Easter Chocolate Coconut Nest

What do you do when Easter is a week away and the COVID-19 quarantine hasn’t been lifted. You make homemade Easter treats of course! Use this quarantine as an opportunity to expand your culinary skills. Hold true to your Easter traditions without leaving the safety of your own kitchen. Russel Stover makes a coconut chocolate nest at Easter that has become an Easter basket staple. Don’t let being locked at home keep you from enjoying this crunchy sweet confection. The homemade version is so much better than it’s commercial counterpart you may never go back…even when you are allowed to shop again 😉

These nests are as much fun to make as they are yummy to eat. I use sweetened flaked coconut because it becomes so much crunchier than unsweetened when toasted. You can use any milk chocolate you choose. Yes, even chocolate chips.  The oil in the coconut thins and shines the chocolate so beautifully you will be amazed.  I like to use a medium cookie scoop to mound the chocolate and coconut mixture then I use the backside of a melon baller to press and form the inside of the nest. Next, place three Cadbury mini eggs inside the nest and let dry completely before moving. Now, Russel Stover puts jelly beans in their nests…but yuk! why on earth would you ruin perfectly paired chocolate and coconut with pectin of any kind when you can just as easily add rich and creamy Cadbury mini eggs to the nest.  One of the best things about this treat is they are no-bake, easy to make, yet taste like they were purchased at a high-end chocolatier.

Ingredients:

3 cups sweetened flaked coconut

12 ounces good-quality coarsely chopped milk chocolate

1 bag Cadbury Mini Eggs

 

Instructions:

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sprinkle coconut on one of the cookie sheets.
3. Place in an oven pre-heated to 350°F.
4. Toast coconut until golden brown.
5. Use a spatula to occasionally turn coconut on cookie sheet.
6. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
7. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the toasted coconut.
8. Mound stacks of the chocolate coconut mixture onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
9. Use a melon baller to make an indent and create the “nest” shape.
10. Place three Cadbury mini-eggs into the indentation.
11. Let the nests completely cool before removing from cookie sheet.

Tips:

• I like to use a small ice cream scoop to make perfect little mounded haystacks.
• The flavor of chocolate is key in this recipe, I like Ghiradelli or Guittard.
• I have often used a finer shred of coconut for a more professional look, but the taste is the same as long as it is sweetened coconut.