Easter is a big affair where I live but we don’t celebrate it. A few days before Easter, the stores feature medium sized to large egg confectionary and the choice I have is between chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate eggs! Much as I like chocolate, I somehow do not like the taste of the store bought chocolate eggs for some reason.
Sometime last week, I came across some very pretty Easter Egg Nests. I thought I would try my hand at making them myself. The nests were just coconut macaroon cookies which are pretty easy to make. Since we don’t get those Easter egg candy here, I thought I’d make those too at home.
I found a Fondant Easter Egg recipe which seemed doable with the stuff I had at home. I have to warn you that they’re extremely sweet and I probably will not make them again. I am posting them because they do look cute and are quite easy to make. And if you like the sweet stuff, then that’s just fine.
They’re eatable (in small doses) only because they’re pretty small. Three or four of them could probably cause a sugar induced coma! Covering these Fondant Eggs in chocolate would probably bring the sweetness down a bit, but with the temperatures here right now already feeling like the height of summer, I didn’t want to risk working with chocolate.
The macaroons are very easy to make. I have used both desiccated coconut and fresh coconut because the first keep the macaroon dough a bit dry, while the second lends a nice moistness to the macaroon that is delightful.
I’m going to keep this post short for a few reasons. The first is that I wanted to post this yesterday but it got delayed for various reasons and I’m a bit pressed for time. The second one is that there are two recipes to this post so it’s going to be long enough without my conversation. The third and reason is that I honestly don’t have a story to tell with this post and Fudge, our Cocker Spaniel is bored, wants to play and won’t let me work on this post!
Fondant Easter Eggs
(Adapted from About.com)
Fondant Easter Eggs in Coconut-Chocolate Macaroon Nests (GF)
Ingredients
Fondant Easter Eggs
- 1/4 cup salted butter , soft at room temperature
- 200 ml condensed milk sweetened
- 3 u2013 3 3/4 cups icing sugar
- 1 to 2 cups icing sugar for kneading the fondant
Coconut-Chocolate Macaroon Nests
- 1 cup coconut fresh grated packed
- 1 cup coconut desiccated
- 3 tbsps all-purpose flour
- 2 egg whites
- 200 ml condensed milk sweetened
- 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsps cocoa powder
Instructions
- Fondant Easter Eggs : Put the butter in a bowl and whisk it till it becomes fluffy. Add the condensed milk and whisk again. Add 3 cups of icing sugar and mix together with a fork till blended well. Add some more of the remaining 3/4 cup icing sugar, if necessary, till you have a dough (fondant) that is not stiff but firm and not sticky.
- Divide the fondant into four portions. Dust your working surface with some icing sugar. Colour (with one or two drops, enough for pastel shades) and flavour each portion according to your preference. Knead each portion, separately, adding a little more icing sugar as necessary, until the colour is well blended and there are no streaks.
- Working with one coloured fondant portion at a time, pinch of small bits and shape into smooth 1 to 1 1/4" long u201ceggsu201d. Dust your palms with icing sugar if necessary. Place the eggs on baking sheets and refrigerate them for about 5 hours or overnight.
- Use these u201ceggsu201d as they are to decorate or dip them in melted chocolate if you prefer. This recipe makes about 60 to 75 eggs (about 1u201d long). You can use the "eggs" to decorate cakes, cupcakes, etc.
- Coconut-Chocolate Macaroon Nests : Put both types of coconut and flour in a bowl. Add the egg white and the condensed milk and mix together with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with the fork till blended.
- Moisten your palms with water, and then take about 1 1/2 tbsp of the macaroon dough and shape it into a ball. Flatten this slightly and create a u201cwellu201d in the middle with your finger. Place this on a parchment lined baking tray. Use up all the dough by making more u201cnestsu201d.
- Bake the nests at 160C (325F) for about 15 to 20 minutes till well set and dry to touch. It will be difficult to see these macaroons browning because of the cocoa powder. Let them cool on the baking tray for about 10 minutes. Then dislodge them carefully with a flat spatula and cool on a rack.
- Once they are completely cool, place the eggs in the chocolate macaroon nests.
Akila says
Very innovative n tempting. Event: Dish name starts with R till April 15th and a giveaway