I bought a bag of Cadbury’s mini eggs in the supermarket this week with the being to use them to make some kind of Easter recipe. Rather than a cake or cookies, I decided to make some almond and coconut macaroon nests.

It’s a simple macaroon recipe; and, if you prefer, you can use all dessicated coconut or all ground almonds. Simply use an equal weight to the caster sugar. Whisking the egg whites aren’t absolutely necessary, I just think that it gives the nests a light and airy consistency.

A tablespoonful of macaroon mixture should be enough to make a nest that can easily hold 3 mini eggs. If you’d like to ‘glue’ your eggs into the cooked nests, pour a teaspoon of melted chocolate (white, milk or dark) or fruit jam inside the nest before you put the eggs inside.

They’re a lovely Easter teatime treat to have with either tea or coffee. Two per person should be ample. If there are any left over, they will keep for a few days inside an airtight, lidded container.

Click here or on the image below to save my recipe to Pinterest

Almond coconut macaroon nests

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Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• 100 g caster sugar
• 50 g dessicated coconut
• 50 g ground almonds I used 30g of ground almonds and 20g of flaked almonds for some added texture
• pinch of salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 x 80g bags chocolate mini eggs

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
• Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the sugar, coconut, almonds and salt
• In a large sized bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Fold them into the dry ingredients
• Add in the vanilla extract
• Take tablespoonfuls of the mixture and gently roll them into balls in the palm of your hands. Place them on the lined baking tray
• Form each ball into a nest shape by pressing down on the centre using the back of a measuring spoon (the desert spoon sized one works best for me) or a finger
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the macaroons begin to turn golden brown
• If they have spread a bit, you can reshape them with your fingers while they're still warm
• Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack
• Once cool, add 2 or 3 eggs to each basket

If you'd like to stabilise the eggs in the baskets, you could always use a dollop of fruit jam or melted chocolate inside each nest

Keyword almond, coconut, Easter, macaroons