I thought I would bring back memories of my own childhood by making a few of these chocolate nests. In the old days, we would use either Rice Crispies or Cornflakes. For this recipe, I used my favourite breakfast cereal Branflakes.
With the branflakes coated in chocolate, know one would know I was adding a little roughage to their diet, while they indulged in chocolate bliss.
As an alternative to golden syrup, you could use runny honey. When the lesser spotted sugar coated variety of mini chocolate eggs are out of season, Maltesers work just as well.
I adapted this recipe from Tesco real food recipes. Replacing spinkles with sugar coated eggs and a good swish of white chocolate for a decadent garnish.
Line a muffin/cupcake tin with 9 paper cakes. This helps keep the nest shapes while the chocolate sets in the paper cases.
Place the butter, chocolate and syrup in a medium sized pan. Gently heat until dissolved and mixed together.
Take off the heat and add all the branflakes. Mix everything together, ensuring that all the branflakes are coated in chocolate. This will take a couple of minutes. I found that using a small silicone spatular made this easier as it scooped up all the chocolate from around the pan.
Spoon the mixture evenly into each of the paper cases. Add 3 of the sugar coated eggs on top.
When completely filled, place the tray in the fridge for 10 – 15 mins until the chocolate starts to set.
While the chocolate nests are setting, place the white chocolate into a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt, while stirring very gently.
Take off the heat and pour the chocolate into a small disposable piping bag. Leave to cool a little.
Once the chocolate nests are set, snip the end of the piping bag to make a tiny hole. Pipe the white chocolate across each of the nests in a zig zag fashion.Leave the nests to set completely.
You could store them in the fridge to set completely, but don’t leave them in there too long as white speckles might appear on the dark chocolate making them a little unsightly. If this happens, they are still edible.Bring back to room temperature before eating to avoid any hard chunky bits of chocolate.Enjoy.