Chocolate pinecones: The no‑bake holiday treat kids adore

When the oven is running at full capacity before the holidays, a dessert that doesn't require baking is like a balm for the heart. It enables everything in the kitchen to fall into place effortlessly, as another item on the list is ready in a flash. This dessert wins over kids due to one specific ingredient.

The most popular sweet decoration for Christmas is iced gingerbread cookies. But they aren't the only ones that shine among Christmas dishes. The group of tasty decorations also includes chocolate pinecones. These are made similarly to pralines. Sprinkled with icing sugar, they look as though they're dusted with snow.

For sweet pinecones, you need chocolate cereal shells. Choose ones with quality ingredients, meaning a high content of whole grains and a small amount of sugar. Avoid glucose syrup and palm oil, which contains about 50% saturated fatty acids.

It's best to prepare the dough for pinecones in a water bath, which involves using a metal bowl suspended over a pot of boiling water.

Ingredients:

                          
• 300 grams of cocoa biscuits,
• 150 grams of soft butter,
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa,
• 150 grams of dark chocolate,
• 60 millilitres of heavy cream,
• 1 package of chocolate breakfast cereal,
• icing sugar.

Instructions:

                      
1. Crush the biscuits into a powder—you can use a blender to help.
2. Melt the chopped chocolate in a water bath and mix it with butter and cream into a smooth mass. Add cocoa, mix thoroughly, and remove from the heat.
3. Add the crushed biscuits to the thick chocolate cream.
4. Shape the mixture into balls with your hands and form them into pinecone shapes.
5. Insert the chocolate cereal into the finished pralines, starting from the top.
6. Sprinkle with icing sugar and store in the refrigerator to harden.