the easter story...in a cookie

Earlier this week, I decided that sharing the Easter story with my kids in a fun, new way was worth breaking out some sugar, so I printed off THIS recipe for Easter cookies and we set to work on them one night just before bed.
The cookies are very simple to make with only a handful of ingredients. With each item you add to the bowl, you tell a bit more of the story. For instance, as the kids crushed pecans with a wooden spoon we read John 19:1-3,
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
As mom broke up the squabble you see happening there on the left, and as egg whites, vinegar, salt and sugar were becoming a shiny white batter, we read Isaiah 1:18,
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Then Kate made some goofy faces and everyone licked the beater. Tristan expressed his worry that nuts were going to totally ruin these cookies.
We mixed in the pecans anyway, dropped our batter onto cookie sheets, and placed them in the warmed oven. The kids "sealed" the oven with bits of tape and we left it till morning after reading Matthew 27:57-60,
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 

Next day, we opened the oven and pulled out our crispy white cookies. The kids had a bite and found they were hollow!
Matthew 28:5-6 says,
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."
Then they had cookies for breakfast (and Tristan didn't even mind the nuts.)
So in this simple act of making a sweet treat together, we were reminded of the great truth in 1 John 3:16,
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us...