Sunday, March 28, 2010

Bird's Nest Cookies

Bird's Nest Cookies

When I was a little girl, I bought my very first cookbook at a book fair. I remember how excited I was when I got home from school.  I couldn't wait to try out one of the recipes and proudly declare to my parents that I can cook.  The funny thing was most of the recipes in the cookbook didn't require any actual cooking or baking.  After all, it was a kids' cookbook. Nevertheless, I was still excited to try out a recipe. As I was thumbing through the pages, I saw a picture of these adorable little bird's nest cookies and was completely enamored by them. Who knew several years later I would be inspired to make these cookies again.

Ingredients

I'm sad to say that I've lost my cookbook a long time ago, but I still remember how to make these quick and easy birds' nest cookies.  You only need three ingredients: chow mein noodles, butterscotch morsels and mini egg-shaped candies. The original recipe actually called for semi-sweet chocolate chips but I thought the butterscotch morsels gave the nests a more realistic appearance.

The first time I made them, I used egg-shaped jelly beans and they turned out looking so cute and colorful.

egg-shaped jelly beans

birds nest candies on silpat

The second time I made them, I decided to use Cadbury Mini Eggs and they were amazing.  The eggs looked so realistic and the combination of milk chocolate eggs with the butterscotch nests tasted a lot better than the jelly beans.

Bird's Nest Cookies

These cookies were so much fun to make and it was such a delight to share them with friends and family. This would also be a great activity to do with kids.

Bird's Nest Cookies
Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Allergy note: contains dairy and wheat ingredients

12 oz. package chow mein noodles 
12 oz. package butterscotch morsels
90 egg-shaped candies

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.  Pour the butterscotch morsels in a microwave-safe bowl and place them in the microwave. Heat for 30 seconds then remove to stir. Return to the microwave and heat again for 30 seconds. Stir until melted. Add in the chow mein noodles and mix till combined. Use a 1/4 measuring cup to portion out the cookies onto the baking sheet. If the mixture starts to solidify in the mixing bowl, you can reheat for 15 to 30 seconds to melt. Place three egg-shaped candies in the center of each cookie. Allow to set for at least 5 minutes before serving or transferring.

UPDATE (3/30/10): I just made another batch of these bird's nest cookies using a different brand of butterscotch morsels and they seem to be a bit drier.  If you experience this same issue, you can add a little bit more melted butterscotch morsels.  I've also noticed that the Cadbury mini eggs aren't attaching as well as the jelly bean eggs, so to fix that problem, I dipped the bottom of the eggs with melted butterscotch morsels before placing them on top.

Please note: I am not a paid endorser nor did I accept any freebies of the brands or products mentioned in this post.  I just love them and wanted to share them with you :-)

36 comments:

  1. Thank u so much for sharing so many egg-free recipes with us!!! Thanks a ton!

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  2. I can't wait to try this out for Easter! Thanks...

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  3. Awww...you beat me to the punch. I've had the ingredients for these waiting in the cupboard so that I can make them for Easter. My recipe has crushed corn flakes in it along with the chow mein noodles.

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  4. I was just brainstorming at church how to make a bird's nest to top a cake with. These are adorable! Thanks!

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  5. They are adorable! Love them with the Cadbury eggs and I will definitely give this a try! Thanks!

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  6. Love them! I made them in the fall as haystacks and put a little candy pumpkin next to it. They were a hit in my son's third grade class. My recipe called for a bag of white chips, bag of peanut butter chips, and broken pretzel sticks. They were awesome. All of the mom's asked for the recipe. I was embarassed to say how easy they were! Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. have to mention a time saver as I had a hard time with these the first time....use small or medium sized muffin pans to form the nests in---much more successful with that!

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  8. I just made them and they turned out great! I used peanut butter chips, not a butterscotch fan, and I found mini Robin's egg candy made by Whoppers for the eggs. Thanks for the great idea!

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  9. Happy Easter ... these cookies are gorgeous. Well done indeed!

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  10. I'm making these cookies for Easter.. thanks for the idea

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  11. These are just adorable!! I would love to show them off on my next Saturday's Discovery Beauty segment if that would be ok with you.

    bee blessed
    mary

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  12. This is too cute ! I must make these with my grand son! TFS ! Love your blog !

    Alex
    http://www.youhadmeatcraft.com/

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  13. Are these noodles soft or hard?

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  14. I am making these pronto! I will definitely post mine on my blog and give you credit for this fabulous idea!

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  15. I love these! I am going to make these with my kids and feature it on my blog. I will link back to you too. Thanks for the idea!

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  16. These are simply adorable! Cannot wait to try these out :)

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  17. Adorable! I know what I'm taking to Easter Dinner this year. :)

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  18. These are A-dorable! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. So cute for Easter! I can't wait to blog about my yummies! XOXO

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  19. How did you get the nest to shape so well?? Mine are kind of all over the place! Also I think if you used your thumb you might get a nice indention for the eggs! Thanks for the idea!

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  20. Just made these for a bake sale tomorrow and they are a-dore-able!!!! Thank you so much for the idea!

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  21. I had these cookies as a kid and I remember just loving them. I have been wanting a recipe for them for years. Thanks for sharing. I going to do this as a Easter activity with my kids.

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  22. We featured these cute cookies on our blog:

    http://holidaysnobs.blogspot.com/2011/04/fun-with-food-for-easter.html

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  23. Thank you for posting!! I have had these before and love them, but had forgotten how they were made. Look forward to having some this year.

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  24. Great recipe! We loved it so much we featured it on our blog www.polkadotlighthouse.blogspot.com along with a few other Easter related items :). Thanks for sharing it and Happy Easter!!
    Olga

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  25. I just had a big fail. Don't buy "Stir Fry Chow Mein Noodles"... They are not the same and they don't work :)

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  26. wow. it so fun.
    thank for sharing it.

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  27. Thanks so much! I will be making these for a bake sale soon! Hopefully mine will turn out as beautiful as your did

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  28. how long can i store these... saturday party. can i make tomorrow?? christygriner@yahoo.com

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  29. My family makes these at Christmas time (sans eggs of course), but we add some almond bark and spanish peanuts. I never even made the connection for nests, but now that I have I think I will make them for an Easter party.

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  30. I think malted milk balls would look good too.

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  31. It sounds great - I do not know if we have Chow Mei Noodles in Holland... for cooking I use Egg noodles (I have to place them in boiled water for 4 minutes) can I use those - uncooked??? And sadly we do not have butterscotch morsels, will have to use chocolate :D

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    Replies
    1. chow mein noodles aren't a real noodle they are more like a pretzel texture. I would not recomend egg noodles. Look in an asian store or i found some around the rice area in a walmart.

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  32. You've been featured! http://limefishstudio.blogspot.com/2012/04/last-minute-easter-ideas.html

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  33. This has been a recipe passed down in my family for generations! Kinda sad to see so many people using it but they're delicious so glad so many get to enjoy it I actually add about a 1/4 cup of creamy peanut buter to the butterscotch chips adds a nice little flavor!

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  34. These are so cute! I came here from Pinterest and love your story about the cookbook. I took a 2-week afternoon "cooking class" in elementary school and still have my folder with the recipes. Well, all is not lost if you can't find yours - there is always Google and Amazon!

    I am going to make these. I bought Mini Eggs and ended up snarfing down the bag before I used them in the recipe (why does this always happen to me?!?!) ...so now I will try again - this time with Whopper eggs and hopefully more self-control :) I want to try these sometime with a peanut-butter base too - that would be absolutely awesome with the mini eggs (if I ever could not eat them all up first!) thanks!

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