Put All of Your Eggs in These Baskets

Easter by far has the greatest confections. Cadbury's Creme Eggs with sugary sweet fondant center-- love them! Peeps, I gladly gobble up, the more stale the better. And Reese's peanut butter eggs-- bring them on, I am an equal opportunity sweet treat fanatic. Why is it that ordinary candy tastes all the more sweet when eaten in the spring, and ovum-shaped?

But despite my love of the sugar parade, even I have my favorites. And Cadbury Mini Eggs do it for me every year. They look a bit run-of mill, just a candy-coated, solid milk chocolate, mini-egg. But to me they are things of beauty, the soft pastel coloring, the crisp sugar shell protecting the smooth chocolate center-- mmm. They are a bit more difficult to find than your average box of Peeps, or even than their gargantuan sister, the Creme Egg. But it is the thrill of the chase, when you spot that lone bag, sitting on the drugstore shelf, signaling you that Easter is fast approaching. I always buy a few bags when I find Mini Eggs, to ensure that some of these pastel babies make it into my belly each day from late February to mid-April.

But this year eating them plain was not enough. I decided that they had to be baked with too. I thought long and hard. Brownies? They might burn. Cupcake toppers? As charming as that might be, it was a little expected. And then it came to me, in a flash of inspiration: Thumbprint Cookies, little nests to house the precious eggs. So here they are, a Jewish girl's take on Easter fancies.

I found a recipe for thumbprint cookies here, used ground pecans rather than ground walnut pieces, and simply omitted the jam placing a Mini Egg or two into the center of each cookie. The cookies were dense, rich with butter, and not too sweet, the perfect compliment to the chocolatey candy of the Mini Eggs. Equally as important to me, when all assembled they looked delightful, the perfect baked showpiece for my beloved Mini Eggs. It is like the Easter Bunny himself came by and laid these perfect pastel confections in individual nut-covered nests all for me! And I'm sure he would lay some for you too!