Yes, it's October and not spring, so that does beg the question...
"Why would you WANT to make a chocolate nest?"
In my case, it was for an Empty Nest theme. Each year, the high school Jack graduated from holds a trivia night. Each table comes up with a theme, decorates a table, dresses in costume, and plans a meal for their group. The couples at our table are all now empty nesters.
Team Empty Nesters! I guess you can say that we had a good time...
This chocolate empty nest rested atop a three-layer cake. More on that cake in a future blog post. I don't have any photos of the cake as I assembled it at the event and was having too much fun to photograph it. You DO need to know about that cake, though. I think I'll make it when Jack is home for fall break.
To make the nest, you need vermicelli noodles and chocolate. That's it.
Well, you'll also need two bowls and some plastic wrap. Line the larger bowl with plastic wrap.
You'll use about 4-6 ounces of noodles, give or take. Break them up into pieces and place in a bowl.
Melt the chocolate....you'll use 4 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. Chop and melt in the microwave on 50% power at 30-second intervals. Stirring between until melted.
Pour the melted chocolate over the broken noodles and stir to coat completely.
Place the noodles in the plastic wrap-lined bowl. Press the small bowl on top.
Refrigerate until set, at least one hour.
Gently remove the bowls and plastic wrap. If not ready to use right away, it may sit out at room temperature, but don't let it get warm.
The chocolate nest is *technically* edible, I guess, but would be pretty crunchy with those dried noodles. I'd classify it as display only.
Raise your hand if you're an empty nester!