Kid Friendly Recipes | Irish American Mom

Chocolate Easter Nests

March 28, 2018 by Irish American Mom 4 Comments

Chocolate Easter Nests are a favorite treat in Ireland. Made with shredded wheat to create realistically twiggy looking nests, these are a simple, no-bake treat for Easter.

If you are in search of a tasty Easter cooking project for children that involves absolutely no baking, then these easy chocolate crispy nests are the perfect answer.

These nests have great texture and an authentic twiggy look, and all made possible by coating the extra fine strands of crumbled shredded wheat in chocolate.

Crispy rice cereal or cornflakes are often used by Irish cooks, but I simply adore the nest like appearance when shredded wheat is used.

These shredded wheat cakes may be a little less sweet and a little more crispy than a cornflake nest, but shredded wheat is always my choice for making Easter nests.

And believe me when I say these are easy to make. No fuss, just shredded wheat mixed with melted chocolate, golden syrup and butter.

Here’s how I make them…..

Ingredients for Chocolate Easter Nests:

12 ounces of chocolate chips (plain or milk chocolate based upon your liking)
2 tablespoons of golden syrup (King’s syrup in America)
2 ounces of butter
4 ounces of shredded wheat biscuits (4 large biscuits)
36 mini chocolate eggs.

Golden syrup is a thick, amber-colored syrup that was first canned and sold in England in 1885. It is different to corn syrup. King syrup would be the closest American substitute.

Lyle’s Golden syrup is available in places likes World Market, and in Kentucky I can purchase it at Meijers.

Directions For Making Chocolate Easter Nests:

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Crumble the shredded wheat biscuits into fine thread-like pieces. These provide realistic structure to your nests.

Next place the chocolate chips, butter and golden syrup in a heat proof bowl.

Place the bowl over a saucepan of water.

This is called a bain marie. The water in the saucepan should not touch the bottom of the bowl.

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the chocolate and butter melt and combine with the syrup.

Carefully remove the hot bowl from the saucepan protecting your fingers with a towel or silicon heat gloves.

Add the shredded wheat to the hot chocolate sauce. Mix them together thoroughly to completely coat the shredded wheat strands in chocolate.

Next it’s time to build your nests.

Spoon the chocolate wheat mixture into twelve mounds on the parchment paper.

Use the back of a spoon or a melon baller to create a small hollow in the center of each nest.

Some cooks like to use a muffin tray with paper liners to help shape these nests. However, I prefer less perfect, more free-form nests made by piling the shredded wheat on the baking tray.

Allow the nests to cool completely so that the chocolate hardens and binds your nests together.

Then they’re ready for a little birdie to lay a few eggs in each.

Place three mini eggs in each nest.

If you plan on taking these nests to a pot luck or family party, it’s best to place the eggs in the nests before the chocolate hardens. This way the eggs stick to the chocolate as it chills and they won’t shift when transporting these treats. You can speed up the cooling process by chilling the nests in the refrigerator for about one hour.

And that’s just how simple these cute chocolate nests are to make.

Simple, delicious and festively perfect for the Easter holidays.

You can use chocolate eggs, or jelly beans, but I simply love how the pastel shades of mini-eggs look in these brown, twiggy nests.

Cadbury mini eggs are available in some stores in America. They are quite a bit more expensive than in Ireland or the UK. They also don’t taste quite as nice as the Irish version, but they still look extra cute in these chocolate nests.

I hope you enjoy these no bake Easter cakes, that are ever so popular in Ireland.

My kids love these nests. Try them if you’re planning an Easter get together with family or friends.

Here’s the printable recipe.

Yum

Chocolate Easter Nests

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1 chocolate nest with 3 mini chocolate eggs

Chocolate Easter Nests

Chocolate Easter Nests are a favorite treat in Ireland. Made with shredded wheat to create realistically twiggy looking nests, these are a simple, no-bake treat for Easter.

Ingredients

12 ounces of chocolate chips (plain or milk chocolate based upon your liking)
2 tablespoons of golden syrup (King’s syrup in America)
2 ounces of butter
4 ounces of shredded wheat biscuits (4 large biscuits crumbled)
36 mini chocolate eggs.

Instructions

Crumble the shredded wheat biscuits into fine thread-like pieces.
Add the chocolate chips, butter and golden syrup to a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the chocolate and butter melt and combine with the syrup.
Add the shredded wheat to the hot chocolate sauce. Mix them together to completely coat the shredded wheat in chocolate.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the chocolate wheat mixture into twelve mounds on the parchment paper. Use the back of a spoon or a melon baller to create a small hollow in the center of each nest.
Allow the nests to cool completely and the chocolate to set.
Place three mini chocolate eggs in each nest before serving.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes

https://www.irishamericanmom.com/chocolate-easter-nests/

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter.

Slán agus beannacht.

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Fruit Rainbow For St. Patrick’s Day

March 4, 2013 by Irish American Mom 11 Comments

A fruit rainbow is perfect easy-to-prepare St. Patrick’s Day party food for all ages, especially when a pot of gold awaits at the end of this colorful arc.

Rainbows are well loved symbols of Ireland, especially since they hover over leprechauns’ hiding spots. The lure of pots full of gold intrigues both young and old alike, making spirits brighter, especially around St. Patrick’s Day.

I have reminisced before about how much I miss Irish rainbows. So you can just imagine how excited I was to come across this wonderful fruit rainbow idea as I browsed through Pinterest.

A treat just perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

But then I got to thinking how perfect a fruit rainbow might be for a play date recipe and snack, especially in the coming weeks with St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching.

However, the inspirational rainbow platter on Pinterest uses quite a lot of fruit. To be honest, I didn’t want to have so much fruit passing between sticky six year old fingers, knowing full well my little girl and her three friends would never eat it all.

And so I decided to adapt this idea by creating a smaller rainbow with individual fruit segments, jig-sawed together to compose each colorful stripe. Here’s how we did it:

First we washed and halved our strawberries lengthwise, then laid them along three-quarters of the outer edge of a white plate. Alternating tops and tails, they fitted perfectly together.

I was careful to choose a punnet of strawberries with similar, medium sized berries. I avoided the packets with those humongous looking mammoth strawberries.

Next I took a small, seedless mandarin, peeled it and broke it into segments. They created a perfect orange stripe lying end-to-end beneath the strawberries. Pieces of cantaloupe would also work well for an orange layer.

We chose green grapes next, followed by a layer of pineapple triangles.

Then came a row of purple grapes, followed by just a few blueberries for the final stripe. A lovely rainbow!

I had planned to put a row of apple segments or bananas between the grapes and pineapple, but my plate wasn’t big enough. We made do with a six stripe rainbow instead of seven.

Then we decided we needed to do something to fill in the empty white space on our plate. So we made grape shamrocks by halving our grapes, laying them in the familiar trefoil pattern, with a sliver of blueberry as a stem.

Our final finishing touch was a pot of gold containing rolos covered in shiny, golden foil.

I confess, I do not own a little black bowl, so I had to get creative. I stared into my cabinets for inspiration. Then suddenly I spotted a sports bottle with a black lid. Turned upside down, the lid made a perfect leprechaun’s pot.

Next Halloween I plan to buy some little black pots that can do double duty around St. Patrick’s Day.

And so, there you have it – a lovely play date fruit rainbow, with just the right amount of fruit for four little ones to munch on and enjoy every last morsel.

And remember, a fruit-filled rainbow is also a perfect show piece for any St. Patrick’s Day party.

Check out my complete recipe list here.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Banana Nut Wholewheat Muffins With Weetabix

April 20, 2012 by Irish American Mom 7 Comments

Weetabix in a muffin!!!! That’s my secret ingredient for delicious wholewheat banana nut muffins. A little taste of Ireland and England, crumbled into the baking mix adds extra whole grains and fiber.

Muffins were a new concept for me when I first moved to America over twenty years ago. Sweet breakfast treats were not on the menu in my Irish childhood years.

In the time I have lived in the United States I have grown to love muffins. Using wholewheat flour and weetabix makes these special treats just a little less indulgent.

Ingredients

2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup crushed Weetabix (2 biscuits)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
3 mashed bananas

Optional

1/2 cup crushed banana chips (to decorate top of muffins)

1/2 cup crushed Weetabix crumbles (to decorate top of muffins)

To get started preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to turn the oven on before I start baking. Then I try to put my bread or muffins into a cold oven.

It’s a disaster when using baking soda, since the chemical reaction gets started once the wet ingredients meet the dry. Everything goes flat waiting for a warm oven. Glad to get that little confession off my chest. Luckily my husband eats my cooking disasters and isn’t at all fussy.

Line the muffin tray with paper liners too before you get started.

To make the muffins add the wheat germ to the whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl.

Sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl.

You probably don’t need to sift the flour, but I do it all the time. I can still hear my home economics teacher from Ireland warning:

“Always sieve white flour, girls.”

So sifting white flour is a habit of mine.

Toss the sugar in with the flour.

Next come the weetabix. Here is a picture of two wholewheat biscuits before crumbling. I just use my fingers to break them up into little pieces. If you like you can put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. I find my fingers do just fine.

Add the weetabix crumbles to the flour mixture.

Next come the walnuts.

Then the dessicated coconut. Mix up all the dry ingredients.

In another bowl lightly beat the eggs and add the milk.

Then comes the vanilla extract.

Melted butter is poured in next. Make sure the butter is not too hot or your eggs will curdle. Add a little bit first and mix to let the eggs adjust to the slightly increased temperature, before drowning them in butter.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the liquids in. Mix well together.

Mash the bananas. I make this recipe whenever I have overripe bananas. My kids love bananas.

Sometimes I have to buy bananas everyday and sometimes they sit for a day or two and go a little brown. My kids won’t touch them if they see any banana freckles.

Banana bread and these muffins help me use up those speckled bananas, without having to turn into a monkey myself and eat all the extra bananas. I hate waste!!!!

Mix the bananas into the muffin mix. It should look like this.

Scoop the mixture into the prepared muffin tray. I love to use my ice cream scoop for this job. I find I get exactly 24 equal muffins with this nifty little tool.

I like to decorate the top of my muffins with crushed banana chips.

I also like to use some more crushed weetabix as decoration. Usually I do 12 of each kind.

Bake them in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. When cooked a kinfe inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Cool a little before serving. I love to eat my muffins with a lovely big glass of cold milk.

I hope you enjoy my Irish American fusion muffin recipe.

Here’s the printable recipe:

Banana Nut Whole Wheat Muffins

Print recipe

Serves	24
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	45 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Milk, Tree Nuts, Wheat
Meal type	Bread

Banana nut wholewheat muffins with a secret ingredient, Weetabix, to add extra whole grain goodness and fiber.

Ingredients

2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup crushed weetabix (2 biscuits)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
3 mashed bananas

Optional

1/2 cup crushed banana chips (to decorate top of muffins)

Directions

Step 1	Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
Step 2	Mix the wholewheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheatgerm, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
Step 3	Add the crumbled weetabix, chopped walnuts, and coconut to the flour and mix together.
Step 4	In another bowl lightly beat the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla essence and melted butter. Whisk together.
Step 5	Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add the liquid ingredients. Mix together.
Step 6	Fold in the mashed bananas.
Step 7	Use a large spoon or ice cream scoop to fill the prepared muffin tray. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with crushed banana chips.
Step 8	Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Chocolate Easter Nests

Ingredients for Chocolate Easter Nests:

Directions For Making Chocolate Easter Nests:

Slán agus beannacht.

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

Fruit Rainbow For St. Patrick’s Day

Check out my complete recipe list here.

Banana Nut Wholewheat Muffins With Weetabix

Ingredients

Optional

Banana Nut Whole Wheat Muffins

Ingredients

Optional

Directions

Mom’s Recipes Are Featured On:

Mom’s Recipes and Ramblings Are Featured On Irish Central

Thanks For Visiting

Previously Featured On Irish American Mom

Blogroll

Many Thanks to the Irish Blog Awards – Irish American Mom Won the Silver Award in the 2018 Diaspora Category

Recent Reader Comments