These Easter nest cookies are chewy oat cookies topped with piped buttercream nests and chocolate eggs for a fun and festive Easter bake.
Easter baking is the perfect excuse to bring a little fun into the kitchen, and these Easter nest cookies are just the thing. Soft, chewy cookies made with oats create a comforting base, while colourful chocolate eggs add a seasonal twist. They’re simple to make but look wonderfully festive, making them ideal for sharing over the Easter weekend.
The cookie dough comes together with pantry staples and a generous handful of oats, giving each cookie a satisfying texture and a slightly rustic feel. Once baked, they’re topped with piped buttercream to create a delicate nest shape. It’s an easy decorating step that instantly transforms them into a playful Easter treat.
Finish each nest with a few chocolate eggs and you have a batch of cookies that look as good as they taste. They’re great for baking with children, gifting to friends, or adding to an Easter dessert table alongside other seasonal bakes.
Star Ingredient
Oats are the ingredient that quietly makes these Easter nest cookies stand out. While many seasonal bakes lean heavily on sweetness, the oats bring a gentle, nutty flavour and a soft chew that balances everything out beautifully. They help create a cookie that feels comforting and satisfying without being overly sugary.
They also give the cookies a slightly heartier texture, which works perfectly as the base for the buttercream nest decoration. The structure from the oats means the cookies hold their shape well while still staying soft in the centre.
At a time of year when chocolate eggs and sweet treats are everywhere, oats offer a welcome contrast. They keep these Easter nest cookies feeling a little more balanced, making them the kind of bake you can happily reach for alongside all the other festive goodies.
How to Purchase Ingredients to be Conscious to the Planet
Easter is the time of year when mini eggs come into their own. However, as a result it can mean a lot of plastic bags as the quantity in them seems to have reduce over the years. Now there are 2 options here. Either you can go the buy in bulk or pop to refill shops. You can find 1KG or 3KG bags of mini eggs. This would give you a better product to packaging ratio for the bulk buying option. Alternatively, to skip the plastic completely, head to refill shops. You can then buy as much or little as you want from them. I will say not every shop does them, and some may only carry them around Easter time. If you want to discover some stores that stock them, you can check out my A-Z guide of zero waste baking ingredients here.
There are a few ingredients for this recipe you can make yourself. Both the brown sugars can be made from granulated sugar and black treacle. Butter is from double cream. And Vanilla extract can be made from vanilla pods and an alcohol such as vodka or rum. This one takes a bit longer as you have to let it sit, so you would have to be prepped. Alternatively, you could check out Littlepod who do vanilla in glass bottles or aluminium tubes. If you haven’t got icing sugar or not enough, you could create from granulated sugar. Pop into a blender and blitz to a powder.
Ingredients you can buy Plastic Free
- Light Brown Sugar
- Dark Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Oats
- Plain Flour
- Salt
- Mini Eggs
- Icing Sugar
- Cocoa Powder
Equipment You Will Need
- Freestanding Mix or Bowl with Handheld Mixer
- Spatula
- Measuring Spoons
- Rolling Pin
- Reusable Food Bag / Pouch
- Scales
- Baking Sheet
- Silicone Baking Mat / Baking Parchment Paper
- Cooling Rack
- Piping Bag
- Large Open Star Nozzle
Easter Nest Cookies
Equipment
- Freestanding Mix or Bowl with Handheld Mixer
- Spatula
- Measuring Spoons
- Rolling Pin
- Reusable Food Bag / Pouch
- Scales
- Baking Sheet
- Silicone Baking Mat / Baking Parchment Paper
- Cooling rack
- Piping Bag
- Large Open Star Nozzle
Ingredients
Cookies
- 125 g Butter / Plant Butter / Margarine
- 100 g Light Brown Sugar
- 75 g Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 300 g Plain Flour
- Pinch Salt
- 40 g Oats
- 200 g Mini Eggs crushed
Buttercream Nests
- 75 g Butter / Plant Butter / Margarine
- 150 g Icing Sugar
- 20 Cocoa Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Water
- 30 Mini Eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Line some baking sheets with silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugars together in a bowl until pale in colour.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and beat again to combine.
- Add in the flour, salt and oats and mix until incorporated.
- Add in the crushed mini eggs and beat to evenly distribute.
- Using scales, weigh out 10 balls of dough which weigh 89g each, and make into a ball.
- Spread them out on the baking sheets and press them out slightly.
- Bake in the oven for 13 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow for cool on the tray for about 30 minutes, before transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make the buttercream, beat the butter until smooth.
- Add in the icing sugar, cocoa powder and teaspoon of water.
- Starting on a low spread, beat to combine and then increase the speed to beat into a smooth buttercream.
- Pop the buttercream into a piping bag lined with a large open star nozzle.
- Pipe a circle of buttercream onto the middle of each cookie to create a “nest”.
- Top each nest with 3 mini eggs.
- Store in an airtight container or cake tin.
Other Easter Cookies You May be Interested in
- Chocolate Mini Egg Cookies
- Mini Egg Easter Shortbread Biscuits
- Hot Cross Bun Granola Cookies
- Blood Orange Curd Sandwich Bunny Biscuits
- Mini Easter Cookies
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