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Chocolatey, delicate and incredibly delicious are these birds nest cookies. Crispy tender chocolate shortbread, sweet dark chocolate filling and colorful marzipan Easter eggs make an irresistible flavor combination. With their pretty appearance, the birds nest cookies are an eye-catcher on the Easter table and are guaranteed to enchant both adults and children. Plus, the chocolate Easter cookies are easy to bake from a few common ingredients. A detailed recipe for the birds nest cookies with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions can be found here below.
Birds nest cookies with chocolate
These birds nest cookies are made with a smooth chocolate shortbread that melts in your mouth. They are filled with melted dark chocolate, which makes them taste even more chocolatey. In addition, Easter eggs made of marzipan are added to the nests. So if you love shortbread cookies with chocolate and never get enough of marzipan, these birds nest cookies are guaranteed to please.
Birds nest cookies without marzipan?
If you don’t like marzipan or just want to save yourself the trouble of forming the mini Easter eggs out of it, you can fill the birds nests with colorful coated peanuts instead. Do you have any other ideas for what to fill these chocolate Easter cookies with? Tell me about them in a comment!
Baking chocolate cookies for Easter with kids
Especially with kids, baking these Easter chocolate cookies is really fun. They can unleash all their creativity: from kneading the dough, to shaping the birds nests and marzipan Easter eggs, to filling the cookies with chocolate and mini eggs. This makes snacking on the cookies at the end of the children even more fun.
Eye-catcher on the Easter table and perfect Easter gift
These birds nest cookies not only taste delicious, they also look pretty. So they will decorate your dining table when you serve them for Easter. In addition, the chocolate cookies in the form of birds nests are ideal as a homemade gift from the kitchen, which will certainly delight especially sweet tooth and also passes as a “last minute” gift.
Storing birds nest cookies
Store the Easter cookies in an airtight container, such as a lunch box, so they don’t dry out. You should store them in a room that is not too warm, so that the chocolate does not melt. Or store them in the cellar or refrigerator. By the way, the chocolate shortbread cookies taste even better the next day. There they become a little softer and even more tender.
These Easter cookies are
- chocolaty,
- crispy,
- tender,
- incredibly delicious,
- with marzipan Easter eggs,
- an eye-catcher,
- perfect for Easter,
- decorate every Easter table,
- quick to bake from common ingredients,
- suitable for baking with children,
- even more delicious in the next few days,
- ideal for giving as a gift at Easter.
How to bake birds nest cookies: the recipe
You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions to bake the birds nest cookies below in the box recipe.
The recipe for these birds nest cookies is pretty simple. It only requires a few common ingredients.
For the chocolate shortbread, you’ll need
- cocoa powder,
- cold butter,
- powdered sugar,
- egg,
- flour
- and baking powder.
In order for the birds nest cookies to become really crumbly, it is essential that the butter is cold.
To fill the Easter cookies you need dark chocolate. You will also need raw marzipan to form mini Easter eggs and spread them on the birds nests. You can color the marzipan with food coloring before you make the little Easter eggs.
Baking birds nest cookies: this is how you proceed
- For the dough, mix flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add cold butter and chop finely. Add egg and knead into a soft dough. Form very small balls of dough and place in freezer for 15 minutes.
- Press the dough balls through a garlic press and shape them into cookies in the shape of nests. Make a small hollow in the center of each cookie, bake the cookies at 180 °C for about 8 minutes and let them cool down.
- Color the raw marzipan as desired and shape into mini Easter eggs.
- For the filling, melt the dark chocolate, fill the cookie cavities with it and spread the marzipan Easter eggs on top. Your birds nest cookies are ready!
How to bake birds nest cookies: tips and tricks
- The amount of flour given in the recipe may vary, as each type of flour absorbs liquid differently. The dough should be very soft, but not too sticky. So use a little less flour first and add more flour when kneading the dough if it is too sticky.
- To finely chop butter in flour, you can simply grate it coarsely. Keep rolling the butter in the flour as you do this. To mix the butter with the flour, use a pastry scraper. If you do it with your hands, the butter will melt quickly.
- Instead of butter you can use margarine. In this case it is best to use organic margarine.
- Don’t knead the dough too long, or the butter will melt from the heat of your hands. This will make your Easter cookies taste less crumbly in the end.
- Don’t get the dough balls out of the freezer all at once. Otherwise, the last ones will get soft before it’s their turn, and pressing the dough through the garlic press will be difficult.
- The baking time given in the recipe may vary. You should not bake the cookies too long, otherwise they will taste too dry.
- Buy good quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content to fill the Easter cookies.
- Instead of coloring marzipan raw paste, you can buy already colored marzipan.
- You can fill the birds nest cookies with colorful coated peanuts instead of mini marzipan Easter eggs.
- Store the Easter cookies in a cool place (so that the chocolate doesn’t melt) and seal them in a lunch box. They will keep for about 1 week.
Did you bake the birds nest cookies according to this recipe? I look forward to your result, your star rating and your comment on the recipe below, how you have succeeded and tasted the chocolate cookies.
More Easter recipes? Try also:
Birds nest cookies
Equipment
- garlic press
Ingredients
for the dough
- 100 g butter (cold)
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 8 g baking powder
- approx. 220 g flour
for the filling
- 80 g dark chocolate
- 120 g raw marzipan mass
- food coloring
Instructions
Preparation of the dough
- Mix flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. It's best to use a little less flour at first and add more when kneading if your dough is too sticky. (For that, note the detailed tips and tricks for baking the birds nest cookies at the top of the post).
- Add cold butter and chop it finely.
- Add egg and knead it into a soft dough.
- Shape the dough into small balls (about Ø 1.5 - 2 cm in size) and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Press each dough ball (get the dough balls out of the freezer little by little and not all at once) through a garlic press onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and form 1 cookie that looks like a nest out of about 2 pressed out dough balls each.
- Press a small depression into the center of each nest cookie.
- Bake the birds nest cookies in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 8 minutes and let them cool down.
Preparation of the filling
- Color the raw marzipan mass with food coloring and form small "eggs" out of the mass.
- Melt dark chocolate and fill the cavities in each cookie with about 1/2 tsp of melted chocolate.
- Spread about 3 marzipan eggs on top of the melted chocolate in each well and let the chocolate set.
Notes
- The amount of flour listed in the recipe may vary. The dough should be very soft, but not too sticky.
- Margarine will work instead of butter.
- Do not knead the dough too long.
- The baking time given in the recipe may vary. Do not bake the cookies too long, or they will taste too dry.
- Instead of mini marzipan Easter eggs, you can use colorful coated peanuts.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for baking the birds nest cookies at the top of the post.