By Paul Reames
Making miniature nests is easy, fun and requires no particular skills. You will need a bag of shredded coconut, approximately one pound of white chocolate, food coloring and wax paper.
Place the chocolate in a microwave oven safe bowl and turn on high for two minutes. After the two minutes are up, stir the chocolate. Repeat, until the chocolate is melted. If you choose to melt the chocolate on the stove, use a double boiler. Chocolate burns very easily.
After the chocolate has melted, add a little food coloring. Green is nice if you want a grass looking effect. In order to work with the chocolate and coconut, it needs to be a little thick. Add coconut as needed. You may need to work quickly, depending upon the temperature in your home. Mix well.
Drop the mixture by spoonfuls on a sheet of wax paper. Size of the spoon is a personal choice, depending on how large you want to make the nests. While mixture is still warm and pliable, shape into a nest, by creating a hollow in the center of the mixture. They will harden quickly.
Before they harden, you may choose to put two or three jellybeans in each nest. These are "Bunny eggs." Yellow or white jellybeans can be used for duck eggs. Choice of candy fillings is up to you.
To use the nests to decorate a cake, place the nests on the cake along side a marshmallow bunny or duck. They can be used as decorations on top of gelatin and fruit salads or pies.
Paul Reames |
