day ninety-four: make easter story cookies with young children

                                                   Easter Story Cookies


Since it is Easter Sunday, I am going to diverge from our toddler and preschool talk and share a recipe that has been floating around the internet and various groups I subscribe to for a number of years. It is an excellent hands-on project for young children and parents (or grandparents) around Easter time—and is especially good for family devotions.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole pecans

1 tsp vinegar

3 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

Also needed: wooden spoon, zip-type bag, Scotch type tape, and Bible


Steps



1. On the night before Easter (or the night before you will unveil them with your children), preheat oven to 300’ F. (Do not do halfway through recipe; do it immediately upon starting.)

2. Place pecans in zip lock bag and let the children hit them with a wooden spoon until they are broken into small pieces. READ John 19: 1-3 and explain that after Jesus was arrested, he was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

3. Open vinegar and allow children to smell it. Put 1 tsp vinegar into mixing bowl. READ John 18:28-30 and explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar.

4. Separate eggs, and add egg whites to the vinegar (discard or save yolks for another use). READ John 10:10 & 11 and explain that eggs represent life—and Jesus gave His life in order to give us eternal life.

5. Sprinkle a little salt in each child’s hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. READ Luke 23:27 and explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers—and the bitterness of our own sins.

6. Explain that the ingredients in the bowl so far are not very tasty. Add 1 cup sugar. READ: Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16 and explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us and wants us to know and belong to Him.

7. Beat mixture with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. READ Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3 and explain that the color white represents purity that God sees in those of us who have been cleansed by Jesus.

8. Fold in the broken nuts. Drop the cookies by teaspoon full onto waxed paper-covered cookie sheet. READ Matthew 27:57-60 and explain that each mound of cookie dough represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was placed.

9. Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door, and turn the oven off.

10. Give each child a piece of tape and allow them to seal the oven door with the strips of tape. READ Matthew 27:65-66 and explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed.

11. Explain that just as they would like the cookies tonight and might be sad having to leave them in the oven overnight, so Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. READ John 16: 20 & 22.

12. Go to bed.

13. The next morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. READ Matthew 28:1-9 and explain that Jesus’ followers found the tomb empty the next morning. Have each child take a bite of his or her cookie—and see that the cookies are hollow—just as the tomb was hollow on Easter morning because Jesus had risen.