Today I'm sharing a dairy free chocolate nests recipe that we trialled at the weekend. Not only are they dairy free, but these chocolate nests are also free from refined sugar, so positively healthy!
They were a big hit with my whole family, from Small Baby to Mr Amazing, who has given up refined sugar along with me for Lent. I made them because Small Child asked recently if we could make chocolate nests, and I must admit I've been craving them too - it's hard not too with mini eggs staring at me every way I turn in all of the shops!
Having given up refined sugar, I'd been trying to work out how I could make them without the sugar so that I could share the recipe with you before Easter, and then it struck me a few days ago that my dairy free homemade chocolate recipe might just work for making nests too! All I needed to do was find a suitable sugar free cereal and work out what we could use for the 'eggs', and having finally settled on blueberries we set to work creating our nests for our Sunday dessert!
I used Shredded Wheat for these nests, as it's one of the only cereals readily available that doesn't have any added sugar. I thought it also made the nests look more 'nest like'! I also used fruit yoghurt covered raisins for some of the eggs as a special treat for Small Child - they aren't sugar free but there is marginally less sugar in them than in mini eggs and we thought they looked cool too!
You could of course use any cereal of your choice and another good alternative for the eggs would be to use grapes, or chocolate mini eggs of course! These nests were messy to make and didn't look perfect, but I think that just adds to their charm!
Dairy Free Chocolate Nests
Ingredients
- 1 batch homemade dairy free chocolate
- 4 full sized shredded wheat
- handful blueberries
Method
Start by laying out 10 silicone cups onto a small oven tray. Check that the oven tray will fit into your fridge or freezer, as the nests will need to be chilled once assembled.
Crumble up the shredded wheat into a bowl, breaking up any large chunks with a spoon if necessary.
Make up a batch of my homemade dairy free chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl.
Tip the shredded wheat into the bowl of chocolate, and stir until completely coated.
Working quickly before the chocolate can set, dollop a spoonful of the mixture into each silicone case, using the back of the spoon to create a small hollow in the centre of each nest. Add your blueberry 'eggs' to each nest - we popped three into each of ours.
Once you have finished assembling your nests, pop the whole tray into the fridge or freezer until set, which should only take around 10 minutes or so.
Store in the fridge until ready to eat – after a while in a warm room the chocolate will melt and get quite soft.
I had a lot of fun making these with Small Child, and think this recipe would also be a great one for a child to cook by themselves. Check out my easy recipes for kids section if you'd like more simple recipes that children can make themselves, or follow my Easy Recipes for Kids Pinterest board for even more fun recipe ideas for children from across the web.
Looking for more fun Easter food ideas? Check out these fun and healthy Easter snack ideas for kids!
Or for more delicious and fun food ideas for Easter like this one, head over to the Fun Easter Food section here on the Eats Amazing blog or pop over and follow my Easter Pinterest boards for lots more fun ideas from around the web; Fun Easter Food for Kids, Healthy Easter Food and Easter Fun.
Grace
Dairy Free Chocolate Nests
Ingredients
- 4 full sized shredded wheat
- 100g coconut oil
- 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- handful blueberries
Instructions
- Start by laying out 10 silicone cups onto a small oven tray. Check that the oven tray will fit into your fridge or freezer, as the nests will need to be chilled once assembled.
- Crumble up the shredded wheat into a bowl, breaking up any large chunks with a spoon if necessary.
- Measure out the coconut oil and drop into a separate large heat-proof bowl. Pop into the microwave and heat at short 10-15 second intervals, stirring in between, until the oil has completely melted and is clear.
- Add the cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla essence. Quickly stir until fully combined and smooth.
- Tip the shredded wheat into the bowl of melted chocolate and stir until completely coated.
- Working quickly before the chocolate can set, dollop a spoonful of the mixture into each silicone case, using the back of the spoon to create a small hollow in the centre of each nest. Add your blueberry 'eggs' to each nest - we popped three into each of ours.
- Once you have finished assembling your nests, pop the whole tray into the fridge or freezer until set, which should only take around 10 minutes or so.
Notes
Love this recipe idea? Why not save it to Pinterest so you can easily find it again!
Ciara (My Fussy Eater) says
these look great! Will definitely be trying them when my little girl gets holidays on Wednesday. Will pass some time when she keeps telling me she is bored!!
Grace says
Thank you! We really enjoyed them and my son is loving the fact that we can make our own homemade chocolate!
Claire @foodiequine says
I absolutely love the idea of using blueberries as eggs. So cute.