Pimp That Snack

Wheat Crib

by Bob Bindon and Emily Hill 13 photos Rated 67% 155 votes when voting closed

Here we are making the mother of all Easter time treats, the shredded wheat nest. The ingredients are quite simple, shredded wheat, chocolate and golden syrup.

Shredded Wheat box, icing sugar, stacked Tesco chocolate bars, a golden syrup tin and foil Easter eggs

First thing we did was to melt the chocolate, for this we used our hands to break it up and then placed it in a bowl over boiling water until it was all runny and gooey! The quantity used was 8 x 200g bars or 1.6 Kilos of chocolate, not a small portion at all!

Chopped milk chocolate in a glass bowl set over a pan on the hob, wooden spoon in it

Now, to house that beast of a nest we fashioned our own cupcake case as real ones were hugely overpriced. The simple use of greaseproof paper and sticky tape works a treat.

A large plastic mixing bowl lined with crumpled baking parchment, ready to use as a mould

Whilst the chocolate was melting the next job was to break up the main ingredient the shredded wheat, again hands were used and we used 27 shredded wheat biscuits/bars/thingies, there’s 2 quid gone just like that!

Shredded wheat crushed to fine straw-like strands filling a large plastic mixing bowl

Once the chocolate had all melted it was added to the shredded wheat mess which now looked like something you place in a rabbit hutch, and we stirred until all the crumbly mess was completely covered.

Melted chocolate poured from a glass bowl over crushed shredded wheat waiting in a mixing bowl

To make the nest not just solid chocolate and straw, nearly a whole 454g tin of golden syrup was added and stirred in, so that the mess now looked like something that comes out of a cow, and we ain’t talking milk!

The crushed wheat stirred through melted chocolate into a bowl of dark brown crumb

Once the correct consistency was reached ie a cow pat, it was placed in the fridge to cool and let the chocolate set.

Bowl of chocolate-coated shredded wheat mixture pressed down and left to set in the fridge

To help with the finish and to help the boredom of waiting for this to happen, being students a nap was essential followed by diagnosis murder! 3 hours later the nest was set.

No nest is complete however without eggs, one problem with this is the fact that in august not a lot of shops stock any kinds of chocolate egg, however the trusty sweet shop came to our help so 100g of mini eggs were purchased, along with some slightly larger eggs which could possibly be out of date, but definitely could be pimped! The pimped mini eggs were constructed by rolling them in the gooey chocolate multiple times in an attempt to make them bigger.

A chocolate egg dipped on a spoon in a bowl of melted chocolate, more eggs on foil

Let these set in the fridge for a bit, then find out, they don’t get much bigger, but there’s more melted chocolate to eat, so it’s ok.

Three egg-shaped sweets coated in glossy melted chocolate, setting on a sheet of kitchen foil

Then once nice and hard, proceed to icing them in different colours to simulate the mini egg look. Use lots of icing sugar to get a good thick, crispy layer and food colouring of your choice to get that authentic feel.

A spoonful of green food colouring held over a jug of white icing, bottle alongside

Again, go back to the fridge to help solidify the icing.

The three eggs coated in green, red and pink icing, pooling across the foil

Now the fun of putting it all together! After setting the nest in the bowl we tried to put it in our homemade case but it was crumbling so we shoved it in the case, then into the bowl and back to the trusty fridge to keep the shape.

Finally, when the not so mini eggs are still a bit squidgy, stick them onto the nest in a decorative fashion, and voilla! The pimped up nest is complete!

The giant shredded wheat nest holding three pastel eggs, a normal-sized nest beside it for scale

Now for the science bit,

Side view of the giant nest in its paper case, dwarfing an ordinary nest to the right

Nest volume is 14 times bigger than regular boy scout nest and 36 times heavier, what a beast!!

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