A Very Hostess Holiday

I work with a lot of different companies as a blogger on various sponsored posts. My kids are kind of used to random packages arriving at the door and ask me if it is something “for the blog,” but when the package of yumminess from Hostess arrived, things were a little different. My 7-year-old started telling her friends (and anyone who would listen) that her mom is “famous on Facebook,” and bragging about the Twinkies, Ho Ho’s, and Ding Dongs that had come to our door. Even BSB was impressed. He was immediately nostalgic for the days when he would squander his lunch money away for a soda and some Ding Dongs on a regular basis. He immediately suggested that I proposition the company to bring back Chocodiles. Guess what! While shopping for this project, I found that his beloved Chocodiles had returned.

Needless to say, this was a fun project to work on (though I’m pretty sure I sampled a little more product than may have been prudent)! In addition to the fun goodies I was sent, I had fun picking up some extra Hostess treats and items to create my visions of holiday yumminess at Target. I’m pretty excited about my creations! I took them to a Christmas party and everyone loved them!

I present to you a very Hostess Holiday, full of fun treats you can make with your family with out all of the baking, festive and fancy enough for any holiday party.

Let’s break them down.

Ding Dongs Merrily On High

I’m a choir nerd, so maybe I know more Christmas carols than the average Jane, but I thought this was so clever. They are called Ding Dongs, right, so why not turn them into Christmas bells…and put them on a cake stand so they are “on high.” Get it?

I decided the Ding Dongs needed to resemble the Christmas bells that their name suggests.

Here are the steps for creating your own Ding Dongs Merrily On High:

1.) Make white chocolate bells. Melt white chocolate as directed and spoon into lightly greased mold. To get golden bells, dust a layer of gold luster dust into the tray after greasing before adding the chocolate.

2) Create Candy Melt circles for a festive backdrop. I melted red wafers until they were smooth and spread a thin layer of the candy on wax paper to set up. When it had mostly hardened, I used a circle cutter to carefully cut it into circles.

3) “Glue” it all together with a little frosting.

Ho HoHos Mini Yule Logs

After extensive sampling, I think I am prepared to declare HoHos as my favorite Hostess Snack Dessert. (Shh…don’t tell the Twinkies). Their Christmas counterpart was obvious to me as they are literally mini Swiss Rolls and larger Swiss Rolls are often decorated and served this time of year as Yule Log cakes.

Here’s how to transform them:

1) Create a faux bois (wood grain) texture on the HoHo by drawing random lines with a toothpick. To make the lines more obvious, coat the roll with a little dusting of powdered sugar and smooth it into the lines.

2) Create holly leaves from AirHeads or other green candies. Use cinnamon candies for the berries. Attach with frosting.

3) Dust with powdered sugar for a snowy effect.

To work with the Air Head candy you may need to warm it up a little. We tried this in the microwave for just a few seconds, but it may make it stick to the plate. You can stretch it with your hands. We found it easies to mold the shapes rather than cut them, and to use a knife to score the veins of the leaves. I tried store bought frosting in a squeeze tube as my glue, but it is a bit runny. The frosting showed a lot less, when I made a simple buttercream recipe from scratch.

Twinkie-Bread Men

Twinkies are such an iconic snack, people get so excited to see them dressed up for the holidays!

Not only do they make cute gingerbread people, but think of all of the baking you save by letting your kids decorate Twinkies instead of gingerbread cookies.

The process is really simple:

1) Unwrap Twinkie. 🙂

2) Pipe on frosting in gingerbread shape.

3) Decorate with candy “buttons”

I used the same stiff buttercream frosting for all of my creations.

SnoBall Christmas Tree

A tree made out of Snoballs makes an eye-catching centerpiece on your holiday dessert table!

Here is how I put mine together:

1) Get a bunch of SnoBalls (I used around 20) and a medium sized styrofoam cone from the craft store.

2) Slather the cone with frosting. I thought I might need something more like royal frosting, but my buttercream held up nicely.

3) Use toothpicks to help secure the Snoballs in place as you stack them in layers from bottom to top.

4) For the top of the tree, attach toothpicks to the top layer of Snoballs and position one on top horizontally to finish off the tree.

You could stop here for a wintry design, but since my table was so fun and festive, I added some color. I made a star topper out of lemon Tootsie Roll candy and a toothpick (I stretched it out and cut it with a cookie cutter. Other candies could work as well). And we added colorful “lights” (Dots candies–gum drops would be cute), in the gaps where the Snoballs meet.

I love parties and beautiful holiday dessert creations, but honestly get a little burnt out with hours of baking. Using Hostess treats allowed me to skip to my favorite part–the decorating, and still have yummy and adorable goodies to display! Are you thinking about using Hostess for one of your holiday celebrations? You’ll want to follow Hostess and search the #HostessHoliday hashtag for delicious recipes and more ways to play with your food:

Twitter: @Hostess_Snacks

Instagram: Hostess_Snacks

Pinterest: pinterest.com/hostesscakes

Tumblr: hostesssnacks.tumblr.com

Hostess is teaming up with Social Moms to help you win lots of money to buy even more Hostess treats–or do other holiday shopping!

Enter the Hostess + SocialMoms #HostessHolidaySweeps Pinterest Sweepstakes for a chance to win the following prizes:

1. Grand Prize: One random winner will receive a $1,000 Walmart gift card and Hostess products.
2. First Prize: One random winner will receive a $500 Walmart gift card and Hostess products.
3. Second Prize: One random winner will receive a $250 Walmart gift card and Hostess product.

Click here for official rules and to enter.

But WAIT! There is more!

Leave a comment on this post about what you will be submitting to the #HostessHolidaySweeps and use the Rafflecopter widget for a chance to win a $100 Walmart gift card! Good luck! And happy hostessing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Hostess blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.