Easter Rice Krispies Treat Bird Nests

Hello again friends!

As I write this, I am looking out into my back yard where there’s a mix of blooming redbud and dogwood trees brightening up a gloomy, cold and rainy day.  Here in the south, there’s never an official end to one season and beginning of another.  We’ll have a day of sun and seventy-five degrees, storms the next and then a blustery winter-like day after that.  I am thankful for the weather app on my phone because I never know how to dress from one day to another.  I am in desperate need of a lightweight jacket.  (Am I getting off the subject?  I haven’t even gotten TO the subject because I’m ranting about the weather–and the title of this post is Easter Rice Krispies Treat Bird Nests…so just stick with me for a few…)  On days like today, I don’t want to wear a heavy, winter coat because it’s not winter anymore but I need something to keep me warm.  I couldn’t decide what to wear the other day so I work a bright pink quilted vest.  It kept me warm but looked spring-like.  I have a sweater but sometimes I feel like it ages me and makes me look like the vision of the spinster librarian.  Windbreakers (that’s what we called them in the 80’s) are good jackets for cold spring days but they look more athletic.  Blazers are dressy but expensive.  Do you struggle with this like I do?  I am not a very fashion-forward person but days like today really make me question what I should be wearing.

Well, hello there!  Were you here to read about Rice Krispies treats?  The first paragraph was written to basically explain why I am not posting about my outdoor Easter decorations as I had promised in the last blog post.  My excuse is the weather and maybe my obvious attention deficit disorder as shown above.  I have my hand-made wooden Easter decorations up and a pretty pink tulip wreath on the door but I have not been able to put out any annuals due to the weather.  I have checked my phone app for the week and it’s looking promising.  With any luck, I’ll be able to get my annuals potted and ferns out to complete the Easter look so I can take photos and share them with you.

For now, here’s a special little treat that I worked on this week….bird nests made with Rice Krispies cereal.  I have seen several versions of these nests on other blogs but I wanted brown/chocolate cereal nests with a nice creamy icing center.  Buttercream icing was what I felt would taste better than any other icing.  So here’s what I did:

Muffin pans make the best molds to shape the nests.  I sprayed liberally with non-stick cooking spray.

I took the easy way and used the Rice Krispies Treat recipe on the back of the bag of marshmallows.  Now, you’d think that I would have used Cocoa Rice Krispies to get the brown-toned nests, but I only had the traditional Rice Krispies cereal at the time.  To make the brown color (and a little chocolate flavor) I added 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

Step 1- Combine 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp cocoa powder in a heavy duty saucepan.

Step 2- Stir until butter has melted and everything is combined.

Step 3- Add one bag (10 oz) of marshmallows and stir until melted.  (I used large marshmallows.)

Step 4- Pour in 6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal and stir until combined.

Once the mixture is ready to become nests, scoop the Rice Krispies into the muffin pans using a large ice cream scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup.  I lightly sprayed my hands with cooking spray and then began to shape the nests with by hand.  (A little butter on your hands would work well and add a little more flavor to the treats…just sayin’.)

I sprinkled brown baking sprinkles onto the shaped nests to add a little more color and texture.  Press the sprinkles in well while the nests are still warm and sticky.

 

I made a simple buttercream icing using the following recipe:

1/3 cup of softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring

1-2 tablespoons milk

Mix butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer in a medium size bowl.  Add 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla flavoring and mix well.  If icing is too thick, you can add milk to make it creamier.  Be sure to add about one teaspoon at a time to avoid it getting too runny.  You want it to be smooth and spreadable.  (You shouldn’t need more than 2 tablespoons of milk so don’t overdo it.)

I wanted my buttercream icing to be brown.  I had food gel and used the color guide on the back of the box.  I obviously can’t count drops correctly because I ended up with a flesh-toned color.  I then began to add more gel until I got a color that looked more like wet concrete.  I just went with that.  You could use chocolate icing or chocolate buttercream but I was craving regular buttercream icing and wanted it in my bird nest.  You can scoop a small amount of icing into the nest but I had a piping bag and a swirl tip so I filled in the  nest with a cute little buttercream swirl.

Donnie’s favorite Easter candy is robins eggs.  I pressed three of these delicious eggs on the top.  The only thing left to do was EAT!  These were totally wonderful.  The cocoa helped to cut the sweetness of the buttercream icing and the eggs added an extra crunch.

So Yum!

Thank you for stopping by today and visiting with me!  I hope you have sunshine in your heart today–even if it’s not outside your window.  Celebrate this Holy week and remember the sacrifice that Jesus made so that we can continue to live in His salvation.

Your friend,