Toasted Coconut Macaroon Nests

You have probably seen the Noodle Nests made with Chinese Noodles and melted marshmallows; well I'm not a fan of them but I do love the idea and they look really cute. I am however, I huge fan of Toasted Coconut Macaroons and I was minding my youngest niece the other day and we decided to give them a try as little egg nests, too:

We used my "go to" recipe and just before baking, we made an indent at the top of the macaroon, to house those lovely speckled M&M eggs. You could add some melted chocolate or some chocolate sauce to the indent, to hold the eggs in place, but we chose to simply drizzle them with a little melted chocolate.

There are several ways to make macaroons and because I prefer them golden and toasty, I do toast the shredded coconut prior to making my macaroons but if you prefer a lighter version, you can omit this step and then remove them from the oven just as they start to brown slightly.

You could also add more shredded coconut, for a lighter option or you could substitute honey and a little coconut oil for the sweetened condensed milk, for a healthier option. The choice is yours.
To make these even prettier, we made some cute little toppers, which we glued to some coloured cardboard, stuck to a toothpick and added a pretty ribbon. I have a PDF file for the toppers, HERE if you would like to use them for any of your Easter cooking.

To download the recipe for the Toasted Coconut Macaroons, just click on the link or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer for later.

It really is a great recipe to make with the kids and my niece, loved shaping the nests and drizzling the chocolate (and sneaking M&M's as we cooked). She proudly took her batch home to share with her family and they were a huge hit...... a fun and successful cooking day and a very happy niece!
Happy baking :)