Happy Easter
Easter has officially arrived in our kitchens and we're baking up a storm in preparation for the lovely long weekend ahead.
Today we're making these gorgeous little Bird's Nest Cookies
Ingredients (makes 24 cookies)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
170g semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 cups shredded coconut, lightly toasted until golden in colour
1 bag Woolworths speckled candy-coated eggs
1 bag Woolworths speckled candy-coated eggs
Directions
1. Heat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar and butter.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and cocoa powder. Add flour mixutre to butter mixture; mix on low speed just until a stiff dough forms, about 2 minutes. Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap, wrap tightly and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. Place chocolate, heavy cream and espresso powder in a bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted. Remove bowl from heat and set the chocolate ganache aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough to a 6mm thickness. Using a 5cm cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies; place them on lined baking sheet. Chill cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.
4. Bake cookies until set, about 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When the ganache has cooled to room temperature, whisk until it becomes stiff enough to pipe. Transfer ganache to a pastry bag and pipe around the perimeters of the cookies. Dip each cookie, ganache-side down into toasted coconut. Fill the "nests" with candy-coated eggs, 2-3 eggs per nest.
