Bird's Nest Cookies

As mentioned in a previous post, our parish has a fish fry each Friday during Lent and they ask for us to bring home baked cookies to be served as dessert.

I have been on pinterest and I have noted several different versions of this cookie that I decided to make.  Some use jelly beans, some use peanut m&m's, some use chocolate eggs...you can use any kind of egg shaped candy you wish.  I chose Hershey's chocolate eggs and Resee's peanut butter eggs.

I saw recipes that used green frosting as the bedding, chocolate frosting as the bedding and coconut dyed green as the bedding.  I thought the coconut looked the best and would be the easiest so that is what I decided to use.

You can use a drop sugar cookie recipe, a package of sugar cookie mix, refrigerated sugar cookie dough or you can use my recipe which is fast and easy and good.

It is a cream cheese cookie recipe from Mom Klik.  We make them at Christmas each year.  It is Frank's tradition, at Christmas, to dye the dough green, stick a maraschino cherry in the middle, roll them into a ball and coat them with powdered sugar when they cool.  I think they look silly but they are delicious none the less and a big seller around here.

I use a cookie scoop for my dough but you can just use a spoon or grab some with your fingers.

Just make sure you have uniform size amounts so that they cook evenly together.

Roll the dough into balls so that they are smooth and round.

Make an indentation on each with your thumb.

Bake and let cool.

Cookies will not be brown.

Place colored coconut in the depression of each cookie.

Top with candy eggs.

Cream Cheese Cookies
1 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz) pkg. Neufchatel Cheese at room temperature
2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
3 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese, using paddle attachment. Gradually add sugar to creamed mixture until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Gradually add dry ingredients until well incorporated.  Place batter in refrigerator as you preheat an oven to 350* or until ready to bake cookies.  Shape a scoop full of cookie dough into approximately a 2" ball.  Make a depression in each with your thumb.  Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes.  Cookies will not necessarily be turning brown.  Cool cookies on a rack.  Once cooled place 1 pkg of flaked coconut and a couple of drops of green food coloring into a sealed, plastic bag and shake until coconut turns the desired color of green.  Place the colored coconut into the depression made in the cookies by your thumb and top with candies in the shape of Easter eggs.  Print Recipe

I ended up with 4 dozen for the fish fry and a dozen for us here at home.

Join us at Thrifty Thursday for more wonderful ideas.