With spring finally here, why not whip up some simple and tasty treats with these Easter-inspired recipes.

Easter chocolate meringues

Kids (and grown ups) won't be able to resist these cute meringue nests topped with chocolate and mini eggs. Makes about 8.

Ingredients
3 egg whites
170g caster sugar
35g cocoa powder
3 Cadbury's Flakes
Mini eggs

Method
1.    Preheat the oven to 140°C.
2.    Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they start to become fluffy and hold their shape. Continue whisking, adding the caster sugar and cocoa powder a spoonful at a time. When the mixture forms stiff peaks and is no longer grainy to the touch, it's ready to cook.
3.    Scrape the chocolate meringue mixture into a piping bag with a large star-shaped nozzle attached. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and pipe small circular nests, starting at the centre and piping outwards in a spiral. Pipe over the top of the nest 2-3 times, to form

These marbled eggs might look impressive, but they're really easy to make. Here's how to do it…

This simple technique gives raw eggs a marbled effect using onion skins, which have been used as a dye for centuries. During cooking, the natural pigment in the onion skins stain the porous egg shell, producing an effect that looks a lot like marble. Underneath, they are ordinary hard-boiled eggs. Serve them up as a treat this Easter — for a snack, at a picnic or for a kids' party.

[Related feature: The 2012 Easter egg taste test]

You will need:

Raw eggs (if you use paler shells you'll end up with more contrast)
Onion skins, red or brown — brown works better if you're dyeing the eggs
Elastic bands
Food colouring

How it's done

Place the onion skins in a bowl and pour over boiling water from a kettle. Leave for about 30 seconds. This will make the onion skins more flexible and easier for the next step…

Drain the water from the bowl and wrap each egg in the slightly cooled, soaked onion skins.

We've all heard of boiling, scrambling and poaching — but have you ever roasted an egg? From coddling to scrambling it inside its shell, we try out some of the less common ways of cooking an egg.

Scrambling inside its shell

Scrambling an egg still in its shell is thought to have originated in Japan. And, according to an article on the Instructables website, you'll need a pair of tights to make one. Push a raw egg down one of the 'legs' of a pair of fairly thick tights, holding the foot end firmly. Twist both ends so the egg can't escape and then spin the egg by twirling it in front of you in a circular motion. Be careful not to hit the egg with anything as you spin it, and continue spinning in both directions for about 2 minutes. The egg will sound gloopy. Carefully remove the egg from the tights and boil for 8-10 minutes. For some reason these eggs are more likely to crack on boiling and so they often don't come out as perfectly formed as a boiled egg. But we think they're kind of