This year I wanted to make something different for Easter and to counterbalance the huge amount of chocolate some people get 😛

These cookies are fab but I discovered that they work best as cups (or nests) because when baked as cookies they spread a lot! Maybe I should have let them rest in the fridge before baking but I was so concentrated in the making of nests that I didn’t realise that until too late

COOKIE NESTS
(source: simplyevani.com)

INGREDIENTS
225g (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
220g (1 cup) muscovado sugar
200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1ml vanilla bean paste (1 tsp vanilla extract)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarb (baking soda)
375g (3 cups) flour

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180^oC (350^oF) and grease 24 cupcake cups.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and salt and give it a good beat. Mix together flour and bicarb and incorporate gradually by hand.

Scoop portions of the dough into the moulds using an ice cream scoop – no need to flatten or anything. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and let them sit for 5. Using a shot glass, delicately press down the centres of the cookies. Pop in the oven for another 5 minutes. Let them cool completely before removing from the moulds and fill them with chocolate eggs.

TIPS:
I used chocolate buttons but I wouldn’t recommend it because they made my cups more fragile.
Brush the well of each cup with some melted chocolate and – theoretically 😉 – they get liquid-proof.
They can also be used as pie crusts.