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GEMMA STAFFORD

Gemma Stafford is the sensational Irish professional baker behind the website and YouTube channel Bigger Bolder

Baking. She released her first cookbook, Bigger Bolder Baking: A Fearless Approach to Baking Anytime, Anywhere

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), in 2019, introducing a whole new generation of bakers to her accessible recipes.

Tell us about some of your memories
of what your family would bake and
prepare for an Irish Easter meal.
Gemma Stafford: Easter is a big deal

in Ireland, being a religious holiday.
Every year, the meal would consist
of lamb served with roast vegetables,
gravy, and all the trimmings. Dessert
in our house was usually something
chocolate. I remember my mum serving
chocolate cake decorated with little
candy chocolate eggs on top. As kids, we
thought this was just the best thing ever.

What do you think of when you think of
Ireland in spring?
GS: Springtime is a season of rebirth
and new life, so lamb, chicks, and
eggs are what I picture when I think
of springtime. When it comes to our
sweets, however, the Irish are all about
their chocolate at Easter time! Mainly
chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in foil
and in a pretty box. We are among some
of the largest consumers of chocolate
in Europe. In Ireland, we have amazing
chocolatiers, who are putting Ireland on
the map for chocolate production.

What classic baked goods would you
recommend a traveling baker try during
an Easter sojourn to Ireland?
GS: There is really one iconic baked
good that appears every Easter in
bakeries all around Ireland and that is
hot cross buns. My mum would always
buy hot cross buns around Easter. A

rich, sweet yeasted dough studded with
dried fruit and mixed peel and marked
with a cross on top made from pastry or
icing. Traditionally eaten on the Friday
before Easter, known as Good Friday,
they symbolize the end of Lent. It’s an
Irish classic.

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