Friday, April 10, 2009

Bird’s Nest Cookies



Moist coconut macaroons that look like little nests with an egg inside. The instructions may look a bit long, but this is an easy cookie to make.

2 egg whites, at room temperature
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened baking chocolate
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1/4th teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 (14 ounce) bag sweetened coconut flakes. (I used Mounds)
16 to 18 white chocolate Lindt Lindor balls (2 bags)

1. Move the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 275 degrees. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Separate eggs, put the egg whites in a large bowl or stand mixer bowl. Save the yolks for something else. Set aside.

3. Microwave hazelnuts on high in a small bowl two times for 30 seconds each time. Stir in between cooking times. Immediately rub together in a paper towel to remove a little of the excess skin. Leave most of the skin on. Chop coarsely and set aside.

4. Melt baking chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave on high 30 seconds at a time. Stir after each stop until melted. Set aside.

5. With a hand mixer or stand mixer beat the egg whites on high until stiff and glossy. Add the salt, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate. Beat until mixed. Stir in the coconut and hazelnuts.

6. Scoop into mounds with a small (size 24) ice-cream scoop or a 1/4th cup dry measuring cup. Place on cookie sheets and make an indent in the middle with your thumb.

7. Place both cookie sheets in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Switch the cookies to the opposite shelf halfway through baking. This will prevent overbrowning. Meanwhile unwrap the candy.

8. Immediately move cookies to a cooling rack and set a timer for exactly 5 minutes (and see notes). Working quickly, set the Lindt balls on top of the cookies. Let cool completely. The Lindt balls may drip a little so you may want to place a sheet of parchment underneath the cookies.


Notes: These cookies need to be just warm enough for the Lindt balls to stick, but if the cookies are too warm the white chocolate will melt into goo. Check and place the Lindt balls on the cookies when they are just slightly warm to the touch, but not hot.

Makes 16 to 18 large cookies.

Recipe & photograph by Laura Flowers.


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are so beautiful! Well done! I bet they are delicious too. I seem to be the opposite of you. I'm a writer TRYING to learn to take pictures of food. Ugg, what a trial and err thing. Love your pictures. I spent some time as a child in Moscow. My parents graduated from school there. I might make these tomorrow. Thanks for the post!
Dana Zia

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

EXCELLENT Photo!!!!!!

The Cooking Photographer said...

Lol omgosh Danazia you just made me laugh. My monitor came uncalibrated from a Java update today and I've spent several hours trying to make my pictures look normal again! I was at my witts end with my work for awhile.

It's neat you lived here for a bit. Not many know this place well.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you ButterYum!

Pink Little Cake said...

Delicious cookies Laura! My baby will love this cookies, they look so adorable. Thanks for the comment on my cookies, it took me forever to decorate them . Did you see the comment that I left you some days ago asking for a suggestion on a dessert for Easter?

The Cooking Photographer said...

Yes I saw, that motivated me to get going on this cookie idea. I've had it in my brain for awhile now. So thanks!

oneordinaryday said...

What a pretty presentation. Perfect for Easter.
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you Michelle. I will go check your blog!

Tammy said...

What a beautiful picture, as are all the pictures on your blog! I love the idea of Lindt chocolates in the nests. It makes the birds' nest such a grown-up treat. Will be saving this one to make. Yummmmm

Christelle said...

You have some wonderful presentation ideas!

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you Christelle.

Creative Classroom Core said...

I am bookmarking this for next easter - love it!

Unknown said...

Someone has plagiarized your recipe, FYI:

http://ourfamilyattic.blogspot.com/2010/03/coconut-macaroon-birds-nest-cookies.html

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thanks Kiki. Hopefully Mimi doesn't know any better and it was an accident. I left her a note.

Laura

Unknown said...

No problem, Laura. My daughter requested birds nest cookies for her Alice in Wonderland teaparty. I found your recipe a few weeks ago and it looked heavenly! I ended up using "birds eggs" from TraderJoe's which were chocolate covered dried berries in different shapes and colors. I may get around to sending you a pic one of these days :) Anyways, I made a trial run, lost the recipe in my glorious organization, and searched for your recipe again to make it this past weekend. That's when I found the other blog and realized it was plagerized. It seems like yours isn't the only post like that on her sight. I just wish people would give credit where credit was due. I know in the professional photography business, people take this very seriously. I'm still an amateur! You take amazing and scrumptious pictures too!

BTW, I had several people ask for the recipe and plan on forwarding them your blogpost. Keep up the good work!

Kiki

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