Nesting....

There's no Photoshop tomfoolery going on in the picture below, the caramel eggs I bought really are this blue:

When I first moved to the US back in 2002, my first Easter was at our non-family's house (that's my definition of the Bradley's who kind of adopted Paul and I into their family - we're not related but we're way closer than friends) and I made Easter nests for the kids who were maybe 6, 8 and 9).

Fast forward 8 years; the eldest is now old enough to get his learner's permit and we're heading over there tomorrow. I called earlier in the week to check on what to bring and the request was for the Easter nests. Much as I love cooking, I'm not really one for baking but this is my kind of baking - a little bashing and microwaving and fifteen minutes later you're done. So here's the recipe for Easter nests:

I used 4 bags of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips (it's a big family we're visiting with!). Now you can be boiling pans of water and melting your chocolate in a bain marie kind of contraption but I'm all for 2 minutes in the microwave (watch that it doesn't get tooooo hot):

I'm not great on quantities (don't actually own any measuring scales or cups or such nonsense) but for my 4 bags of chocolate chips, I ended up using 2 boxes of shredded wheat minus 3 pieces. In batches of 6 pieces, I put them in a big baggie, sealed it and then bashed away with a rolling pin (so the shredded wheat starts to look like little twigs):

Add the bashed up shredded wheat to the melted chocolate and stir it all around like CRAZY - your arm will ache and you will curse me - but it will eventually all incorporate and your shredded wheat will be all brown and chocolatey.

Then simply dump a heaped soup spoon of mixture into a little cupcake case and use two teaspoons to hollow out a little divot in the middle for your eggs, add two to three chocolate eggs (I usually like Cadbury's mini eggs but I couldn't find them so I used these crazy blue caramel eggs from Butcher Boy in North Andover) and allow at least two hours for them to set). Enjoy!

And check back in tomorrow for the Easter Wieners...