Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests

Vegan “bird’s nests” made with dark chocolate, toasted coconut, and your favorite oval shaped candy. Perfect for a sweet Easter treat!

Last night during a virtual game night with my friends, I recalled my career trajectory to where I am now.

From the time I was old enough to be asked, I told people that I wanted to be a writer.

After deciding that I wanted to be a writer, I couldn’t wait until I was older to have more life experiences.

I decided that I needed to do lots to be able to write lots and write it with authority, you know?

For the most part, this tended to be true.

Doing new things always inspired me to go home and scribble about them in my composition notebook journal.

Lately, though, being forced to stay in, I’m going inward to grab stories instead instead of going out.

And looking inward at my cabinets for pantry items to make sweet things with!

Luckily, you don’t need a lot of experience OR a lot of ingredients to make these Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests.

They require just 3-ingredients for a simple sweet Easter treat!

How to Make Easter Treats at Home

I suppose we can argue that this whole crisis IS the ultimate life experience worthy of putting pen to paper.

Who would have guessed that we might live through a pandemic?

To be honest, it feels a little hard to write (or talk) about anything else without acknowledging the large (yet socially distant) elephant in the room (WORLD!).

Today Virginia received a Stay-At-Home Order through June 10th.

Which means Easter Sunday will most likely be quietly celebrating from the comfort and safety of my own home.

Easter is usually a day to go all out with spring spreads, bright fresh salads, sweet and savory brunch, and decadent pastel desserts.

I didn’t want you to feel limited by circumstance or by the contents of your pantry, so I made you these Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests!

What You Need to Make Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests

How the heck do you make a Bird’s Nest?

I’m so glad you asked.

These bites are chocolate-y, coconut-ty, and toasty with some serious crunch and delightful sweet center.

Here’s what you need:

• unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
• Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Gems 
• vegan jelly beans, cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts, or your favorite oval shaped nut or candy

That’s it!

How to Make Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests

We start by building the base of our bird’s nests with coconut!

Make sure to use unsweetened coconut flakes rather than the coconut shreds.

The flakes are larger in size and provide the bulk and texture needed to form the best shaped nest.

Add the coconut flakes to a baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and delicious smelling.

Transfer your coconut flakes to a large mixing bowl and proceed to the chocolate!

Hu Kitchen Chocolate

I elected Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Gems to represent the chocolate in these Bird’s Nest Cookies.

This dark chocolate is vegan, paleo, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and sweetened with unrefined coconut sugar.

I love using the Baking Gems in this recipe because their hexagonal shapes are so easy to melt down!

You can also use a dark chocolate bar instead, broken into pieces.

Melt the chocolate on the stovetop over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Pour that melty chocolate all over the freshly toasted coconut and swoon.

How to Form the Bird’s Nests

Mix the runny chocolate with the freshly toasted coconut until all of the coconut shreds are completely covered in chocolate.

I like to allow the bowl to rest for about 5 minutes so the mixture is firmer and a little easier to work with.

Using a cooke scoop, scoop  drop ~2 Tablespoons of the mix onto the baking sheet.

Gently use a spatula or a spoon to form a circular “nest” with a dip in the center for the “eggs”.

It’s totally OK if you need to use your hands a little to form the correct shape here– I did!

Add Your Favorite Vegan Candy

OK, so here’s where these treats shift from shapeless blob to a cookie worthy of nesting in.

While the chocolate is still melted and soft, drop three of your favorite oval candy or nut in the center.

I used a vegan and naturally sweetened jelly bean here, but you can use any candy of your choosing.

If you’re looking for a lower sugar option, try using your favorite oval shaped nut, like macadamia nuts,  hazelnuts, or almonds.

Carefully adjust them and press slightly with your hands to make sure they have contact with the chocolate.

Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator or freezer to firm up in less than 15 minutes.

Carefully peel the treats off of the parchment paper and enjoy immediately!

How to Serve Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests

Enjoy these Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests as an easy breezy spring dessert.

When it comes to chocolate covered toasted coconut, what’s not to love, especially with a cute presentation like so?

And they’re made entirely with real food ingredients.

This is a treat you can eat and feel good about because it’s vegan, paleo, gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free.

Try making this recipe with your family or kids on Easter Sunday or anytime for cute spring.

If you use a different candy or nut center, please share your variation ideas!

Enjoy!

More Vegan Easter Treats

• Coconut Almond Rolled Dates

• Homemade Vegan Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs

• Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Eggs

• Purple Sweet Potato Cashew Butter Eggs

I Want to Hear From You

If you make this Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests recipe, let me know!

Be sure to leave me a comment, rating, and review so I can use your feedback to create more yums.

Give me a shout on Instagram and use #floraandvino to show me your creations.

Check out my Pinterest page to pin more recipes like this one to make later.

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XO Lauren

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This post is brought to you by Hu Kitchen, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!