Thursday, March 28, 2013

Easy Chocolate Coconut Nests!




Easy-peasy, I'm tellin' youse.

Here's all you need:



I keep toasted coconut in the freezer all the time. It's so simple, just lay a bag of coconut on a cookie sheet, spread it out, and toast in a 275° (Remember, hold down the "ALT" key and hit 0176 on the number pad to make the "°" symbol!) for about 20 minutes, give or take. I stir it around every five minutes or so. Remove from oven when most of the coconut has turned golden brown and is crisped up.

So for this easy peasy Easter treat:

Melt 2 bags of milk or dark chocolate chips over low heat. I use this method which helps prevent graying... some folks use the microwave. Whatever works for you!  Hershey's milk chocolate chips melt wonderfully with very little chance of graying as long as you melt them s-l-o-w-l-y. Which means you can get other stuff done...

Oh, RANDOM!!!! They're playing Mandisa's "Good Morning!" on K-Love right now and I used that as Lisa's favorite song in "The Lawman's Second Chance"...


 it's such a great song and I love the Toby Mac interlude!  Here's a link if you don't know what I'm talking about:  Mandisa's "Good Morning!"   But then come back here, okay???



Put the first bag of chips in the bowl over a pot of very warm water. When they get soft, toss in the other bag and stir... stir again in a few minutes.... Once they've all "smoothed" (melted) add in about 2 cups of toasted coconut.



Drop by rounded tablespoons onto foil covered cookie sheet. Dip spoon in center to make nest "divet" or hollow. Mary Ruth likes helping Grammy!  :)  (Shamelessly exploiting small children for kitchen labor and to sell sweet books... And I'm okay with all of that, LOL!)

Now we add the bird eggs, aka: Jelly beans. I use smaller ones like they do at Russel Stover because they're SO STINKIN' CUTE!

Put in cool place (not like "hip" cool, or "chic" cool but temperature cool...) to firm up. No refrigeration needed.

Ah, help has arrived! They love the placing little "eggs" part the best!

And this is what they do at Russell Stovers:

You can buy one of these for $.99

We just made 23 of them in about ten minutes time (minus when I toasted the coconut and put it in a double zip-loc freezer bag...)  

For about $5.... Okay, maybe $6.  I buy chocolate chips at Sam's or when they're on sale and this week you can get two bags for $4.... so then $2 for the coconut and handful of jellybeans.

Pretty sweet deal, right?

If you have colored plastic wrap, it's cute to wrap them in it and put a smidge of tape on bottom.

And that's it.

Except....

Here's the bane to my diet:

Right here, in person:

SIGH.....

A FIVE POUND BAG OF STARBURST JELLY BEANS!!! MAYOR BLOOMBERG, DON'T TOUCH MY MEGA-HUMONGOUS-GINORMOUS BAG OF CANDY, PUH-LEASE!!!!

:)

17 comments:

  1. Ruthy, you know I won a phone chat with you? I am going to spend the first 15 minutes thanking you for giving me this recipe. I love coconut nests but only the green ones. Do they even make the green ones any more?

    So white chocolate chips, a little green food coloring and I am set.

    Peace and blessed Maundy Thursday, Julie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, yes they do! And if you like pistachio, there's pistachio oil you could put into it and have pistachio coconut green nests!!!! YOWZA, talk about deliciosa! :) Julie, this is so unbelievably easy that it should be outlawed.

      And the ratio of coconut to chocolate is high... I'd say like 1 cup toasted coconut... or 1 1/2 cups... to each 12 oz package of chocolate chips.

      But that can be adjusted any way you like. We coconut lovers just like the chocolate as GLUE.... Oh, yum.

      Delete
  2. I've never heard of coconut nests but they look yummy. Of course, anything with chocolate is delish in my books. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutamente! I first saw these at Russell Stover's candy counters at Easter, but now you see them in other candy lines too... Kav, must try them So easy and crowd pleasers.

      Also I make the plain coconut chocolate mix as "Drop" candies (same thing, but no divet in middle) when I need to take an impressive "cookie" to share at functions... and have no time to bake. As long as there's time to cool, we're good to go!

      Delete
  3. Ooooh, what a great, kid-friendly recipe! Now I just need to find some kids.... Hey, wait! I have my pre-school Sunday School class! They'll love this!

    And I learned a useful tidbit today - now I know how to toast the coconut I always have leftover from Christmas recipes :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love toasted coconut. I love broiled icing. On my oatmeal cake recipe, it has broiled icing.... oh mylanta, it's to die for and if I make it I eat the whole stinkin' cake TINY PIECE BY TINY PIECE.

      It's an illness.

      Delete
  4. So cute!!! The coconut makes it looks like twigs. Brilliant. :)

    And you know, I usually melt in the microwave. Adding a bit of cream helps keep it looking nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Missy, that would probably work fine. Adding cream or a touch of oil keeps it shinier but you get a softer chocolate. It melts in the hand faster. But I do add those when I'm dipping in chocolate.... And the kids love dipping Oreos into the melted chocolate and then into SPRINKLES!!!! How could life possibly get better than that????

      Sprinkles and glitter and sparkles....

      :)

      I'm agog.

      Delete
  5. You know, Russell Stover isn't even including the jelly beans anymore!!!! For the past two years, whenever I buy them, they're just the nests, minus the bird eggs.

    And I know whereof I speak because these are HANDS DOWN my Easter guilty pleasure. They're the reason I hate giving up chocolate for Lent (but I did it anyway this year cause I mean that's what sacrifice is all about, right?)
    But now I am rewarded because i can make them all on my own.

    Confession - I have made them on my own before, just like Ruthy described. Except since I'm just making them for me at any time of the year, I don't bother with the cute nest shapes. I just make them into little clusters.

    Yes, my name is Mary and I am a coconut ADDICT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're safe here with us, Mary. Although I'm afraid we may be enablers.

      :)

      Delete
    2. Mary, I just saw this! Yes, I do the "drops" too. But Easter is totally nest-friendly! Hey, we should meet sometime when I come down to the city.

      Would we still love each other IN PERSON?????

      Delete
    3. Hey Ruthy,
      ABSOLUTELY we should meet in person and we'll get along swimmingly as long as it's not either a subway series weekend or Boston weekend. :)

      But even then, I bet.

      Delete
  6. okay - because this is a very important topic - I googled it.

    Apparently you can still get them with jelly bean eggs somewhere - just not here!

    And Julie, in my searching I found a recipe for green nest eggs. Not sure it will taste the same though.

    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easter-egg-nests/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I must admit that I just scarfed down 2 of these delicious "nests" once I found where Ruthy had hidden them in her house! Yummy!

    (I figured I could justify 2 since one was for me and one was for Baby Jamison, right?) :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Aw, baby Jamison!!!! :) I think I should get to pick the name... and that the kid should look like me.

      That's how it should be, right?

      And oh, yes, be named after me.

      Clearly my list of demands is easily met! :)

      I have it on good authority that this baby will be adorable regardless of name, gender and/or appearance.

      (and he or she will love me best of all. Naturally!!! ) :)

      Delete
  8. Oh my gosh, how cute is this???? I love it!! And now I'll try the ALT blah blah...

    °

    WOW!!!! It worked!!!!!

    And I want that Pyrex yellow bowl.

    ReplyDelete