Today on the blog we are making little candy nests. I love these happy little treats, but not half as much as the tinies do. As fun as they are to assemble, they are even better to destroy – poor little evicted birdies. Oh well, they don’t have long to suffer… Who knew a cooking post would take a dark turn? 😊
Ingredients are simple and easy to find. Chow mein noodles, caramel chips and assorted fillings are all it takes to whip up these easy treats. First we are going to melt our caramel chips. You can either use a double boiler or a glass bowl in your microwave. I opted for the later. I know, I know, I cheated.
After I melted the chocolate, it was time to mix in our “nesting” material. I used crispy lo mein noodles from the Asian section of the grocery store. Mix in one container of noodles per bag of melted chips. Stir thoroughly to coat the noodles completely.
Once the noodles are coated, take them out by large spoon full and arrange in the shape of tiny nests – approximately three inches across from outside edge to outside edge. You are going to fill with “eggs” so be sure to leave some noodles on the bottom to hold your fillings. Once the melted caramel dries, you are ready to fill. Easy breezy. You could pop your tray in the fridge to speed the drying process a bit.
For the filling, get creative! When I was little, my grandmother used jelly beans. I like to use Whoppers malted milk eggs. For this version, I am using M and M’s eggs because that is what the tinies like so much. If you want to add a little extra umph to the nests, you can color some coconut shreds green as edible grass. My crew doesn’t care for coconut, so I may leave that out for today. My grandmother would color coconut, and make the most delicious lemon cake with angle icing and coconut frosting. Oh, man! It wasn’t Easter or Christmas until that cake showed up. I can taste it now. My best memories as a child were made in the kitchen of my grandmother’s house. Even when I was too little to be of any real help, that amazing women would sit me on the counter and give me a pinch of pie crust to play with or let me do something so that I felt like I was helping. That’s probably why I love to be in the kitchen with the tinies so much now. We bonded in that kitchen. I don’t know how many dishes we stirred, mixed and created together, but it was the foundation of my childhood sense of well being. I loved that woman. I still have a photo of her in my kitchen to this day to remind me of the many years I was blessed to have learned from her.
Now back to the birdies. I use classic yellow peeps – some of you guys may unfollow me now, but I don’t really love the taste of them. Whoever came up with peeps flavored Oreo’s should be tried for treason. Seriously. But I digress. Take your nests, place coconut into the bowl of the nests then generously fill with eggs. Once your nest is ready, let mama bird come home to roost.
Enjoy this quick and easy treat all spring, but especially for the Easter season.
