Sweet Easter Treats

Lately, Cate and I have been in the habit of baking together once or twice a week. Usually it's something healthy like my favourite cinnamon swirl protein bread or a whole grain fruit muffin, but with Easter coming up this weekend, we'll be doing the rounds for family dinners and so I decided that we should have some Easter treats to bring along with us. 


Since they turned out so well, I thought I would share the recipe with all of you. I had to make a few modifications from the original recipe that I found here http://www.curiositiesbydickens.com/easter-birds-nest-cookies/

Aren't these just adorable?

Easter Bird's Nest Cookies

1 cup Butter
1 8oz package of Cream Cheese
2 cups Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Coconut Extract
1/4 tsp Almond Extract
2 cups White Flour

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Flaked Coconut

Green, Yellow, Red, and Blue Food Colouring
Candy Covered Eggs – I used PC speckled eggs because I liked the natural looking colours.

Royal Icing – You can make your own with icing sugar and water or you can buy the premade cookie icing with a piping tip already on the package.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together butter and cream cheese till smooth. Beat in sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and extracts. Mix well. Stir in the flour and baking powder.

Roll dough into balls (about the size of ping pong). The batter was really sticky for me so I added more flour to make it more manageable. Place them a couple inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Make an indentation in each one using your thumb.

Bake for 10-12 minutes on the centre rack. Cookies won't brown, so keep an eye on them. Remove from oven and use the back of a spoon to press down the indentation again.

Meanwhile, mix coconut with a couple of drops of each of the food coloring in a small bowl with a lid or a large freezer bag. Cover and shake until all the coconut is evenly covered. Adjust the colours until you get a nice deep brown colour. Spread icing in the indents on each of the cookies (I used a small paint brush) and fill with coconut. Press down on the coconut flakes and then tip them over to get rid of the excess. Place another dab of icing on top of the coconut in the centre of the cookie and place 3 multi-coloured eggs. Press down to secure them in place. This recipe makes about 60 cookies.

Et voila! Now you have adorable little bird nests! They make cute Easter table decorations, but are also tasty and satisfying.

These cookies were a lot of fun to make and kid friendly too. Cate pitched in to do everything from measuring the ingredients to "painting" on the icing and placing the eggs. Best of all, she is quite excited to deliver her special gifts this weekend. 

Happy Easter (and don't eat too much chocolate!)