Soft Bird's Nest Sugar Cookies

I did a search for spring treats that would be good for our son's kindergarten party. Trying not to be too Easter-y, I thought the birds nests were cute. My husband has the (brilliant) idea to toast the coconut so it actually looks like a nest, but I thought that was too high-brow for the audience. 

Anyway, they were easy and turned out better than expected, so I'm really happy. Don't let the long instructions fool you, they are easy, I promise.

• 1.5 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 4.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly beat into butter mixture, just until combined. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Scoop 1/4 cup amounts of cookie dough, roll each into a ball and flatten slightly. Place on parchment-line baking sheets 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until set; do not brown. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to cooling racks or paper towel to cool completely.

Frosting

• 5 cups icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 7 tablespoons milk

Mix together all ingredients until smooth.

To Decorate

• 1 cup shredded coconut
• food colouring
• water
• chocolate covered almond eggs, chocolate eggs or jelly beans (I used Cadbury chocolate eggs)

Place 1/4 cup coconut into four ziploc bags. In a small bowl add 1/4 teaspoon water and desired food colouring, swirl to combine. Pour into one of the bags, seal and shake until the coconut is evenly coloured. Rinse the bowl and repeat with remaining colours. (To make the purple, use 3 drops red and 2 drops blue of liquid colour.)

Top each cookie with frosting, a good sprinkling of coconut and chocolate eggs.

Store, covered, at room temperature.

Makes approximately: 2 dozen cookies

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Credit: Kitchen Simplicity. Decoration inspired by Betty Crocker. Recipe Adapted from Annie”s Eats, originally fromHostess with the Mostess.