Bird Nest Cookies: These classic no-bake, chow mein noodle cookies with peanut butter and chocolate would make the perfect, easy addition to your Easter dessert table!
Imagine how adorable these would look nestled next to some of our other Easter recipes like our Easter egg truffles and our mini egg cookies! These Easter nests will be a huge hit at your holiday get together.
Why you’ll love this recipe
I think a lot of us have childhood memories of these bird’s nest cookies, whether they had Cadbury mini eggs on top or not (like in this Easter bark). As a kid, these little nests were just the cutest thing (and the crunch made them so fun to eat)!
The birds nest dessert I had as a kid had butterscotch chips in it, but sometimes those are a little bit harder to find in the store than regular old chocolate chips.
This version of birds nest cookies is super simple to make- no butterscotch chips needed, just chocolate chips and peanut butter! Keep reading to find out how you can have these sweet treats on the table in under 30 minutes!
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Ingredients
You only need 5 simple ingredients to make this fun Easter treat! This recipe for birds nest cookies calls for:
- 6 cups chow mein noodles (1- 12 oz. bag)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)
- 1 bag Cadbury mini chocolate eggs
You can skip straight to the recipe card, or keep reading to learn how easy it is to make these no bake Cadbury birds nest cookies!
How to make bird nest cookies
- Spray each individual cup of two muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Pour the chow mein noodles in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, pour milk chocolate chips, olive oil, and peanut butter.
- Microwave in intervals of 30 seconds, stirring between each interval until the mixture is fully melted and mixed together (should take about 2-3 minutes total).
*You can also melt your chocolate chips, peanut butter, and olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat (just be sure to stir constantly so it doesn’t burn and remove it from the heat immediately once it’s all melted).
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the chow mein noodles and mix until the noodles are coated.
- Take about 1-2 tablespoons of the noodle mixture and put it in one of the prepared muffin cups. Shape into nests using the back of your spoon or your fingers.
- Once all the cups have been filled, place in the fridge to set (15 – 20 mins).
- Take the pans out of the fridge and gently release the nest from the muffin cup and place it on a place. Add 3 Cadbury Mini Eggs to each nest.
Note: If you live in a warm climate, you might need to keep these in the fridge until you are ready to serve so they don’t melt. If your kitchen isn’t too toasty, you can keep them at room temperature until you are ready to serve them.
- Serve and enjoy!
Substitutions
- Dairy Free – if you can’t have dairy, use dairy free chocolate chips for this recipe and top the nests with jelly beans or a dairy free chocolate egg.
- Peanut Free – if there are allergy concerns, you can use a peanut butter alternative instead
- Gluten Free – you might be able to find gluten-free chow mein noodles in your grocery store!
Variations
This recipe is pretty darn delicious the way it is, but we know some of you like to get creative in the kitchen. Here are a few ways you can play around with this recipe…
- Chocolate – Dark chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or even white chocolate chips will work in place of the milk chocolate chips in this recipe.
- Chow Mein Noodles – you could replace this with other crunchy items like pretzels, corn cereal, rice cereal, or even potato chips! Or, make these macaroon nests for Easter!
- Candy Topping – get creative with what you put in the “nest”! Instead of Cadbury chocolate candy eggs, you could add an Easter peep in there, jellybeans, wrapped chocolate eggs…the options are endless!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store your leftover Easter nest cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To Freeze: You can also freeze these cookies! Place them in an airtight, freezer-safe container and freeze for up to a month. (Psst…they are also pretty delicious to eat right from frozen!)
Expert tips and FAQs
Nope! These noodle do not need to be cooked at all. You’re looking for this kind of noodle.
Absolutely! You could replace the noodles with other crunchy snack foods like pretzels, corn flakes, rice cereal, or even potato chips!
Putting the mixture into a cupcake pan helps the nest to keep its shape. If we use a cookie scoop and place it on parchment paper, we noticed that our birds nest didn’t hold its shape as well, resulting in a crumbling mess.
Not at all! Although these bird nest cookies make perfect Easter treats, you could easily change out the topping to make them suit any occasion! You could try green and red M&Ms for Christmas time, fun coloured candy for a birthday party, or bright spring colors just to kick off the spring season (even if you don’t celebrate Easter).
Related Recipes
Looking for some more easy recipes to give you a sense of nostalgia? Check out our haystack cookies (aka no bake cookies) and our M&M monster cookies.
I don’t know about you, but both of those cookie recipes were part of my childhood in a big way! Plus, if you’re a chocolate fan, and looking for another easy chocolate dessert to take along to Easter, try these Easter Oreo cookies or this sheet pan chocolate cake! Or, whip up these bunny-butt Easter cookies to go along with them!
📖 Recipe
Bird Nest Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 cups chow mein noodles (1- 12 oz. bag)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter I used Skippy
- 1 bag Cadbury mini chocolate eggs
Instructions
- Spray each individual cup of two muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Pour the chow mein noodles in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, pour milk chocolate chips, olive oil, and peanut butter.
- Microwave in intervals of 30 seconds, stirring between each interval until the mixture is fully melted and mixed together (should take about 2-3 minutes total).*You can also melt your chocolate chips, peanut butter, and olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat (just be sure to stir constantly so it doesn't burn and remove it from the heat immediately once it's all melted).
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the chow mein noodles and mix until the noodles are coated.
- Take about 1-2 tablespoons of the noodle mixture and put it in one of the prepared muffin cups. Create the nest shape using the back of your spoon or your fingers.
- Once all the cups have been filled, place in the fridge to set (15 – 20 mins).
- Take the pans out of the fridge and gently release the nest from the muffin cup and place it on a place. Add 3 Cadbury Mini Eggs to each nest. Note: If you live in a warm climate, you might need to keep these in the fridge until you are ready to serve so they don't melt.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Kara says
My mom used to make these for Easter, and I’d forgotten about them. So fun to make them for my kids. They are even better with Cadbury eggs than the jelly beans we used to use!
Abeer says
These turned out so cute and delicious. My kiddo loved them!
Jamie says
Our favorite treat to make for Easter! So yummy with the mini cadbury eggs!