My Favorite Easter Cookie

I saved the best for last this week, and this will be the last of my posts for the week, since we are spending the holiday weekend with family. Today I am sharing my favorite Easter cookie recipe. I think these cookies are so adorable, and yet they take so little time to make. You don't even have to turn on the oven! I know there are many versions of Robin's Nest Cookies out there, but this is mine. A couple of notes before I give you the recipe:

1. When working with melted chocolate, make sure everything you use (bowl, pots, scrapers, etc.) is completely dry. Just a tiny bit of water can ruin a whole batch of melted chocolate.
2. Last year I made these cookies with butterscotch chips. Since I prefer peanut butter, I tried that this year. Make ingredient choices based on your own preference.
3. Speckled Jelly Beans could also be substituted.
4. This is a great recipe for cooking with kids. While I wasn't brave enough to let Matthew shape the nests, which can be very messy, he enjoyed pouring the ingredients and placing the eggs in the nest. Since he knew about robins but not their nest, we looked up images of robin's nests on Google. Here are few good ones.
5. Try to keep a good pace when forming the nests as the chocolate will eventually dry up and make them difficult to shape and your finished product less shiny. If mixture becomes too difficult to work with, you can put it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and it will become more pliable.

Robin's Nest Cookies
1 10 oz. package of Chocolate Chips
1 10 oz. package of Peanut Butter Chips + 1 T veg. oil OR 1 cup of creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural)
1 12 oz. bag of chow mien noodles
1 bag of Mini-Robins Egg Candy's (by Whoppers) or Jelly beans

Empty noodles into an extra large bowl & set aside. In a large bowl melt chocolate and peanut butter together for 1 min on high in microwave. Stir well and continue microwaving for 30 second increments until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture over noodles and mix with a scraper until noodles are thoroughly coated with chocolate. Line cookie sheet with wax paper and drop noodles in approximately 2 T portions. Space 1 " apart. (I usually fit 12 on a cookie sheet, 3 across X 4 down) Using your fingers or toothpicks, shape noodles into round nest shapes, with a small dip in the center. Place candies in the center. Let cookies stand for a few hours until chocolate is no longer tacky. Store in an airtight container.

If you want to make a cute Easter card or gift tag to use when delivering cookies, check out the free vintage Easter clip art available here. It's so sweet and reminds me of something you would find in a very old country church.

Happy Easter everyone. I hope that you have a wonderful day celebrating what Christ did for us by dying on the Cross, as well as God's amazing power and love that raised Jesus from the dead, and wants to bring hope and freedom into our lives today. This music video is a great reminder of the life, suffering, resurrection, and love I celebrate this weekend and everyday I live my life to honor the Lord. It's based on clips from the movie "Passion" that came out a few years back. Some parts are hard to watch, but they remind me of the endless love of God, that stopped at nothing to extend His love to me. Happy Easter!