Faux Croquembouche

One of the prettiest holiday desserts I have seen is a Croquembouche. It is a French dessert made out of pastry balls that are stacked in a cone shape and covered with threads of caramel. To save a little time in creating a REAL one, I decided to make a FAUX Croquembouche for our Holiday Ugly Sweater Party. I used between 4-5 dozen donut holes, holiday sprinkles, and a foam tree form to create a fun party dessert for kids and adults to enjoy. Below are my steps and materials used.

Faux Croquembouche

- 4-5 dozen donut holes
- toothpicks
- 11" cone form
- clear corn syrup
- holiday sprinkles
- paintbrush

1. Paint some corn syrup onto the bottom of your cone form and stick it firmly to your plate, or base you will be using. This will keep your Croquembouche from moving around the plate.
2. Lightly dab some of your donut holes (I used the glazed ones) with corn syrup and dip it in the holiday sprinkles of your choice. Continue to do this until you have quite a few donut holes with sprinkles on them.
3. Using toothpicks, secure your donut holes around your cone form and continue all the way up it until completed.
4. Guests can easily snack on your Faux Croquembouche at a party or festive event!

 Corn Syrup, paintbrush, donut holes

Glazed donut holes with sprinkles

Securing donut holes with toothpicks starting from the bottom

Completed Faux Croquembouche

Enjoy!

Brittney

Ribbon Tree How-To

I have been following this amazing Blogger for years and she always has the most beautiful, over-the-top, Christmas trees! She uses lots of ribbon and sprays/sprigs to make the tree look full and gorgeous. So, I watched about ten You Tube videos on how to put ribbon in my tree, and I think mine turned out beautiful, a little less understated than what I had planned in my head, and still kid friendly! I used 4 rolls of ribbon, all different types that complimented each other for my red/gold tree decor. We get a real tree every year, so I couldn't wrap my ribbon around each fake-tree sprig to have it stay. Instead, I bought green pipe-cleaners that I cut in thirds and wrapped the pipe cleaner around the ribbon and branch so it would stay. I cascaded my ribbon from the top of the tree towards the right, bunching my ribbon about every foot and tying it to the tree with a pipe cleaner. There are all types of ribbon configurations you can use - go as conservative or as crazy as you like! I bought quite a few sprigs to put in the tree at the top for more fullness and I love how it turned out. Below are some pictures of my process and the end result. Happy Holidays!

 Two ribbons pinched together and attached to a tree sprig with a pipe cleaner

Ribbon ends cut nicely at the end

Cascading ribbon towards the right

 Our tree!

Ribbon tree with sprigs at the top

Enjoy!

Brittney