Super Simple Homemade Easter Treats

The season of Spring is flying by and Easter is just over a week away. If you’re the lucky one to host your family’s Easter celebration, you’re likely deep into menu planning. In this post I’ve put together two super simple recipes for homemade Easter treats. Beautiful and festive coconut macaroon egg nests and copy cat Reese’s eggs are sure to please kids and adults alike. These recipes are so simple and fun the kiddos can do more than just enjoy eating them, they can help create their own special Easter treats.

Both treats are sweet and festive, while also being flexible to meet many different dietary needs and desires. Both recipes are also free of eggs, are dairy-free or have a dairy free option, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free. If you’ve got friends or family with special dietary needs or desires, there’s a good bet one or both of these treats will delight.

I’ve seen several similar recipes claiming to be “healthy.” While I won’t go so far as to say these are healthy, I will go so far as to say they are healthier than most store bought treats and candies. Plus, you’re spending time with family and getting the satisfaction of creating instead of dragging kids through the Easter candy aisle at the store.

Coconut Macaroon Easter Egg Nests

It really doesn’t get any easier than these! Two ingredients make up the macaroon itself and if you choose to dip the bottoms in chocolate ganache, the ingredient count is still impressively low at 4.

Sweetened Condensed Milk vs. Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

If you’re not specifically looking for a dairy-free option, I recommend going for the sweetened condensed milk. The taste and texture are very similar, but the coconut milk doesn’t bake up as nicely. You can see in the photos below that the sweetened condensed coconut milk leaches out of the macaroon and creates a foot. This can be easily remedied by using a rubber spatula to push the excess back to the macaroon as soon as they come out of the oven. I do not recommend letting small kiddos help with this part specifically because both the macaroons and the baking sheet will be very hot.

Keys to Success

1. Get the shape the way you want. These macaroons will not spread or rise during the bake. It’s important to shape them and make sure each macaroon is structurally sound prior to baking. After making indentation for the nest, make sure to use your fingers to pat each macaroon together firmly, but gently. Dip your fingers in warm water to keep the mixture from sticking. You can also use a rubber spatula to gently shape the nests again before they cool.
2. Set the chocolate ganache in the refrigerator or freezer. If you choose to dip the bottoms in a chocolate ganache, to get the perfect snappy, shiny chocolate shell, allow the chocolate to set in the fridge or freezer on wax paper.
3. Anchor the eggs. If you’re planning to travel, or know that you’ll have kiddos running around with a macaroon nest, you may want to use some chocolate ganache or even a white chocolate ganache to anchor the eggs in the nest.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

The hardest thing about making these is wait! You’ll have to be patient while the peanut butter filling sets up in the molds in the freezer. Oh, and you’ll need egg shaped molds. These molds I found on Amazon worked SO well. They’re thin enough to easily pop out each egg with ease, cleaned up super fast, and barely take up any room. The price is also pretty reasonable. Around $14 for three, eight well molds, enough for two whole batches of eggs.

Creamy vs. Crunchy Peanut Butter

I’m team crunchy peanut butter, but these are equally as delicious with creamy peanut butter. I have not tried other nut butters, but I would imagine almond butter or any other nut butter would work great. If the consistency of the nut butter you’ve chosen is runny, some extra coconut flour should stabilize the mixture.

Keys to success

1. Let the eggs freeze completely. The chocolate ganache must be warm to be liquid. To ensure that you don’t end up with peanut butter swirls in your ganache, working with fully frozen eggs is key. The frozen eggs will also help set the ganache.
2. Allow as much excess chocolate to drip off as possible. I like to use a fork to fish the egg, flat side down, out of the chocolate ganache. Once the egg is above the ganache, I’ll tap the fork on the side of the bowl, allow as much of the excess chocolate to flow off of the egg. Dragging the bottom of the egg across the lip of the ganache vessel will help clean up any excess clinging to the bottom. If you want a thicker chocolate shell, double dip before allowing to set up in the fridge or freezer.
3. Cupcake liners make great presentation. Cupcake liners are a great way to display your eggs while also providing a barrier between warm fingers and chocolate!
4. Store in the fridge. Since we’re using all natural ingredients here, I do recommend storing in the fridge.