I’m not much of a baker and was pressed for time this week  but wanted to make a festive dessert to bring to my family’s get together for Easter.  I searched online for inspiration and came across images for edible bird nests. I made them last night and they turned out super cute, were easy to make and took very little time to prepare.

For my edible bird nests I used pretzel sticks but I saw many people using chow mein noodles (which I imagine would be a bit easier to gather into little nest shapes).

I coated my pretzels with a combo of melted chocolate and butterscotch chips (they turned out yummy). To melt you can use a double boiler or improvise like me and melt the chips inside a heat-proof bowl placed over a sauce pan with simmering water (make sure the water level is not high enough to touch the bowl). Another option is to microwave chocolate at 20-30 second intervals, stirring in between. Whichever method you choose just don’t leave it unattended to avoid burning or drying out the chocolate.  That may or may not be the reason there is no photo of the white chocolate nests I had planned on making. Whoops.

Next, scoop some of the pretzels onto a platter lined with parchment paper or a greased muffin tin.  Top with your favorite candy eggs (I used Cadbury mini chocolate eggs) and allow to set.

A few tips:
- an ice cream scoop helps you grab just the right amount needed for a mini nest
- if you want the eggs to stick to the nest place the candies on the nest while the chocolate is still hot
- refrigerate if you need these to set quickly

I think making these with kids would be a fun activity.  They are perfect to celebrate Easter, Spring or a love of cute desserts!

I’m terrible with instructions and improvise a lot in the kitchen…but here’s a link with the basic ingredients and steps to follow:  http://www.joyofbaking.com/EasterNests.html