Did you like the Edible Birds Nest? Â Here is a tutorial for you.
I make my regular old sugar cookie dough and add a dab of brown food coloring. Mix it in ‘kinda’ good as a little color difference adds some contrast to the twigs.
Roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick. Remember making ‘snakes’ with play dough as a kid? That’s all you’re doing.
Cut 1/4 inch strips (or bigger or smaller depending on how big you want your nest) and then roll dough in your fingers. Feel free to be as messy and sloppy as you want.
Throw them on a baking sheet and bake for about six minutes.
They should not change in size too much, but having some variance is good. Bigger, medium, and thinner is good for a “realistic” looking nest.
Begin to assemble. I used five sticks for the bottom and then built up. My ‘twigs’ were about six inches long, but some broke and I liked having the smaller sizes to fill in.
This nest fits three egg sugar cookies.
If making these for individual treats, stick to those dimensions. If it is for a centerpiece, I would make the sticks longer and the bottom base bigger.
I made up a batch of icing (to use as the glue) and added the same brown food coloring gel.
Make a dab at both points that your ‘twig’ will be resting on the nest. (only one point shown)
Just gently set the ‘twig’ on the icing spot.
Keep building up!
To assemble, I had three piles that I would just alternate taking from.
All done! I built mine about 3 inches high.
For the filler, I grabbed a little bit of fondant and added brown food coloring.
Roll it out really, really thin. I just rolled it out on wax paper.
AAAAHHHH! I had to laugh when I saw this picture.
Cut as thin of slices as you can.
Then just throw it into a little pile. I made three of these piles for my nest and it was plenty.
I even threw some on top of a big spoon to get some more dimension.
I let it sit out for about six hours. But I think a few hours would suffice.
Here is the nest with the fondant filler. Hubby told me it looked way to organized. I told him that birds are very meticulous. I have no idea if that’s true, but I like saying meticulous.
And because my Easter egg cookies were impossible to see in the previous post, I made a few more.
These edible bird’s nests are SO fun and easy to do! The kids love to help and love to see their beautiful finished product!
Wait a sec, didn’t you just give up on Tastespotting? Got this one in! Nice!
Where do you come up with these ideas? they’re incredible. I think I have to do the nests for easter…or at least blog about them! Have you tried making the dough with cocoa powder instead of brown food colouring? I’ll let you know if I try it. xo
I am glad to hear someone else finally say fondant tastes GROSS! I don’t care how pretty those darn cakes are, if a cake ain’t edible, don’t make a cake, make a centerpiece!!!! love your nest, perfect for Easter morning!!!
Love the nests and the cookies too, of course. And the instructions are so helpful. I’d give it all an A++
These are awesome =) specially the edible nests!
i realise it’s bad news to look at Tastespotting now, but i did AND FOUND you after all! I’ll tell you what though they let a lot of rubbish get published, i still can’t believe your heart cake din’t make it in….there is nothing like that anywhere else!!! Keep up the fabulous work! C.
Oh my goodness, those are adorable! Love, love, love it!
Hey Amanda, I’m going to try this tomorrow for a topper on a baby shower cake for next weekend that I mentioned to you on twitter. Do you use regular food coloring or food color (gel) paste – the stuff you use for coloring buttercream icing?
Also, you don’t like the taste of fondant? What brand do you use? There are many good tasting fondant brands out there.
Thanks again for this tutorial and so glad I found your blog! 🙂
hi! I think this blog very interesting, I love the birds and everything about them! I am happy to read the information! thanks: D
Don’t you envy the freedom of birds, that they can fly without mechanical assistance? And no ticket needed!
have bird feeders in my yard to feed the tiny little birds that fly about, especially this time of year when it’s really cold. The problem I am having is that there are alot of crow / black birds in our area and they are absolutely relentless when it comes to the bird feeders. I really don’t care for these black birds at all.have bird feeders in my yard to feed the tiny little birds that fly about, especially this time of year when it’s really cold. The problem I am having is that there are alot of crow / black birds in our area and they are absolutely relentless when it comes to the bird feeders. I really don’t care for these black birds at all.