

Add the final cup of flour and work it in with your hands until the dough is nice and soft.

Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Roll out dough between parchment paper or plastic wrap to about 1-cm thickness or more. Rolling the dough between parchment or plastic wrap means you don’t have to add flour and you can re-roll the dough without it toughening.

Cut out using your favourite cookie cutters and arrange on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size. Cookies are done when the edges start to brown just slightly. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Decorate with store-bought or homemade icing (powdered sugar mixed with milk or water until desired consistency achieved) and sprinkle with coloured sugar or sprinkles. These sugar cookies freeze well for months, with or without icing, and defrost quickly.

“I have been making this tasty sugar cookie recipe for 34 years for my children and all our family holidays. My grandchildren, family and friends have received cookies specially decorated just for them at Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and birthdays.

“I always have some in the freezer without icing so that when my granddaughters come over for a playday we can decorate them together and it is so much fun. Waiting for them to bake and cool can take a long time for little ones, so I always have a batch pre-baked for them so they can get right to tasting them with no icing and decorating — this is how cherished memories are made with Baba.”

— Dolly Kuzyk

Babka (Ukrainian Easter Bread)

• 12 egg yolks
• 250 ml (1 cup) white sugar
• Saffron for added colour
• 1 L (4 cups) milk
• 250 ml (1 cup) butter
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) salt
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) Fleischmann’s Traditional Active Dry Yeast
• 250 ml (1 cup) warm water
• 10 ml (2 tsp) sugar
• 2.5 to 3 L (10 to 12 cups) flour
• 500 ml (2 cups raisins), washed and dried
• Beat egg yolks until light and fluffy. Stir in 250 ml (1 cup) of sugar and saffron.

In a large pot on the stovetop, bring milk to a boil. Stir in butter and salt and remove from heat to let cool.

Dissolve yeast and 10 ml (2 tsp) sugar in warm water. Add yeast and egg yolk mixtures to the cooled milk.

Add the flour gradually, mixing with your hands, and add in raisins as the dough starts to hold together. Knead and continue adding flour until the dough is soft and no longer sticky.

Let rise in a large bowl in a warm place until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again.

Form into loaves or balls and place in well-greased pans or tall tin cans to let rise once more.

Make an egg wash — 1 egg, beaten with about 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) of water — and brush it onto the loaves.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the pans or tins being used. Tap top of the loaf; if it sounds hollow, the bread is baked.

Remove from pans while still warm and let cool.

“This recipe was handed down to my mother-in-law and she gave it to me some 50 years ago, so it has been in our family for close to 100 years. It is now time for me to hand it down to my girls so this recipe is never lost.

“This bread is baked to be enjoyed on Easter Sunday. It was taken in a basket, to church, to be blessed along with many other delicious foods that we enjoy at Easter time. This is one of many Ukrainian traditions. When my children were small I always baked the bread in small soup tins, one for each of my five children. They sometimes ate these before we went to church, but I always managed to have several small loaves to put in the basket for them to enjoy at the dinner. Now I bake these for my grandchildren to enjoy.”

— Shirley Kalyniuk

Daffodil Cake or Easter Cake

Angel Food Cake

• 6 egg whites
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) cream of tartar
• 0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) salt
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) fruit sugar
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) cake flour
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) powdered sugar

Yellow Sponge Cake

• 180 ml (3/4 cup) cake flour
• 4 ml (3/4 tsp) baking powder
• 6 egg yolks
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) warm water
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) fruit sugar

Lemon Glaze

• 375 ml (11/2 cups) powdered sugar
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) lemon juice
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) melted butter

Frosting

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) water
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) light corn syrup
• 2 egg whites
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla

To make the angel food cake, beat egg whites until frothy and add cream of tartar, vanilla and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add fruit sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and the powdered sugar. Fold flour mixture into the egg whites 1/4 cup at a time until combined.

To make the yellow sponge cake, sift flour and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, lemon juice, and water together until light and yellow coloured, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the fruit sugar and beat until combined.

Slowly add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time and beat until well combined.

To assemble, spoon angel food cake and yellow sponge cake batter in alternating layers into an ungreased angel food cake pan.

Preheat oven to 375 F and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly.

Flip the pan upside down and let the cake cool completely.

Serve the cake with a sprinkling of sifted powdered sugar or top with the following glaze or frosting.

To make lemon glaze, mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and melted butter in a small bowl until smooth.

To make frosting, combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil hard for about 5 minutes or until the liquid reaches 240 F.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Pour hot syrup in a thin stream into egg whites while beating constantly. Continue beating until stiff peaks form and beat in vanilla.

“The recipe was printed in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine and cookbook in the 1930s. This recipe has been handed down from mother to daughter and was a definite favourite in our family.”

— Karen Stepaniuk

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.