Easter is like this awesome little holiday with tiny gifts in plastic eggs and a fun menu all about spring. One of my favorite parts is a new tradition I started a few years ago of making a special treat for each kiddo from (as my son calls it) “the olden days.”

This year, the special treat is going to be these adorable Speckled Eggs in Spun-Sugar Nests.

So, you might ask how this is an “olden days” recipe. Well, I got this awesome idea from a story my mom told me once about my Aunt Sissy (yeah, that’s right) making a cute spun-sugar nest for an Easter decoration when my mom was a kid.

Apparently, this was a, Easter treat she learned how to make from her mom that goes back and back in our family quite a way. My mom didn’t have the recipe, but, after a little digging online, I found this awesome recipe for orange blossom cupcakes that happened to include the instructions for the spun-sugar nest on top.

And, in my search, I ran-across and fell in love with the concept of these speckled eggs. My dream was born!

Speckled Eggs in Spun Sugar Nests Easter Treat Pin1

Please keep in mind that since this is one of those finicky candy recipes, you have to make the nests on the day you’re serving them.

If you cover the nests or put them in the fridge, they’ll melt and be all icky. You can make the eggs anytime beforehand–the modeling chocolate lasts months usually, so no problems there. Just be prepared to make the nests the day-of.

Ingredients for Speckled Eggs in Spun-Sugar Nests

Eggs (modeling chocolate)

1 lb white baking chocolate (white is important for the whole speckling thing)
1/2 cup corn syrup
You’ll also need a cake pan (I used a 9×12) lined with wax paper.
If you’re more awesome than I am, you can color the modeling chocolate with gel paste. Which would be awesome, but I really liked the off-white chocolate look with the chocolatey speckling.

Speckling

2 tblspn cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp water
You’ll also need a “cooking” paintbrush and maybe a drop cloth, if you’re a messy-speckler.

Spun-Sugar Nests

1 cup Sugar In The Raw Organic White®
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
You’ll also need a candy thermometer, fork and wax paper.

Putting Together Your Speckled Eggs in Spun-Sugar Nests

Eggs

Break the baking chocolate up into small chunks into a medium, microwave-safe bowl. Pop the chocolate into the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between until it’s all melty and smooth.
Pour the corn syrup into the chocolate and stir until the two ingredients have uniformly mixed together. STOP IMMEDIATELY. Don’t over-stir because this will make it all clumpy.
Put the mixture in the wax paper-lined cake pan, spreading it out evenly so it will dry consistently.
Let this sit overnight on the counter. You may have to install an anti-theft device to keep the kids out.
Come morning, you should be able to break small pieces off and massage them into shapes. It’ll also taste delicious. Win-win-win! For the eggs, just massage them into small egg-shapes of no bigger than about the end of my thumb. I found it easiest to do this in the palm of my hand.

Speckling

Mix the cocoa and vanilla together in a tiny little bowl. If the mixture isn’t the consistency of water, add water by 1/2 teaspoons until it is very thin.
Dip your paint brush into the mixture and then shake a little off. Using your finger to run across the top of the brush, flick dots of the mixture onto the eggs, being sure to splatter your entire kitchen counter in the process (just kidding). Stop when there’s enough speckles for you.
Allow speckles to dry before handling (this was about 10 minutes for mine).

Spun-Sugar Nests

Mix Sugar In The Raw Organic White®, corn syrup and water in a small pot over high heat. Stir frequently until boiling. Once it’s boiling, pop the candy thermometer in and monitor it while you prep your workspace.
Prep your workspace by taking 2-3 sheets of wax paper (as big as a baking sheet) and spreading them over a large area like your kitchen table.
When the mixture has reached between 305 to 310 degrees (the “hard crack” state), remove it from heat and immediately, using the fork, drizzle the mixture over the wax paper in strings–being sure to wave a least a foot above the wax paper. Wave and wave and wave, don’t stop for anything. Go fast, or your mixture will harden and be useless. You could even do this with a partner to make it go faster. If you’re having trouble remembering what the “hard crack” state is of sugar, check out these different sugar-cooking basics here.
Once you’ve gotten as much as you can out of the pot and/or your waving arm is broken, give your spun sugar a minute or two to cool before handling–but not much more than that. You can kill time by putting your pot in the sink and filling it with water so the sugar will dissolve so you can clean it later.
Go back to your spun sugar and gather a handful of strands into a nest sized to fit around your eggs. Work gently because they’re not real soft, but kind of brittle.

Assembling Your Speckled Eggs in Spun-Sugar Nests

Hopefully, this is fairly obvious, but you just gently place 2-3 or even 4 eggs in each nest. You can place the whole contraption on a pretty paper doily or in a cupcake cup or anything pretty. And enjoy!