Start a New Family Tradition this Easter

Every family has its own traditions for the holidays.

Some families decorate colourful eggs, some enjoy the same traditional foods each year, and some dress their dog up as the Easter bunny.

Whether it’s the food or the dog that’s the star of the show at family gatherings, we have some great ideas for fun new Easter activities for your family to try. From a traditional Greek bread to a fresh take on coloured eggs, here are three things to do together as a family this Easter weekend.

Bake a Traditional Easter Tsoureki

In Greece it’s an Easter tradition to bake a tsoureki, a sort of plaited brioche, on the Thursday before Easter for the family to enjoy on Easter Day.

This delicious recipe from Mazi: Modern Greek Food is a contemporary twist on a traditional dish that is sure to please a crowd at Easter lunch.

What you need:
700g strong white flour
180g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs, plus 1 for glazing
250ml milk
50g fast-action dried yeast
130g unsalted butter, softened and diced
1 tsp mahlepi (mahlab) powder
sprinkling of flaked almonds

How to make it:
1. Put the flour, sugar, salt, the 2 eggs, milk and yeast in a large bowl and knead together with your hands until well blended. Add the butter, piece by piece, and knead in, then continue kneading until the dough is soft and elastic – how long this takes will vary, so you can only judge by the feel of the dough. Finally, add the mahlepi powder and knead the dough until well incorporated.
2. Form the dough into a round ball and place in a large plastic bowl, ideally, or other large bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel or clingfilm and leave the dough to rest in a warm place for 2–3 hours until it doubles in size.
3. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Knead the dough briefly on a work surface to deflate it, then divide into 6 pieces and roll each into a rope. For each tsoureki, press the ends of 3 ropes together, then plait the free ends and press the other ends together. Place the tsoureki on the lined baking tray, cover as before and leave to rest in a warm place for a further hour.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas Mark 5.
5. Beat the remaining egg with a little water, brush the tsoureki gently to glaze and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. The tsoureki will keep, well wrapped at room temperature, for up to a week.

Makes 2 medium tsoureki.

Make Colourful Cracked Easter Eggs

Dyed eggs are an Easter custom in many cultures. Do something different with your Easter eggs this year with this fun activity from How to Amaze Your Daughter.

What you need:
Eggs
Food colouring
A bowl

How to make it:
1. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, which will hard boil them.
2. Gently tap the eggs on a hard surface to crack the shells, being careful not to tap them so hard that the shells fall off the eggs.
3. Fill a bowl with water and add several drops of food colouring. Submerge the eggs into the coloured water and leave to soak for a few hours.
4. Peel the shell off the eggs very carefully. The coloured water will have penetrated in between the small cracks. The inside of the shell is as pretty as the egg itself.

Note: The design won’t remain intact for very long and will end up bleeding onto the surface.