Eagle Brownies

One of our sons celebrates a name-day on December 27th, the feast of St. John the Evangelist!  I've posted the directions in the past for the Eagle Cake we often make to celebrate this feast day, but this year I thought I'd share a few pictures of this year's version, made with brownies.  

It was a little harder to get out of the 9" square pan (next time I need to remember to line the pan with parchment paper) but the chocolate frosting disguised all the imperfections.  ;)  We used a black M&M for the eagle's eye, some yellow frosting for the beak, and 1 orange spice drop (cut in half) for the feet.

"The Eagle when accompanying St. John the Evangelist is an emblem of the spiritual character of his Gospel, but when the King of Birds accompanies St. Prisca it refers to the legend that an eagle held watch over her body until it was buried after her martyrdom. When a figure bearing an eagle's head, or a four-winged eagle, or a male saint with an eagle is depicted, it always represents St. John, not in the character of a simple Apostle, but as the Evangelist."  ~ How to Distinguish the Saints in Art by Their Costumes, Symbols and Attributes

St. John the Evangelist, Pray for Us! 

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Edible Eagles

"E is for Eagles

Here where clear waters reflect the clean air, 

look to the deep sky,

up where big birds fly.

See! Against white clouds...a bald eagle pair!"

~ G is for Granite: A New Hampshire Alphabet

As an extra project to go along with our Geography Study of New Hampshire this past week, my boys made Edible Eagles!

Since the Eagle also symbolizes some of the saints, I thought this would be a fun addition to our collection of ideas and recipes here at Catholic Cuisine.  These Edible Eagles would be a great little treat to make for the feast of St. John in December, a fun snack for the first Blue Knights meeting for Year Two (featuring St. John), or even for the upcoming feast of All Saints!  

"The Eagle when accompanying St. John the Evangelist is an emblem of the spiritual character of his Gospel, but when the King of Birds accompanies St. Prisca it refers to the legend that an eagle held watch over her body until it was buried after her martyrdom.  When a figure bearing an eagle's head, or a four-winged eagle, or a male saint with an eagle is depicted, it always represents St. John, ot in the character of a simple Apostle, but as the Evangelist." ~   How to Distinguish the Saints in Art by Their Costumes, Symbols and Attributes

Acording to Saints.SQPN.com, the Eagle also symbolizes the following:

• Our Lord, who could gaze undazzled upon the glory of God, the Father, as an eagle at the sun
• Baptism by early Christians
• Saint Augustine of Hippo as a symbol of inspiration
• Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, who was fed by an eagle
• Saint Florian of Lorch, whose corpse was protected from abuse by an eagle
• Saint John of the Cross as a symbol of inspiration
• Saint John the Evangelist as a symbol of inspiration and the Holy Ghost
• Saint Juan Diego, whose birth name means “the eagle who speaks”
• Saint Medard of Noyon, who was sheltered from the weather by a hovering eagle
• Saint Ruggero of Canne, who was sheltered in his travels by an eagle
• Saint Servatus, who was sheltered from the sun by an eagle while he travelled as a pilgrim
• Saint Wenceslaus, due to his association with Bohemia

Edible Eagles

(from Family Fun Magazine)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips (we used candy melts)
• 6 large marshmallows
• Finely shredded coconut
• Chocolate sandwich cookie
• 6 Cashews (we used peanuts) 
• Black decorators' gel

Instructions:

Melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips (or candy melts) according to the package directions. 

For each bird, drop a large marshmallow into the melted chocolate, using a spatula to coat it well. 

Remove the marshmallow from the chocolate and roll it in finely shredded coconut, leaving one end uncovered. 

Immediately set the marshmallow, coconut free end down, atop a chocolate sandwich cookie. 

Let the chocolate set a bit, then use a toothpick to make a hole in the side of the marshmallow and insert a cashew for a beak. (We attached our peanuts with a bit more white chocolate.) 

Finally, add black decorators' gel eyes. 

You can find a few other great ideas in the archives including the Eagle Marshmallow Pops & Eagle Head Quesadillas and the Eagle Cake.

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Fun Food for the Feast of St. John the Apostle

The following guest post was submitted by Lacy from Catholic Icing.  Thank you Lacy!

Hi! This is Lacy from Catholic Icing, and I'm posting today to share some ideas for the Feast of St. John with you. His symbol is the eagle, so here are some eagle foods I have made:

Eagle Marshmallow Pop

If you want to make your own eagle marshmallow pop, here's what you'll need:

Lollipop Sticks
Large Marshmallows
Dark Chocolate Chips
White Gumdrops
Shredded Coconut
Almond Bark
Black Food Color Paste
Flower Shaped Sprinkles

Here's what you do:

For the Body~
Put your large marshmallow on the stick and cover in melted dark chocolate. Stick on 2 yellow flower-shaped sprinkles for his feet, and chocolate chips for the wings. Allow to cool. Use a blob of melted almond bark to stick on shredded coconut for the eagle's tail.

For the Head~
Melt your dark chocolate and almond bark until smooth. Dip the bottom of your white gumdrop into the melted almond bark, then dip into your shredded coconut to make the "feathers" on his neck. Cut a slit where his beak goes, and insert a sideways yellow flower-shaped sprinkle.  For the eyes, make 2 dots with black food color paste using a dull toothpick (as a substitute for one of those awesome food markers).

Eagle Head Quesadillla

This eagle head quesadilla is really easy to make. Just fold a tortilla in half, and then cut out a "ghost" shape with some scissors.  It cuts very nicely with scissors. Then, put some cheese in the middle and microwave (or fry it if you're a little more ambitious than me, or if you're preparing it for adults). Finish off by cutting the beak shape out of a slice of cheddar cheese, and stick a raisin on there for an eye :-D


Other ideas for celebrating the feast of St. John can be found in the archives! Pin It

Eagle Cake

As I mentioned earlier, today was the feast of St. John the Apostle. One of the symbols for St. John is the eagle. Since we celebrate one of my sons namedays today, I decided to make an Eagle cake using the directions for an Eaglet Cut-Up-Cake in My Nameday Come for Dessert by Helen McLoughlin as a guide. It was really easy and quite fun to put together!

It turned out very homemade looking -- but that never does matter to children, does it?!

EAGLET CAKE

Modified from: My Nameday Come for Dessert

1) You will need a 9-inch square cake. Bake it from a cake mix or
from your best-liked recipe. When cool, cut a strip diagonally
across the center of the cake, 3 inches wide to use for the body.
Cut the corner off one end to make a beak.

(In case some of you need visuals like I do, I drew a picture for you.)

2) Place the cake strip so that the pointed end is the head; use
the cut-off piece for the beak. Use remaining cake pieces as
spread-out wings. Frost with white seven-minute frosting.

(I used canned frosting in chocolate and lemon.)

3) When the fluffy frosting is swirled on the eaglet, add coconut
for feathers. Make a red gumdrop eye and a glistening beak of
tiny yellow candies. For the feet and wing tips use split pieces
of licorice "shoelaces."

(I skipped this step since my goal was to use what I had on hand. I frosted the body with chocolate frosting, the beak with lemon, and used powdered sugar for the head. I then added a couple candy corns for his talons. To finish him off I just added a brown M&M for his eye.)


This cake can also be used for the feasts of Sts. "John of the Cross; Augustine of Hippo; Priscilla, an early Christian martyr; the Benedictines Cuthbert, Bertolph, and Thierry (or Theodoric); Leopold; and Wenceslaus, who is shown in art with an eagle on a shield." ~ Helen McLoughlin
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