Easter nest coconut cookies

“If we had no winter,
the spring would not be so pleasant.”
~ Anne Bradstreet

Man has always mapped his life around the patterns of nature. Spring festivals started off as pagan traditions around the spring equinox in honour of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre or Ostara. The festivals had the theme of new life and signified the end of the cold winter months. Later, with the advent of Christianity, they were linked to the resurrection of Jesus.

Eggs were the common man’s explanation of resurrection and new life. With Easter around the corner, I have a new recipe for you – The Easter nest coconut cookies. This recipe is an easy, fun project with kids, colourful, crunchy and can be made completely vegan.

To make this recipe you’ll need the following.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees centigrade.
2. Mix all the ingredients listed under the cookie dough except for the flour and edible colour.
3. Now mix in the flour till fully incorporated. The cookie dough should be nice and sticky and hold its shape.
4. Next mix in the edible food colour.
5. Prepare your muffin mould by spraying or brushing it with oil.
6. Take approximately a tablespoon and a half of cookie dough and put it in the muffin mould. Grease your fingers a little bit with oil and using the pressure of your fingers, spread it around in the muffin tin until you have a slightly curved centre, like a nest.
7. If you don’t happen to have a muffin mould, you can just shape the dough with your hands and place it on baking/parchment paper. This way you’ll have a more organic shape to the nests.
8. Bake the nest cookies for about 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven until the edges are slightly browned.
9. Let the cookies cool in the muffin moulds till cool enough to handle. After, take them out of the mould by slowly nudging them out and let them cool to room temperature.
10. In the meantime, cut out the cooking chocolate (I used dark chocolate) into smaller chunks, and place it in a small heatproof bowl or pot.
11. Place the smaller pot on top of a larger pot. The larger pot will contain hot water. The chocolate in the bowl on top will melt with the heat of the water in the pot below. This is called the double boiler method. Melt the chocolate using this method until a smooth sauce-like consistency is achieved.
12. Alternatively, using a microwave-safe bowl, place the chocolate in it. Using medium/high heat (800W), melt the chocolate in spurts of 5 seconds. Stir and continue until a smooth sauce-like consistency is achieved.
13. Now let the melted chocolate cool for a minute or two.
14. Drop approximately 1/2 teaspoon of the chocolate sauce in the centre of each of the coconut cookie nests.
15. Work quickly so the melted chocolate doesn’t set.
16. You can now decorate the nests with chocolate or candy eggs of your choice.

Hope you’ll enjoy baking these yummy nests with your little ones. Happy Easter everyone!

Disclaimer: Opinions and methods expressed are solely of the writer. Namaste Switzerland does not undertake any obligation or liability which may arise from the content.