Easter Nests with Peep Chicks

… In a Jelly Bean Field!

Here’s a fun and festive Easter center piece for your table. It turns into desert when dinner is done … How great is that? The kids will love it! You can even turn making these adorable nests into a fun holiday craft. Made with my gluten-free, dairy-free homemade doughnut recipe, your bed of Easter nests can be put together in no time … and you’ll know they are safe for your little chicks at home.

Easter Nests with Peep Chicks

Prep time: 5 minutes

Assembly time: 10-15 minutes

Makes: 12 nests

Ingredients: 

12 baked gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate doughnuts¹

1 recipe of chocolate glaze icing, prepared – found in the doughnut recipe link above

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

20 drops green food coloring

1 bag Starbursts Original Jelly Beans – yep, these are gluten-free

Directions:

Put coconut in a resealable plastic baggie and add food coloring right onto the coconut. Close baggie tightly, then massage coconut until all food coloring is absorbed. Yay … your grass is made! Pour grass into a bowl.

Turn cooled doughnuts over so flat solid surface is on the bottom. Frost each doughnut with just enough glaze to partially fill in the depression in the center and the glaze covers the top surface and comes only partially down the sides.

Dip frosted doughnuts, while frosting is still wet, into grass. Turn right-side up and sprinkle a little extra grass in the depression if needed.

Place doughnuts on serving plat and nestle Peep onto each nest, or fill center of each grassy hole with jelly beans. Drop remaining jelly beans all around edges of nests to create a field of “colored eggs”. Voila! A fun, festive, and tasty centerpiece … and dessert!

¹Preparing Doughnuts: Before baking, when filling doughnut pans with batter, allow the batter to cover the center post of each doughnut cup. This will allow batter to bake over the “hole” area, creating a solid, flat bottom surface when the baked doughnut is inverted. This flat surface creates a cavity for filling with frosting and garnishes.

*Peeps are available plain and with a chocolate-dipped bottom. The chocolate-dipped Peeps include dairy, while the plain do not. Both are gluten-free. Always double check the labels. Peeps states they will list any of the top eight allergens included in their products on their labels.

Safe food is a journey … Thrive!™