#BecauseHeLives, Easter Story Meringues
Many years ago I was babysitting for a family around Easter time. At least in my head it was around Easter time, I might have just made that bit up. Anyway. I was babysitting around Easter time and knowing that this family shared the same faith as me and combining my love of sweet things, baking with children and babysitting duties I thought what would be great would be to make Meringues in order to teach the Easter story.
See that confused look on your face right now? That was the look that other people gave me when I explained this idea.
Okay, so I don't know how familiar you are with the Resurrection of Jesus, but it actually tells you how to make Meringues. Depending on how your family works, their age or preference either read the Scripture first or explain what you're doing.
200g Chocolate
1tsp Vinegar
3 Egg Whites
Pinch of Salt
200g Sugar
Before you start, you need to line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and turn the oven on to the highest it goes. You'll also need to hunt out some scriptures, or you can use the links that I've included in this blog post and you'll need some tape and a plastic bag, like a ziploc bag.
After Jesus was arrested, the Roman Soldiers beat Jesus with their hands. We can read this in John 19:1-3 and just like the beating, we need to hit the chocolate in order to break them up into smaller pieces. We can put the chocolate into a bag and then use a wooden spoon or a rolling pin rather than our hands however. It might be wise to have chocolate chips and smash them up a bit, just because it's easier for children to break up.
After having asked John to take his Mother away from his Crucifixion, Jesus asked for something to drink. The drink given was a Vinegar wine on Hyssop. I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure, but I believe the drink was in part meant to dull his senses and in part that he required it because he had final words to say and he couldn't because he was dehydrated. We can read this in John 19:28-30. Don't get the children to sip the vinegar, instead get them to sniff the vinegar.
Next we add Egg whites. Well, it wouldn't be Easter without Eggs would it?! If you didn't know Eggs are really symbolic at Easter because of how they represent new life and some say they represent the stone rolled across the tomb entrance too. More importantly they symbolise how, Jesus gave his life for us. We can read this in John 10:10-11,
Next we add Salt. The salt represents our sins, which Jesus took upon himself for us to be able to return to our Father and of course it represents the tears of the followers of Jesus who cried for the loss of their friend and leader. We can read this in Luke 23:27.
It's normally about now, that I explain that the story isn't as sad as one would imagine. There is a sweet part of the story that comes now, Jesus died because of the great amount of love he has for us. He died because he wanted us to know that he loves us, he wanted us to know that we're able to be with our Father in Heaven again as he has taken all our sins upon himself in order to save us and have eternal life. We can read this in John 3:16.
We now have to beat the mixture until stiff white peaks form in the bowl. This normally takes around twelve minutes when I'm using my hand whisk, but be prepared it can take longer if you are doing it by hand. It's important that the mixture becomes white, because white symbols purity. It shows that sin has been taken away and we can read this in Isaiah 1:18.
It's now that we carefully fold in the broken chocolate, just as Jesus body was carefully wrapped in herbs and linen before being left in the tomb. The mixture then needs to be dolloped on to parchment paper, in small mounds. The mounds represent the tomb that Jesus was buried in. We can read this in John 19:40-42.
We now need to put the cookie mixture into the oven, turn off the oven and you can explain to the children that just like the Roman soldiers we need to seal the tomb. We can do this by adding tape across the oven door, just like the soldiers guarding the stone they placed across the entrance. We can read this in Matthew 27:65-66.
Now, this is where things get hard. Especially if you have young children who were expecting a treat! At this point, the children have to go to bed with no treat (unless you do something else for them before they go to bed!) and they may be sad but explain the ones who loved Jesus had to leave his body in the tomb whilst they went home. However joy will come, in the short term there will be a treat tomorrow, and we already know that Jesus will be resurrected. We can read this is John 16:20-22.
And honestly that is it.
Until the next morning, where you get to open the oven door and this part is my favourite part of the story. Now you can give everyone a little meringue tomb and get them to bite into it.
Do you see why this is my favourite part? No, not because we get to eat Meringues! When you bite into the meringue you will find that it is hollow, or rather it is empty. Just like the tomb was. Jesus Christ wasn't found in the tomb, he had been resurrected. It's a really truly happy ending to this story and we can read about this in Matthew 28:1-9.
I hope you have a great Easter and if you want to know more, then why not watch this.
See that confused look on your face right now? That was the look that other people gave me when I explained this idea.
Okay, so I don't know how familiar you are with the Resurrection of Jesus, but it actually tells you how to make Meringues. Depending on how your family works, their age or preference either read the Scripture first or explain what you're doing.
Ingredients
200g Chocolate
1tsp Vinegar
3 Egg Whites
Pinch of Salt
200g Sugar
Method
Before you start, you need to line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and turn the oven on to the highest it goes. You'll also need to hunt out some scriptures, or you can use the links that I've included in this blog post and you'll need some tape and a plastic bag, like a ziploc bag.
After Jesus was arrested, the Roman Soldiers beat Jesus with their hands. We can read this in John 19:1-3 and just like the beating, we need to hit the chocolate in order to break them up into smaller pieces. We can put the chocolate into a bag and then use a wooden spoon or a rolling pin rather than our hands however. It might be wise to have chocolate chips and smash them up a bit, just because it's easier for children to break up.
After having asked John to take his Mother away from his Crucifixion, Jesus asked for something to drink. The drink given was a Vinegar wine on Hyssop. I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure, but I believe the drink was in part meant to dull his senses and in part that he required it because he had final words to say and he couldn't because he was dehydrated. We can read this in John 19:28-30. Don't get the children to sip the vinegar, instead get them to sniff the vinegar.
Next we add Egg whites. Well, it wouldn't be Easter without Eggs would it?! If you didn't know Eggs are really symbolic at Easter because of how they represent new life and some say they represent the stone rolled across the tomb entrance too. More importantly they symbolise how, Jesus gave his life for us. We can read this in John 10:10-11,
Next we add Salt. The salt represents our sins, which Jesus took upon himself for us to be able to return to our Father and of course it represents the tears of the followers of Jesus who cried for the loss of their friend and leader. We can read this in Luke 23:27.
It's normally about now, that I explain that the story isn't as sad as one would imagine. There is a sweet part of the story that comes now, Jesus died because of the great amount of love he has for us. He died because he wanted us to know that he loves us, he wanted us to know that we're able to be with our Father in Heaven again as he has taken all our sins upon himself in order to save us and have eternal life. We can read this in John 3:16.
We now have to beat the mixture until stiff white peaks form in the bowl. This normally takes around twelve minutes when I'm using my hand whisk, but be prepared it can take longer if you are doing it by hand. It's important that the mixture becomes white, because white symbols purity. It shows that sin has been taken away and we can read this in Isaiah 1:18.
It's now that we carefully fold in the broken chocolate, just as Jesus body was carefully wrapped in herbs and linen before being left in the tomb. The mixture then needs to be dolloped on to parchment paper, in small mounds. The mounds represent the tomb that Jesus was buried in. We can read this in John 19:40-42.
We now need to put the cookie mixture into the oven, turn off the oven and you can explain to the children that just like the Roman soldiers we need to seal the tomb. We can do this by adding tape across the oven door, just like the soldiers guarding the stone they placed across the entrance. We can read this in Matthew 27:65-66.
Now, this is where things get hard. Especially if you have young children who were expecting a treat! At this point, the children have to go to bed with no treat (unless you do something else for them before they go to bed!) and they may be sad but explain the ones who loved Jesus had to leave his body in the tomb whilst they went home. However joy will come, in the short term there will be a treat tomorrow, and we already know that Jesus will be resurrected. We can read this is John 16:20-22.
And honestly that is it.
Until the next morning, where you get to open the oven door and this part is my favourite part of the story. Now you can give everyone a little meringue tomb and get them to bite into it.
Do you see why this is my favourite part? No, not because we get to eat Meringues! When you bite into the meringue you will find that it is hollow, or rather it is empty. Just like the tomb was. Jesus Christ wasn't found in the tomb, he had been resurrected. It's a really truly happy ending to this story and we can read about this in Matthew 28:1-9.
I hope you have a great Easter and if you want to know more, then why not watch this.