Easter chocolate shredded wheat nestsI know Easter is more than a week away, but BB and I have been busy making chocolate shredded wheat nests in time to send to her uncle who’s currently serving in Afghanistan (pictured).

I realise there are probably more urgent – and useful – things the troops could do with than a batch of varying sized cupcakes made from breakfast cereal by a two-year-old (decent coffee and new socks are repeated pleas from my brother), however there’s nothing like a taste of childhood either.

I also realise, with the temperature hotting up out there, that sending chocolate-based treats probably isn’t the best idea but I’m buoyed by the fact that when her uncle was stationed in the very same camp I sent a piece of her 1st (chocolate) birthday cake in mid-August and he said it was the best thing he ever tasted (although this probably isn’t saying much given the regulation ‘food’ which makes up their staple diet).

Anyway, I thought this would take all morning and be incredibly messy (we even made them in our pyjamas to avoid the dreaded Spoiling Of Clothes), but it wasn’t. It’s really easy – I used this recipe from BBC Good Food and we were done and cleaned up within half an hour. So if you’re stuck for things to do in the Easter holidays here’s my advice:

Keep calm and make shredded wheat nests.