Coconut Macaroon Easter Nests

I’m going to my in laws for Easter and wanted to make a festive and easy treat to take for the weekend. Julia and I brainstormed for a bit and decided upon coconut macroons. These were quick, easy, and inexpensive plus gluten and dairy free to boot! (If you need completely dairy free just substitute the chocolate eggs for jelly beans)

♥Hippity Hoppity Easter’s On It’s Way♥

 

Coconut Macaroon Nests

-4 c sweetened shredded coconut

-4 egg whites

-1/2 c sugar

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-1/4 tsp almond extract

-parchment or non-stick spray

-Cadbury mini eggs for decoration

Preheat your oven to 350º and toast the coconut on a baking sheet for 5-7 minutes or until very slightly golden. Let the coconut cool while you prepare your egg whites.  Whisk them for 1-2 minutes or until frothy; then add the sugar and vanilla and almond extracts and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 more minutes.

Place parchment or cooking spray (we used coconut oil spray) on your baking sheet and then spoon the coconut mixture on using about 2 tablespoons per nest.  Don’t worry too much about the shape of them now–we’ll take care of that later!  Bake them for 8 minutes and then remove from the oven.  At this point, use a spoon or your fingers to first form the clumps into little circles and then press in an indention for the nests.  Return it to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the coconut is nicely toasted.  Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely before decorating with the chocolate eggs.  Enjoy!

      

   

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Easter Decorations {for under $10}

Last week one of my good friends told me about how she had done Easter decorations around their house for less. She found several great things from Marshall’s and even the Dollar Tree. As she was telling me about these it inspired me and I took our conversation as a challenge that I gladly accepted.

I had been wanting an excuse to buy confetti filled Easter eggs, a childhood obsession of mine, and had seem them in a recent Paper Source ad so off I went, on a mission.

I returned home with Starburst jelly beans and a carton of Silly Rabbit Confetti Eggs from Paper Source. I used the same $5 container of moss from my orchid project earlier this week, it came from Flower Mart in Green Hills.

   

 

Once home I took a couple of minutes and pulled the random “bunny” weddings gifts and items from around my house. Then put together a seasonal entryway. If you don’t have any bunny things (it sounds sort of silly that I do but you know like little McCarty, Herend, Wolfe “figurines” — now I really sound like an old lady) that is totally fine too! Wolfe birds or any other little animals would work well too or nothing at all.

After peeling the bottom off of two of the confetti eggs I sprinkled the confetti around the moss and placed the eggs, then I added little groups of jelly beans around the eggs.

For less than $10 I had all of the happy Easter decorations needed for our little home.