How To Make Festive Winter Pinecone Treats With 2 Store-Bought Ingredients

When it comes to seasonal desserts, the winter months are usually dominated by holiday confections like sugar cone Christmas trees and butter cookies adorned with festive sprinkles. While you can certainly switch gears and brighten January and February with a three-ingredient sorbet spotlighting your favorite citrus fruit, why not take dessert in a different direction and make winter-specific pinecone-shaped treats? Believe it or not, you can craft these delicious snacks with only a pre-made boxed cake and chocolate cornflake cereal. Crushed cake serves as a tasty base for arranging the frosted flakes into neat designs that look strikingly similar to real pinecones.

To try this seasonal treat for yourself, start by baking a boxed chocolate cake. Once the cake is sufficiently cooled, break it up into small crumbs. Form handfuls of cake into rounded, pyramid-shaped treats that fit inside the palm of your hand. Then, stand each ball of dough upright with the large flat side resting against a plate.

In a uniform fashion, press individual chocolate cereal flakes around the base and up the sides of each rounded cake cone. Half of each cereal flake should stick out, with any curved sides pointing upward. To ensure your cereal doesn't break too easily, look for sturdy varieties with large, well-defined flakes. Once all your pinecone treats are assembled, give them a dusting of powdered sugar for a whimsical, snow-covered look.

If your crumbled cake is difficult to form into evenly-sized portions, dump the cake crumbs into a bowl and add a few scoops of store-bought cake frosting. Alternatively, make your own frosting, keeping in mind that better buttercream starts with sweetened condensed milk. Instead of frosting, you could also try a few tablespoons of softened cream cheese, peanut butter, or Nutella for an extra-rich chocolate flavor. These creamy additions help hold your cake crumbs together, making uniform cake bites easier to shape.

To adjust the crunch factor of your wintry treats, use toasted and sliced almonds instead of cereal. Almonds are slightly longer and more consistent in shape than chocolate-frosted flakes. To make these almond-loaded snacks look more like pinecones, cover them in melted chocolate mixed with a bit of coconut oil or avocado oil. Allow your chocolate-covered desserts to drip over a wire rack set on a baking sheet. Then, transfer them to your fridge or freezer for 30 minutes until fully set.

If you plan to cover your pinecones in melted chocolate, get creative with your boxed cake selection. Instead of sticking solely to chocolate mixes, try vanilla, spice, or lemon cake for a more unconventional taste. Since almond-loaded cake bites are ultimately drenched in chocolate, you have more flexibility to experiment with the primary flavors of this fun, winter-inspired dessert.