Peanut Butter Pinecones Recipes

Steps:

• Microwave candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip 1 cookie in chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper. Attach 2 candy eyes and a white coating disk for the belly. Add an M&M's mini for beak and 2 regular M&M's for feet. Repeat to dip and decorate all cookies. Let stand until set.

Steps:

• Make the muddy buddy cereal: In a medium glass bowl, microwave the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter for 1 minute. Whisk well, then microwave for about 30 seconds longer, or until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla.
• Add the cereal to a large bowl and pour the melted chocolate over. Stir until evenly coated. Transfer the cereal to a 2-gallon resealable bag, along with the powdered sugar. Seal the bag, then shake until the cereal is well coated.
• Spread the cereal on wax paper and let cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container until ready to use. The muddy buddies will keep for up to 1 month.
• Make the pinecones: In a medium bowl, mix together the peanut butter, chocolate-hazelnut spread, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth and moldable.
• Working 1 at a time, take a pretzel rod half and mold some of the peanut butter mixture around it, forming a cone shape. Insert pieces of the muddy buddy cereal into the cone, starting from the bottom and working up and around the rod to make the pinecone shape. Break the cereal into smaller pieces as you near the top.
• Dust the pine cones with more powdered sugar.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• For the Cake:.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sour cream, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
• In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder, and hot water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from the heat. Cool slightly, and incorporate the cocoa mixture with the dry ingredients, mixing just until blended.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
• For the Frosting:.
• In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Remove from the heat. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the milk, and powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla, and slowly incorporate the peanut butter mixture, blending well after each addition.
• This frosting is best to spread when warm, so you may need to reheat it when constructing your pinecones.
• Assembly:.
• With an oval cookie cutter, cut ten ovals from the cake (you can also cut ovals freehand with a paring knife). Once you have your ovals, trim each one to resemble a pinecone: create a pointed tip on one end and a rounded base on the other. Then, shave off corners and top with the knife so that each cake further takes on a pinecone shape.
• Frost one cake at a time, arranging sliced almonds in the frosting to look like the scales of a pinecone. Start at the base and set the almond slices, pointy end out, in a spiral pattern. Continue adding almond slivers until the entire surface is covered. Repeat until all cakes are frosted and decorated.
• To create "snow-covered" pinecones, dust the cakes with powdered sugar and serve.

Steps:

• Pulse 1 cup grahams in a food processor until fine crumbs form. In a large bowl, beat butter, Nutella, cookie spread and 3 cups confectioners' sugar until smooth; stir in crumbs., Mold 1/4 cup dough around a pretzel rod in a cone shape to within 1 in. of top; place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Starting at the bottom, insert tail ends of Goldfish grahams, flat side up, into dough to resemble a pine cone, trimming tails of fish as needed near the top. Using kitchen scissors, cut off tip of pretzel; place a small amount of dough on top of pretzel. Repeat with remaining dough and pretzels., Dust pine cones with remaining confectioners' sugar. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.