MSM

This is a very special edition of Make Something Monday!  It's going to give you a sneak preview towards some cupcakes I'm making for Bible study tomorrow.  (Yes, by sneak preview I do mean that I don't have a complete project for this particular Monday to show and am using something in order to fill out my Monday slot) 

Every week a different group of ladies is responsible for bringing desserts and snacks for the entire Bible study.  Naturally, I volunteered for desserts.  Since this weekend is Easter and all, I thought I'd make some Easter/spring themed cupcakes.  For one of the flavors, I thought I'd make a nest with chocolate eggs in it for a decoration.  I've seen some that use chocolate shavings for the nest, but I don't have a utensil to make those, so I thought I'd use coconut.  Toasting food really brings out the flavors of certain things that have natural oils, such as nuts and coconut.  It also browns the coconut which makes for a better nest than white.

It's really easy and worth doing if you're using the fruit in something.  You can use your oven, but that takes longer and you have to keep stirring every 5 minutes, so you may as well just do it on the stove top.

In a large pan, on medium heat, slowly toast the coconut.  You'll need to babysit this one, but once it starts toasting, it goes pretty quickly and thus can burn fast.  All you have to do is gently stir until golden brown!

You'll have to tune in tomorrow for the final product...but at least now you can go toast some coconut, because I just know you've been dying to do so!