the BIG cookies project: bee's nests

update... I have no idea why but sometimes I have no motivation for anything, but no excuses.. so as I already mentioned in the Ferrero Rocher post I failed to reflect my Christmas cookies around Christmas times, but cookies monsters know no time for good cookies, so I will share them with you anyway...

The ones I describe below are typically Czech and are called bee's nests. Don't be fooled though, they really look like bee's nests, but the secret ingredient is actually dark rum ;) something to keep us warm on a cold winter day. 

Bee's nests

(makes about 70 pieces)

Ingredients

320g small round sponge biscuits (piskoty)

+1 extra pack for the bottoms

160g butter

320g powder sugar

100g ground walnuts

20g cocoa

40ml milk

20ml dark rum

for the cream:

150g butter

150g powder sugar

1 egg yolk

20ml dark rum

Now these require a form to be prepared and the form so far I have seen only in the CZ, but these look so cute there is no way I am going to miss write about them. Preparation requires grinding the sponge biscuits into a flour-like mixture, the we add the powder sugar, walnuts, cocoa, milk, rum and at the end the butter cut into cubes and soft. The dough is formed into a ball, considerably thick in mixture. So we set aside the dough to prepare the cream from sugar, butter, egg yolk and rum (I swear in normal conditions I will never prepare that cream, but in the nests the amount we put is really small).

Time to form the nests - the form is floured a bit and a teaspoon of the dough pressed good into the form, then a small hole is formed in the middle and filled with the cream. Then a small round biscuit is pressed to form the nest, the form is removed and we have the first bee's nest. Put on a flat plate with all the rest when ready it is good to keep them in a cold place for at least 24hrs to let them ripe. They are better with time... that is if you let them enough time of course. But as every Czech pastry you feel quite heavy after a while..

Winnie the Pooh, however, can devastate large amounts of those without even hesitating!!! :)