Easter Egg Nests

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Mini Eggs are the best Easter chocolate and although you can now buy Mini Eggs all year round, there really is no better time to eat Mini Eggs than Easter. I took it upon myself to find a recipe for an Easter treat that would use Mini Eggs, be visually pleasing - and of course, taste delicious. The result: mini Easter Egg Nests.

The most challenging part of this recipe is not eating all your Mini Eggs before you use them for the nests. Otherwise, all you need is some basic ingredients and enough space in your fridge to allow these no-bake treats to cool.

The Recipe:

4 oz of chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp corn syrup*
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal
30 Mini Eggs

1. Line a muffin tray with 10 muffin papers and set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate, butter and corn syrup together. To melt chocolate, it is best to use a double boiler or heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir while the chocolate melts to a smooth consistency.
3. Once chocolate has melted, remove from heat and add the Rice Krispies. Stir until all the cereal is coated.
4. Spoon chocolate Rice Krispie mixture into prepared muffin tray, pushing it down with a spoon to form a "nest" shape. Top nest with 3 mini eggs.
5. Once all the nests are prepared, refrigerate for at least one hour.
Makes approximately 10 Easter Egg Nests.

* I'm not 100% sure if the corn syrup was necessary. I based this recipe off of a recipe I found on the BBC that called for "golden syrup" - which I googled and discovered is an inverted sugar syrup that is popular in the UK and more difficult to find in Canada... especially on Good Friday when most grocery stores are closed. I think you could make these treats without the corn syrup and just make sure you stir the chocolate and butter continuously so it does not harden until you're ready to put the nests in the fridge.

On another note, the original recipe called for Corn Flakes instead of a crispy rice cereal - but I had Rice Krispies on hand and decided to substitute. I think I made the right decision - but these would still work well with Corn Flakes!

Making these Mini Easter Egg Nests reminded me of making Rice Krispie Squares - but the chocolate is so much easier to handle than melted marshmallows are (it's a lot less sticky and a lot easier to form into nest shapes). I probably don't also need to tell you that these taste delicious - the Mini Eggs plus chocolate probably gave that away from the start - but if you remember the chocolate bar Nestle Crunch, these taste similar to that!

Once your nests are completely cooled, you'll probably want to take them outside for a photoshoot, like I did. Just ignore any weird looks from your neighbours and go to it! They look best in trees.

The only thing missing from these adorable little Easter Egg Nests...? That's easy - "Put a bird on it!"

Happy Easter!

Caroline