Bird's Nest Cookies + Easter Traditions

With a brand new month starting today, I thought it would be fun to get a head start on all the cute little Easter treats we love to enjoy in the lovely month of April. 

When I was growing up, Easter was like a dreamland. My Mom or Grandma Molly would make my sister and I matching Easter dresses (sometimes with matching lace gloves and hand purses). We always dyed boiled eggs. The kids in our household always woke up to a line of little candy & toy-filled Easter baskets in the living room. Going to church was something we did/do year-round, but I was always excited to go to church on Easter Sunday because we always focused all the meetings around the Resurrection of our Savior. We came home to a delicious Easter honey ham, a huge pile of funeral potatoes, a pan of fluffy rolls, and sometimes my grandma's green marshmallow salad. It was just magic for me, really. 

With our own little family, I knew I wanted to have our own little traditions, as well as incorporate some of the ones from each of our families: 

We've loved having a little Easter egg hunt for our little man each year (with eggs filled with little candies and small change), and can't wait to do one this year with all the cousins in town! 

For the first few years, we couldn't really afford super-nice-brand-name clothes for the little man for Easter Sunday, and heaven knows I can't sew worth beans, so we loved finding the same nice-quality clothes at a secondhand store.

 Our son's Easter baskets are nowhere near extravagant, but that's totally fine with us :) Just a little puzzle and some candies will do. 

We've usually enjoyed Easter Sunday dinner with family, so I've been off-the-hook when it comes to planning the meal. Someday I'll have to be a grown up and make/plan our Easter Sunday dinner :) 

With our son at an age where he can really understand a little bit more about the Resurrection this year, we plan on doing a little activity each Monday to get him ready for Easter in that way. 

My husband and I have made a huge tradition of buying a bag of Cadbury mini eggs each week. They are completely addicting! I thought we could incorporate that little tradition of ours into a cookie I've seen before around Easter & Springtime in general. And HOLY SMOKES, people. This version is by far my favorite. 

The trick is using the thicker chow mein crunchy noodles you buy in the bag, using plenty of butterscotch chips, and balance it all out with a little bit of melted chocolate chips. The smell of these cookies is phenomenal - the maple is what caught my attention at first. After biting into these little lovers, you'll fall head-over-heels with the sweet & salty combo. Plus, they're just so dang cute, right? It's a fun little festive way to make a cookie together with your family around Easter. 

A little warning, though. If you're going to be making these with a toddler, or even on your own for that matter, these tend to be a little messy to assemble. It's totally worth it, though, and you'll find yourself planning for another batch right away. 

Bird's Nest Cookies

makes about 2 dozen, depending on size you make them

ingredients:

2 C butterscotch chips

1 1/2 C chocolate chips

3 C of crunchy chow mein noodles (find in a large bag)

Cadburry Mini Eggs, or any other little egg-shaped candy

wax paper

method:

1. Place crunchy noodles in a very large bowl. In a separate microwave-safe bowl, melt chips 15 seconds at a time until they're completely melted. 

2. Pour melted chips over crunchy noodles and stir with a spatula until the chocolate/butterscotch coats all the noodles. Add more noodles if needed, but the consistency should be right. 

3. This is the messy part :) Drop about 3 T's of the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper on your counter top (or on a cookie sheet covered in the wax paper sheet). Use your hands to arrange the drops into bird's nests with a hole in the middle. When the mixture is still melty, add two or three eggs in the middle. Let dry for 30 minutes at most. Serve! 

*I found the "Happy Easter" free printable here.  We used the little egg-pouches as a little Visiting Teaching treat this month :)