With Easter right around the corner, you’re probably looking for some cute desserts. Honestly, even if you’re not, I’m giving you one. These Rice Krispie Bird Nests are ridiculously cute, and they’re a simple, no-bake recipe that’s perfect for Easter (and Spring in general). With just a few ingredients and a little patience, you can have these adorable little nests ready in no time. And, as a bonus, they’re fun to make and would be a great activity with children.
Making Rice Krispie Bird Nests
These are truly a breeze to make. First things first, you need to ready a muffin pan, which will ultimately be your vessel for making the nests. You can spritz it with a little cooking spray, use cupcake liners, or use silicone liners, which are my preference. I bake a lot of cupcakes, muffins, etc, and I like that the silicone ones are reusable.
Next, you’ll make the rice krispies. I used Cocoa Krispies cereal so it was chocolatey and already brown, similar to a real nest. You can use any cereal you like. Maybe your birds laid eggs in a rainbow nest? Then Fruity Pebbles would be the way to go. You’ll melt your butter in a saucepan, add marshmallows and melt them together until you have a smooth mixture, then add vanilla extract and stir. Add your cereal into the marshmallow mixture and mix well (and mix fast). As it starts to cool, it starts to harden, so you’ll need to work quickly.
Next, scoop roughly 2 tbsp into each muffin tin, and using the back of a spoon sprayed with cooking spray (or your hands if you spray them and don’t mind a mess), press them into nest shapes. Nests aren’t perfect, so don’t worry about them being too even – you just need an indent in the center. Once your nests are made, melt some chocolate and add a dollop into the center of the nests, so that you can easily adhere your eggs. Lastly, add the eggs and let cool. For eggs, Reese’s makes peanut butter eggs which are delicious, Cadbury has excellent milk chocolate eggs, and M&Ms makes pretty eggs around Easter too. There’s no wrong answer here – whichever you like. Once cooled, enjoy! I store these at room temp for up to 4 days.
Chocolate Rice Krispie Bird Nests
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Saucepan
- Muffin Pan
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 10 oz Mini marshmallows
- 6 cups Cocoa krispies cereal
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup Milk chocolate chips melted
- Candy eggs your choice
Instructions
- Prepare muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners.
- In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add marshmallows, stirring continuously until mixture is uniform, then add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add cocoa krispies, stir well (and fast) until mixture is uniform and all cereal is coated.
- Scoop ~2 heaping tbsp mixture into each prepared muffin tin and using the back of a spoon sprayed with cooking spray, press into nest shape.
- Melt chocolate chips, using a dollop of melted chocolate to adhere the eggs to the nest. Let cool so the chocolate hardens, and enjoy!
