are there chocolate birds for these nests?

More spring activities over here. I remember making these in kindergarten, and haven't had them since. Why?? I love them so. It's just shredded wheat, crushed, with melted milk chocolate chips poured over.  They are so stinkin' good! Little malt ball eggs are added as a garnish. This is Sam's, quite nice, huh?

Delia has a few more eggs on hers. This is a wonderful small person project. Easy, fun, not too messy, and fast.

the recipe for 3 big nests:

6 big squares shredded wheat, crushed (about 1 1/2 cup or so, crushed, per nest)
1 bag milk chocolate chips, melted (11.5 oz)

Pour the melted chocolate over the shredded wheat and mix well. Have the kids do this in a big bowl with a spoon so little hands don't get burnt. A big bowl is especially good for enthusiastic stirrers. Dump onto waxed paper and build 3 little mounds. Then using the back of a spoon, make an indent. Fill with eggs and let set. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to firm up. You can just pick them up and eat them when they dry, although the middle child prefers stabbing at hers violently with a fork, shredding it and making a huge mess everywhere, then picking up minuscule pieces and licking them off her fingers. Whatever keeps her busy.

Comments

[samm]

Thanks for reminding me of this recipe! I'll let my dils know about it so they can make nests with the kidlets. :O) Lotsa fun!

[Jody]

What a cute idea! How have I never seen this before!

Thanks for sharing!

[libby]

Yeah, this is so fun. We actually used the little stick pretzels for our nests...almost anything covered in chocolate works! Very fun.

[betz]

a smaller nest might look nice with a Peep on top...:)

[Kristi]

That is a clever idea.

[Barbara Brown]

what a wonderful idea. i just love nests with eggs. the start of a new season. i'm always looking for new things to do/make with my children.

[Ula]

Adorable! This is going on my to-try list.

[Gail]

I LOVE it! We will be attempting this, probably this week! Gina will adore it! Thanks for sharing :)

[Amanda]

Perhaps Delia has her mommy's sweet tooth...

[Elizabeth]

thanks. this looks fun - and easy! :>

[melissa f.]

we have all the luck living close to you...

[Corvus]

Those look awesome! I'm so addicted to those robin egg whoppers that I'm not allowed to buy any, lest I go through an entire bag in one sitting.

I've done something similar in the past to decorate sugar cookies, using german chocolate cake frosting for the nest- this might be even better, however. I'll have to give it a try as a cookie topper.

[megan]

sweet! i'll make these with the kids this week! btw,today i made the challah bread from the "artisan bread in 5 mins a day" book you recommended. it was so easy and so good! i went right out and bought a 10 pound bag of flour so i can bake bread everyday! thanks for another great inspiration!

[ingrid]

Thanks for the lovely memories. I remember making these as a child too.
They look so yummy and cute!

[Cinnamon]

I just remembered that my mom used to have us make these with canned chow mein noodles. Less messy than the shredded wheat, but not necessarily healthier.

[dana]

oh what a great idea. i'll have to do that with mine.

[melissa s.]

my kids and I gathered some twigs and stuff today to make nests but, um, I think we'll make these instead!! Thanks!

[hadley]

Those are wonderful!

[hadley]

Those are wonderful!

[Virginia]

My mom makes another version of those for Christmas, using chow mein noodles and peanuts in a mixture of chocolate and butterscotch chips. Delicious!

[Sally McEntire]

Yummy and fun! I haven't been doing much for Easter because we aren't going to be home, but this would be a fun treat. Thanks!

[molly]

I'm all over this. We usually do the rice crispy treat nests, but chocolate?!! oh yum.

[Becky Caldwell]

I have never seen those before. It is such a cute idea! I love it. Thanks so much for sharing. I think the big people in my family will enjoy making them just as much as the little ones! Thanks again.

[Kathi D]

Oooooooh so cute! Mmmmmm, I love malted milk balls, even though I ate so many once when I was 8 that I got sick.

[jessi]

a lovely project - thanks for sharing!

[Prue]

You could knit some little birds for the nests:

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/bluebird/bluebird.html

[Claire]

I'm making those on THursday for my children to take to their cousin's house!

[Sarah]

What a nice springy project...and that is so adorable that Delia piled all those eggs into that nest!

[Emily]

My kids and I love making these! We made mini nests last Easter and topped them with 3 little jelly beans. So cute. All of my inlaws, however, really made fun of them and took all the joy from my kids. We won't be seeing them this year, though so maybe we'll have to make them again.

[Heather]

How ironic! I was sitting here making my list of ingredients to make these with my boys tonight. Our recipe is a little different though. We use butter scotch with choc chips and mix in fried lo mein noodles. Your version sounds a little bit healthier.

[elizabeth of course]

adorable! i wish my guy was big enough for that this year. have you tried with chow mein noodles?

[Beth]

I like this idea and will use it! I love kid friendly ideas!

[Mary]

Lindt makes some little chocolate chicks, not so sure they are quite small enough for the nest. They are foil covered and not sure if they actually look like birds once you unwrap. They look yummy as is though.

[courtney]

My gandmother used to make the nests with those chow mein noodles, and peanut butter, and then jelly beans for eggs. Same idea. I bet the shredded wheat is a little healthier so you can justify eating a few more chocolate eggs. Plus I like chocolate more than I like jelly beans.

[Nevis]

Great idea!!!

[Ann]

Yup, these are on our Easter-make list again this year. I usually add a big ( big! ) spoonful of peanut butter along with the chocolate chips before melting. You may want to try melting this in the micro too in a big ziplock baggie...all you need to do then is add the shredded wheat and mix it up by scrunching the zipped bag.

[Allison]

Oh gee, they're cute. Might just have to give them a go.
My daughter doesn't quite get this blog thing and can't understand why I have pictures of other kids on the computer. She saw these pictures and asked me in a very puzzled way "Is that my blonde hair Mum?"

[Melissa]

Yum! I'll have to make some with my kids. Thanks for the idea!

[Kat]

I just love these. Thanks for sharing :)

[Steph]

Thank you for this super cute idea! I had never seen it before. My brother asked that I buy Peeps to put on top of the eggs.

[Jenny Pocknall]

That is a brilliant idea. I am going to try the nests with my kids this weekend.

[sara]

love it! have to do it!

[Crystal]

These are great! What a nifty idea!

[Lisa]

Wow, I just saw the picture of these yummy looking nests over on the Craft Blog and had to come check it out! These are FABULOUS! My three girls are going to love making them! Thanks!!!

[Ansley]

This is soo frickin cute! I may have to make these too.

[HolyMama!]

my sister sent me a link to this post, and today we made these nests with our 3 boys plus a friend's boy. they were easy enough to do with 4 boys ages 2 - 9. That's a miracle.

thanks! they turned out great!

[Dana Lynne]

We made these today and are enjoying them so much...The kids love eating them and I love looking at them. Ok. I like eating them too. Thanks for the idea!

[amy]

thanks so much for posting this! We ( 2 moms and two 3 year olds) did it today with great success. And can I just say that the chocolate/shredded wheat combo is incredibly tasty? Seriously! I liked it better than the candy on top.

This will become a yearly tradition. :)

[Julie]

These were so cool, and yummy looking, I made smaller versions for my family - then proceeded to eat them all myself as little boy is too little for such a thing, and big boy wasn't so interested. Too bad for them, I loved it! A few photos are on my blog: julie329.vox.com.