Happy Easter ! I hope you’re all having having a wonderful day with your families. Since this is the first Easter I’ve ever spent away from my family, I went to bed vowing to wake up and only do things that make me happy today in order to keep my spirits up.
First up, I baked these adorable M&M inspired Birds Nest Cookies:
Next, I’m heading out to grab a latte and walk on the beach.
If I can’t be with my family today, I at least need to do things that make me smile, right?
What are your Easter plans? Please share!
P.S.
In case you’re in need of a last minute Easter treat, here’s the cookie recipe…I had a blast making these, and I think they’d be adorable on any Easter table! This recipe is on the back of the
“Spec-tacular Eggs M&M Milk Chocolates” bag, which they don’t have in Australia, so I owe my girl Sarah for sending me these. Love you Sar!
Birds Nest Cookies
Inspired by the Spec-tacular eggs M&M Milk Chocolates bag
Ingredients
1/2 bag M&M speckled milk chocolate m&ms (or any variety!)
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 and 1/3 cups flaked coconut
Directions
1) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread coconut on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for about 20-minutes, until golden brown. (p.s. the aroma from the toasting coconut is AMAZING!) Once this is done, remove it and set aside in a bowl.
2) Turn up your oven to 350 degrees, and in a large bowl, add your softened butter and sugar, whipping with a hand or stand mixer until it’s light and fluffy. (I used a hand-mixer). Then beat-in your egg and vanilla.
3) Combine the flour and pinch of salt in a medium mixing bowl, and then blend it into your creamed mixture.
4) Roll the dough into balls (each about 1 inch in size), and then roll them each in the baked coconut.
5) Place them on parchment-paper lined baking sheets, and put a thumb indentation in the center of each cookie. Then cook for about 12-15 minutes, until the coconut is browned.
6) Let them cool completely, and then fill your pastel-colored m&m’s into each indentation. Voila, you have birds nest cookies!
I’m taking a couple of these along as my treat of the morning to enjoy with my latte down by the beach. Have a special Easter Sunday!
These look fabulous! So glad I could help with something new to bake! Miss you so much, love you! xoxo
miss you too, love you Sar!
They look yummy! We are spending a quiet Easter but I will be thinking of you. Love, Aunt Jane
thinking of you too Aunt Jane! xoxo
How adorable! I hope you have a great weekend. :) this is my first Easter away from home and I think I’ll bake too :p
I hope you baked :) it helped me!!
Those birds nest cookies are adorable!! You can actually get similar m&m’s here in Aus – I stumbled across them in Coles when I was looking for something for my sister. They’re crispy m&m eggs and supposedly they’re really good (damn gluten!)
This Easter has been relatively relaxed for us, which is good as we’ve been so busy with Jesse moving here! We had a seafood feast on good friday and today we’re having a laid back barbeque with friends :)
thanks for the tip, Kristy :) hope you had a nice and relaxing Easter!
Those cookies look phenomenal — and they’re so effing cute! :)
I know it’s hard to be far away from family on pretty much any holiday, and I can completely relate. I remember how lonely I felt one particular Easter (my first one in DC) when I was far away from my family, my roommates all went to spend the day with their families, and I spent the day by myself. (I went to the gym, did laundry, and tried really hard not to bawl my eyes out.) I know it sucks, so I’m sending big hugs your way! For lack of the ability to see your family, I hope today is filled with beautiful weather, some delicious coffee, and other small comforts that make you smile. :)
Thanks for the kind words, Lillian :) Hope you had a special day!
Those nests look adorably delicious! :) And I love the pictures of the beach! Gorgeous! I am home with my family and have my parents visiting for a few days while my daughter is off for Spring Break! Just checking in between cooking and baking and I hope I get a chance to get a new post up later!!! :)
Thank you! Hope you had a great day with your family!
Adorable treats, as always, Mere! Sad you cannot be home, but you’re right, filling your day with things that make you happy is all you can do! At least the weather is nice! miss you! xoxo
Hope you had a great time in Maine, love! xoxo miss you
Awe girl I feel ya, my WHOLE family had easter dinner together and I wasnt there :(
It’s hard! I hope you had a great Easter!
Those cookies are SUPER cute and festive!!
Happy Easter :).
Thanks girl! Happy Easter :)
These are the cutest cookies ever!!! I love those M&Ms and baked some cookies pre-Easter with them as well! Yours are so creative!
Thank you, Averie :) They were delicious! I wish easter was for longer because I just love Pastel m&ms!
Love the easter nest cookies!
Thanks Bek :)
Oh man, I think I saw these cookies on the Today show last week and they looked SO good!
Really they were on there?! We don’t get the U.S. today show here…I wish i had seen it!