Easter creativity

Easter is closing in fast.  As if we needed an excuse on the holidays to make something from chocolate!  We're going to make some chocolate eggs simply by melting some different colours of chocolate and dribbling them into moulds.  The thing is, I thought it would be lovely to have some nests to put these eggs into.  I suggested to Miss Eight and Master Five that this could be a bit of an activity this morning.  So it was.  Taking it a step further, Miss Eight suggested Easter Baskets, so we set out to make some Easter Baskets and Easter Nests.  I was a little unsure if we could make the basket handles adhere to the baskets, but that's part of the fun.  I know we could have found lots of websites with recipes for this, well, I assume we could have, but this was more about us experimenting without too much expectation.  How wonderful to be able to eat the egg, and then it's little carrier too!

The recipe we chose had an alterior motive for me.  We still have lots of cornflakes left to use up so my idea would be to utilise the flakes in the recipe.  This is what we did:

Edible Easter Nests and Easter Baskets

non-stick cooking spray
60g butter
2 x 20ml tbsp golden syrup
130g milk chocolate (plus extra for melting if making baskets*)
90g cornflakes
2 x 20ml tbsp shredded or desiccated coconut

*If making baskets you will need a tray lined with baking paper.  Measure the tin shape with a ruler and make two little marks on the paper for that width for your basket handle.  Turn the paper over and you'll see the mark through the paper. 

Grease shallow patty pans, friand moulds or muffin tins lightly with non-stick spray.

Weigh out the butter, golden syrup and milk chocolate into a heavy based pan.  Break up the chocolate as you drop it on, or use chocolate buttons if you prefer.


Put the pan onto a medium-low heat and heat gently, stirring now and then until it's almost completely melted and become a smooth homogenised mixture.  Remove from the heat, the residual heat should be enough to finish the melting process.

Combine the cornflakes and dried coconut of your choice in a large mixing bowl, stir them about to combine before pouring over the melted chocolate mixture.



Stir the mixture in well. 

Now, the fun part:  Using your fingertips (lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking oil or any flavourless oil) scoop out some of the mixture and press it into your preferred shape.  It's fine to break this up to help it to form into the shape you want.  Just press and crunch and work until you're happy with the appearance of your nest or basket.


*For the handles, scrunch some of the mixture into your hands and then lay it in a semi-circle shape making sure each end meets the marks you've made to match the size of the basket.



When you've used up all the mixture with your nests or baskets, pop the trays in the fridge to firm up.


When you're ready to remove them from the moulds, bring them out of the fridge and put your hand under the nest you're wanting to remove, the warmth of your hand should help melt the mixture just enough to pop them out with a plastic spatula.  It occurred to me after the event, that lining the tins with plastic wrap would have made removal easier - though perhaps make filling them a greater effort.

The number of items you can make will depend on how much crushing the children do, how large the item is (keep them smaller so they aren't too easily broken) and of course, how much mixture needs to be 'reserved' for tasting!  I'm a meanie and don't let them taste on the job, but I do leave a messy bowl and spoon for 'Ron (later-on that is).

We made two baskets with handles, and 15 nests, yes probably could have gotten 16 if we'd not had 'cook's treats'!


These are best kept in the fridge, as the nests can lose their shape if they warm up too much.  Having said that, they are also fairly easy to reshape if that does happen.  The better nests are the smaller, thicker-based nests, the ones Master Five made are better than mine without doubt.


One of the handles broke while we were attaching it to the basket.  We'd melted extra chocolate, so just used that to glue the basket back together.  We ended up reinforcing the handles by putting extra chocolate on the flat side (the side that was laying on the tray)  and leaving it set.  To adhere the handles to the baskets we just put a dollop of melted, cooled milk chocolate in the spot we wanted the handle to attach and held it there for a moment.  Because the baskets were fridge-cold, and the chocolate was cool, it only takes moments for them to hold together.  There was chocolate left over that the children didn't want to waste, so they dribbled it all over the baskets. 

While the handles for the baskets were a challenge, the baskets themselves are more sturdy than the nests.  We liked the idea of putting strawberries, perhaps chocolate dipped ones, into the baskets, but of course, there were only those monster sized strawberries in the fridge.

If we make these again - and the children are keen to do just that - I'd probably adjust the balance of golden syrup to chocolate slightly, and see if that makes them hold together better.  Mind you, the happiness is plain on the faces of my children.  They don't care about these imperfections, it was fun making them, it was fun filling (and reshaping) and it will be fun to give them as gifts and eat them!