In the kitchen, we can build a snowman

Powdered Doughnut Snowmen

Doesn't this face make you smile?  As soon as I saw this idea on Pinterest,
I knew I needed to make these with my little men.  One look at that little chocolate dotted face and knew that our family needed this snowy man in our life....and that he needed to have rosy cheeks.  If you were standing outside all day long and make of snow, I'm 100 percent positive that YOU would have rosy cheeks as well.

Look at them all clustered together on a pretty pedestal. Personally, I can't help but giggle when I see them.  On a side note, for that snowman hat in the middle of the pedestal, I used the same chocolate dipped marshmallow on an Oreo idea that I shared in Thanksgiving post, just leave off the buckle for a plain top hat.

The base ingredients for this food project are these little guys:

One bag of powdered doughnuts was more than enough to make my boys their own snowmen and a little igloo (not shown - long story).
Other ingredients you need are: 

• White chocolate

• Mini chocolate chips

• Shish kebab sticks

• An orange candy of some sort.  I used an orange dot on the snowman above just cut one end into a tip and worked the cut end into a smooth point by rubbing it between my fingers.  Master Chef Noah opted to just plop an orange Skittle in there.

• Optional: Candies for "buttons" (as shown in the above snowmen) and petal dust if you too think that rosy cheeks are a must.  

• A dull knife

Melt your white chocolate candy coating according to the directions on the package until a smooth consistency is achieved.

Joining us today for our foodie project is my oldest chef, Noah who will be instructing you all today on the fine art of making a powdered sugar doughnut snowman.  

As you see, Chef Noah has cleaned his hands and has gathered his ingredients on a sheet of wax paper so any mess will be contained.  

The first thing Noah needs to do is pick out the three best powdered sugar doughnuts from the pile.  He doesn't approve of any cracked doughnuts for this project.

Noah does a trial run of what his snowman will look like by laying them vertically on his workspace.  He wants to be sure that these doughnuts are up to par.  

After they have undergone his scrutiny and passed his final testing, Noah then slides each doughnut onto the shish kebab stick.

You will be using the white chocolate candy coating as glue, so get a tiny bit on the end of your dull knife and fill the top doughnut hole with white chocolate.  Before it sets up, place the orange candy into the white chocolate.  

Continue adding small amounts of white chocolate where the eyes and mouth will be placed or as Chef Noah has illustrated, just dump a bunch of white chocolate all over the top doughnut.  Place two mini chips for the eyes above the orange nose and form a smile with the mini chips under his nose.

Such concentration displayed by my little chef during this delicate procedure.

Continue to add buttons down the "snowman's" front, let it set up and there you have it!

Banana Snowman

My little overachiever decided to make up his own snowman project to be included in this month's post.  

The ingredients list:

• Banana

• Raisins

• Pretzel Rods (though sticks would have been easier to use and would have been a better size)

First step:  Peel the banana and immediately start acting like a monkey.

After Mom finally calms you down and gets you back in your seat again, use your dull knife to cut the banana.

Look at these sweet fingers.  

Line up three banana slices.

Stick mini chocolate chips in place for his eyes and mouth, raisins for his buttons and rods for his arms.

Two fun recipes for you to share with your little ones this month.

Rachel Skvaril, Sugar Artist
www.fondantflinger.com

And don't forget to visit Fondant Flinger's Etsy shop to order your Valentine's Day cupcake toppers; the perfect addition to your cupcakes for those class parties!  

Love Valentine's Day Cupcake Toppers

Robot Valentine's Cupcake Toppers