It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The holidays are upon us, and that means your Pinterest homepage is filled with snowflake-shaped cookies, bizarre hot chocolate recipes and 10,000 different places to hide your Elf on the Shelf (because, apparently, the shelf is no longer sufficient). Fear not friends! I have taken it upon myself yet again to test some of the most popular, timely projects for you—all while enjoying a themed beverage. Enjoy.

Pinning and Drinking Pt. 2: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Beverage: Good Old Eggnog

Instead of testing out a Pinterest cocktail this time around, I decided to consume the most Christmasy drink of them all: Eggnog. Fellow Town Disher Melissa Woodley brought some over from Kolb’s Farm Store, and we combined it with leftover Ginger Brandy from my Apple Cider Sangria experiment, featured in last month’s Pinterest test. The result? It tasted like my childhood, plus booze. Basically perfect. Now, onto the Pinning…

Experiment No. 1: Appetizer Wreath (Original Pin)

Experience Level: Easy

Time Elapsed Before First Injury: No Injuries

Appetizer wreaths are all over Pinterest right now, and while they look cute, I wasn’t exactly sure if they would be delicious. I found a straight-forward recipe from Taste of Home on Pinterest, and decided to give it a shot.

Since I am a frantic mess at the grocery store 99 percent of the time, I decided not to buy dill weed—only because I didn’t feel like looking for it and assumed the recipe could live without it. Wrong answer. Dill weed, or dill as I am told to call it so I don’t sound like an idiot, is an essential ingredient to this appetizer. A special shoutout to whoever gave us the spice rack that was formerly sitting in the basement from our wedding which included dill. Really made my day.

Crafting the wreath out of cut-up crescent rolls is fairly easy, unless you burn the rolls. Lesson learned. Otherwise, chopping veggies and spreading them on top was simple enough. I even attempted to make a red bell pepper bow which, if I say so myself, is adorable.

So, Did It Work? YES! This is easily my most impressive culinary feat to date. Thank God I didn’t forego said dill weed, the mixture of the sour cream and cream cheese alone would have been super bland. I will be making this for my upcoming office potluck and expect compliments (hint, hint co-workers). Here is how my version stacked up against the original Pinterest post:

Experiment No. 2: Reindeer Treats (Original Pin)

Experience Level: Moderate

Time Elapsed Before First Injury: No Physical Injuries, Head Almost Exploded with Rage

These Reindeer Treats from Kristyn over at Lil’ Luna were so stinking cute, I just had to try them. Melting Rolos on pretzels presents itself as an easy task, but it isn’t. First, it is extraordinarily hard to find small square pretzels in the city of Philadelphia. For a town that prides itself, literally, on pretzels, you’d think there would be an array of the things around. Not so.

Second, cracking the non-square pretzels for antlers was easily the most frustrating part of my night. It may have been the copious amounts of eggnog, but for the life of me I could not break those things correctly, as evidenced by the wonky antlers on many of the final treats. I screamed several times throughout this process out of sheer rage, but eventually accepted that they would not be perfect. I like to call them Five-Point Buck Treats instead of Reindeer Treats to make myself feel better. You should as well.

So, Did It Work? Yes! These turned out really cute, but I’m not sure the stress was worth it.

Here is how my version stacked up against the original Pinterest post:

Experiment No. 3: Rice Krispies Christmas Trees (Original Pin)

Experience Level: Moderate

Time Elapsed Before First Injury: No Injuries, Took Forever to Remove Green Dye from Hands

I was convinced that I would fail at this Pin, despite the video tutorial with step-by-step guidance from Family Circle Magazine. Rice Krispies treats are not my thing, never have been. Have you ever smelled burnt marshmallows? I have and it’s not pretty.

Shockingly, this process was not that difficult. My biggest mistake was not using Pam spray on the bowl that I put the marshmallow and cereal mix in, which sticks like glue to just about anything it touches. Forming the tree-shaped cones out of the mixture was surprisingly easy, even if they don’t look as pristine as the Pinterest example.

I ran into some difficulty decorating the trees. The cinnamon candies would not stick as ornaments, and the M&M stars kept falling off. I rubbed a little corn syrup on the surface of a few and doused them with colorful sprinkles, which looked amazing but instantly solidified the trees into decorative rocks. It also made an enormous mess and I am still finding pink sprinkles in the crooks of my countertop. Am still open to suggestions on how to make said ornaments stick.

So, Did It Work? Personally, I think these turned out really cute! The photo I posted on Instagram got almost 40 likes (woo hoo), so I’m assuming other people thought so too. Unfortunately, even the non-corn syrup coated trees became rock hard after about 10 minutes. Like, break your teeth hard. Luckily, my husband will literally eat anything, so they are slowly being consumed. Here is how my version stacked up against the original Pinterest post:

Have a Pin you’d like me to test? Leave it in the comments below.

• Photography: Laura Hibbs McKenzie