About the Recipe
These cute little nest cookies were insired by a Swiss cookie favorite of mine called 'Vogelnestli'. Originally made with a base of simple shortbread cookies, hazelnut meringue and a jam center.
Since Easter was coming up, I had these cute chocolate Easter eggs waiting in the cupboard and my kids asked me to bake something fun with them. I thought the Vogelnastli would be perfect for this, but wanted to make them a little more 'Eastery". So I decided to put a little dye in the cookie dough to create this beautiful pastel pink, leave the meringue plain (I thought the color would come out more crisp white (bacuse of the fast bake at a higher temperature than generally used for meringue) , but I like how the golden hue of the meringue works against the pink of the cookie. Both combined, worked so well with the pastels of the chocolate eggs I decided not to play around any further and leave them as is. If you want to add an extra fun twist you could even dye the meringue.
I was happy with the way these turned out and my kids were overjoyed with this 'fun' easter themed bake. Win-win!
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
250g Butter (softened)
250g granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Lemon Zest from one Lemon
500g All-Purpose Flour
2 Eggs
Food Coloring (I used natural Cranberry powder)
For the Meringue:
3 Egg whites
Pinch of Salt
100g Granulated Sugar
For the topping:
Raspberry Jam
Preparation
Prepare the cookie base:
1.Begin by beating the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until you have a creamy mixture and all ingredients are well combined.
2. To the same bowl add the eggs and lemon zest. Mix until you have a smooth mixture.
3. Add in the food coloring. Begin by adding a bit at a time until you acheive your desired color.
For this particular batch, I decided to use cranberry juice powder. The color turned out so beautifully and the flavor of the cranberry worked so well with the lemon of the cookie.
4. Slowly sift in the flour. Use your hands to incorporate it until you have a smooth dough.
5. Roll though dough out onto a well floured surface (4mm thick). Using cookie cutter, cut out the cookie shapes and place them onto a prepared baking sheet.
6. Preheat your oven to 325F.
Prepare the meringue.
1.In a medium bowl whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.
2. Gradually add in the sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
3. Mix until you have glossy peaks.
4. Gently transfer the meringue into a piping bag.
5. Pipe a circle of meringue onto each unbaked cookie.
6. Take a small scoop of raspberry jam and place it into the center hole of the cookie (in the center of the meringue). This will help to keep the chocolate eggs in place (we'll add those once the cookies have been baked) .
7. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until the edges of the cookies and the meringue become lightly golden.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes.
9. Add the chocolate eggs and let cool completely before serving.
