Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nest Krispies Treats

Rice krispies treats are great for every holiday. Turn them into bird’s nests using toasted coconut, mini Cadbury eggs, chocolate, and your cupcake tin.

It seems like every holiday comes with it’s own line of candy and you won’t see me complaining. Especially when it involves Reese’s because the holidays ones have a larger peanut butter to chocolate ratio which is fine by me. Alas this post is not about Reese’s eggs. Easter candy staples tend to be jelly beans and Cadbury eggs. I never liked jelly beans until Starburst and Jolly Rancher started making their own and now I am obsessed. But again this post is not about jelly beans either. (Get to the point already geez.)

Today we are going to talk about Cadbury eggs, particularly the mini ones. A couple of weeks ago I was challenged by two friends to come up with a treat utilizing the mini cadbury eggs as they think the minis are the best candy ever. Obviously I could not turn down such a challenge so I ventured off to the store (Target actually had them on sale using their Cartwheel app) and snatched up a couple bags. They actually make a couple varieties such as milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white candy but the chocolate ones were the glorified ones. I would have used the dark chocolate but didn’t discover them until it was too late. But I digress.

Since these little cadbury eggs look just like bird eggs I decided to make a treat that looked like a bird’s nest. What looks more like an edible birds nest than a rice krispies treat molded into a cupcake tin and topped with toasted coconut? Well, other than the straight up coconut nests that look a lot like real nests (such as these cuties Amy posted). These rice krispies treats have toasted coconut mixed into them as well as on top. To secure the extra toasted coconut and eggs, the tops were dipped into melted chocolate first. Since only about half the bag of candy eggs gets used on the tops, you could definitely chop up the rest and mix them into the krispie treat itself. I thought it would look a little homicidal for a bird’s nest to be made out of eggs but it certainly would taste good.

P.S. I should have posted these tomorrow – wouldn’t they be great for April Fools Day?

One year ago: Oven-Fried Parmesan-Panko Crusted Tilapia

Four years ago: Orange Beef

TOASTED COCONUT BIRD’S NEST KRISPIES TREATS

Makes 12

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded coconut

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 (10.5 ounce) bag mini marshmallows

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 cups puffed rice cereal

4 oz. semisweet or milk chocolate, melted

36-48 egg-shaped candy (I used Cadbury milk chocolate mini eggs)

Directions:

1. Lightly coat the cups of a 12-cavity muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add shredded coconut and cook, stirring regularly, until the coconut starts to turn golden brown. As it browns, lower the heat slightly to ensure that the coconut doesn’t burn. When all of the coconut is golden, transfer to another container to cool.
3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Fold in the cereal and half of the coconut until well combined and coated.
4. Transfer sticky cereal mixture to the prepared pan, distributing evenly between the cups, pressing down until the tops are level. Allow to cool completely.
5. Once cooled, melt the chocolate in a wide shallow bowl. Place remaining coconut in another wide shallow bowl.
6. One at a time dip the tops of the treats into the chocolate, then immediately roll the edges in the coconut and then place 3-4 candies in the middle. Allow to cool completely until chocolate has solidified then serve. Store any leftovers in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Source: Inspired by Baking Bites.

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