jennifer burcke

by Jennifer Burcke

I’m still trying to recover from the disappointment of my failed natural Easter egg experiment. I had been counting on using these unique and beautifully colored hard-boiled eggs to decorate our Easter table at 1840 Farm. That was, until I removed the eggs from their naturally colored liquids and found dreary, gloomy eggs staring back at me.

Those eggs made a fine egg salad for lunch, but were not going to make a fine centerpiece for our Easter table. It was time for me to get creative and come up with something fast. I knew that I could call in other Easter items for decorating. Bunnies and carrots are lovely and speak to my love of spring and gardening as well as my affection for our French Angora rabbit, Herbert Menninger. For this chicken keeper, only an egg would do to announce that Easter and spring had finally arrived at 1840 Farm.

When all else fails, I find that chocolate almost always brings beauty to the table, along with happiness to everyone gathered there. I considered making a chocolate nest for the table that could be filled with candy and serve as our centerpiece. Then I thought about making individual little nests to use as place cards on our table. Instead of making a centerpiece that would have to be broken and divided into individual portions, I could just make one small portion for each guest at our table. Now I was on to something. It was time to get out the chocolate.

I started out with the semi-sweet chocolate first. I broke the chocolate into squares and placed it in a microwave-safe bowl. I heated the chocolate for 30 seconds, stirred the slightly melted chocolate, and then finished melting them with another 20 seconds in the microwave. The chocolate was melted and smooth. Microwave ovens vary greatly, so you might find that you need to adjust the time needed to melt the chocolate completely. Use 30-second increments, stirring after each stint in the microwave to ensure that the chocolate doesn't scorch. Alternately, you could melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water or a traditional double boiler.

Once the chocolate was melted, I prepared my bowls to be used as the shape of the nests. I happened to have a set of silicone miniature pinch bowls that were just the size I was looking for. They are inexpensive and available at kitchen stores or the kitchen aisle of my local superstore. You could use any size flexible bowl or line a rigid bowl with plastic wrap in order to allow you to remove the chocolate in one piece once it has hardened.

Using a spoon, I placed about one tablespoon of the melted chocolate in the pinch bowl and slowly swirled the bowl to coat. I then turned the bowl upside down over the container of melted chocolate and allowed some of it to drip back down into the bowl. I didn’t want the excess chocolate to gather at the bottom of my nest as it was setting up. Removing the extra chocolate left me with a nest, with the concave bottom surface I was looking for.

After preparing a few semi-sweet nests, I placed the bowls in the freezer to set up. After a few short minutes, the chocolate had hardened and I added another thin layer of melted chocolate before using chocolate sprinkles to coat the inside of one nest. It looked good enough, but wasn’t quite as nest-like as I had hoped. I added a few tablespoons of shredded, sweetened coconut to the remaining melted chocolate and stirred until the coconut was completely covered and the mixture was slightly dry. I spooned the chocolate-covered coconut into the other chocolate nest and pressed it into shape using my finger. It was very easy to make just the shape I was looking for by modeling the coconut into the shape of a nest. I placed the two bowls back in the freezer to allow the chocolate to chill.

Next, I decided to try a white chocolate version of the coconut nest. My son prefers white chocolate to dark, and I knew that he would love to have a little white chocolate nest with candy eggs marking his place at our Easter table. I followed the same procedure as before to melt the chocolate and apply the initial coating of chocolate to the bowl. As the white chocolate layer chilled in the freezer, I added coconut to the remaining melted white chocolate until I had a fully coated mixture that was dry enough to resemble hay. Again, I spooned the coconut into the bowl and pressed it into shape with my fingers before giving all four nests a final chill in the freezer.

While I cleaned up my chocolate mess and predictably found myself licking the spoons clean, I wondered if they would come out of the bowls cleanly. Each year, I make homemade Easter bunnies for my children, and I was hoping that years of experience doing so would play in my favor. I also chill those chocolates in the freezer and find that doing so results in a hardened chocolate that shrinks away from its mold just enough to allow me to remove it in one piece. I was keeping my fingers crossed that these nests would do the same.

I removed the four nests from the freezer and set about removing the chocolate from their bowl molds. These nests hadn’t shrunk as much as our molded chocolates do, but they were easy to remove given the flexibility of the silicone bowls. All four of them came free without breaking and also had a beautifully smooth exterior, which was just what I was hoping for. Finally, a 2012 Easter project involving eggs that was a beautiful and delicious way to decorate the Easter table at 1840 Farm!

I set all four nests on a plate and placed three candy-coated chocolate eggs in each. They were remarkably nestlike in appearance, with just enough whimsy to appeal to my children when they come to the Easter table. It seemed like the perfect way to welcome our guests to the table at 1840 Farm on Easter Sunday.

I preferred the appearance of the coconut version, but the sprinkle variety will be sure to make an appearance on the table as well. At least one person at our table doesn’t care for coconut, so I’ll be proud to serve him a nest decorated with sprinkles. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see that his little chocolate treat is coconut free.

Using a small piece of scrapbook paper, I cut a little flag and printed my name on it before applying a small amount of glue from a gluestick and attaching it to a toothpick. Once I had inserted it into the nest, I was even happier with the result. I was fairly certain that my children would be happy with it as well. They confirmed my suspicion moments later when they both had reason to walk through the kitchen. My daughter thought they were adorable. My son thought they looked like a great snack and wanted to know if he could eat one of the white chocolate nests immediately. This kitchen experiment was officially a success.

Now I’m off to finish cleaning up the melted chocolate that remains on the kitchen counter. The sprinkles and coconut will be put away until Saturday, when I will begin creating chocolate nests for our Easter Sunday celebration. I will look forward to seeing the little nests atop each plate.

They will serve as another reminder of how important both spring and our hens’ beautiful eggs are to the three generations living here at 1840 Farm. Until then, it looks like my son is in luck. There are four little chocolate nests in the kitchen just waiting for someone to eat them.

In a few short weeks, the new chicks will be arriving at 1840 Farm. To make sure that you don't miss any of the excitement, giveaways or unending supply of cute photos of baby chicks during the Year in the Life at 1840 Farm series, follow us on Facebook to read the daily news from the coop at 1840 Farm.

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