- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 10 tablespoons sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- Gel-paste food coloring
- 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- Candy-coated chocolate eggs
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F; line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix on low speed just until a stiff dough forms, about 2 minutes. Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Place chocolate, heavy cream, and espresso powder in a medium heat-proof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted. Remove bowl from heat, and set the chocolate ganache aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/4-inch-round cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies; place them on lined baking sheets. Chill cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Bake cookies until set, about 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For colored coconut, combine a few drops of food coloring with 3 tablespoons water in a medium bowl. Stir in coconut; mix until evenly colored. Spread on an ungreased baking sheet; bake just until dry, about 12 minutes, being careful not to brown. Let coconut cool; transfer to a small bowl.
- When the ganache has cooled to room temperature, whisk until it becomes stiff enough to pipe. Transfer ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch-round tip, and pipe around perimeters of cookies. Dip each cookie, ganache-side down, into plain or colored coconut. Fill “nests” with candy-coated chocolate eggs, 2 or 3 eggs per nest. Store cookies in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 3 days.