Bird's Nest Cupcakes . . . with speckled egg cookie toppers

I'm not sure why, but the idea for these little bird's nest cupcakes popped into my head one day. I thought...wow, THAT is a really original idea. And then, I saw these on my friend Callye's blog. Speckled egg cookies AND anthro-inspired bunnies that are just incredible.

Oh well, so maybe speckled egg cookies aren't so original, but I really like seeing different people's methods for making things. {Especially when it involves sugar.}

To make the cookie toppers, I just used a mini egg cutter and poked a toothpick in the dough before baking. I always freeze my cookies for about 5-10 minutes before putting them in the oven, so that made maneuvering them with the toothpicks easy.

Once the cookies were cooled, I iced them with royal icing and let them dry overnight.

The next day, I mixed equal parts (or close to equal parts) AmeriColor Chocolate Brown food coloring with water. (Similar to the method used to make "wood-grain.")

Then, with a child's paintbrush, I flicked the mixture onto the cookies.

It was really, really fun!!!

If you have those speckled granite countertops, you are in luck. You are about to add a few more speckles.

WARNING: Do not wear white when doing this. Do not let your kids see you flicking food coloring all over the kitchen with a paint brush. If your kids DO see you, try to act like you're not having fun. ;)

Oh, and this is what you finger will look like afterward. You know, gloves would not have been a bad thing.

OK...the cupcakes. I'm gonna fess up. I used a box. A doctored up box, but still a box. Hey....I made the cookies.

AND...(fessing up again)...I used canned icing. Honestly, I LIKE canned icing. I'm sorry, but it's true.

{Looking out the window nervously for the Food Police.}

The method for doctoring up a cake mix for cupcakes come directly from the book Hello Cupcake.

Use a box mix (I like Betty Crocker French Vanilla), replace the water with 1 cup buttermilk. Use the same amount of oil and increase the eggs to 4. Then, mix and bake like normal.

On top of the CANNED FROSTING, I used toasted coconut to make the nests. Toasting coconut is easy.