Valentine’s Day Donut Tree

 

In case you missed it, I shared this fun Valentine’s Day idea over at SNAP! the Conference blog on Monday, so for those who didn’t see it, here’s the idea I came up with….a Valentine’s Day Donut Tree.  I thought you could use it a couple of different ways…you could serve it for breakfast/brunch or dessert, you could bring it to a school party as a fun treat for the kids to enjoy, or you could use it as a centerpiece for your Valentine’s Day party dessert table!

Here’s what you need:

1.  18″ foam cone

2.  1 piece of pink tissue paper

3.  Approx. 100 toothpicks

4.  Approx. 60 donut holes (40 glazed and 20 powdered)

5.  2 bags of Wilton pink candy melts

6.  Approx. 20 strawberries

To begin, wrap your piece of tissue paper around the foam cone and cut off excess.  Then use tape to adhere the tissue paper to the cone.  This is so that you see pink in between your donuts and strawberries, rather than the white foam.  I didn’t remove the plastic that came on the foam cone so that the little foam pieces don’t come off and get in your food, but I did remove the sticker that comes on the cone.

Now, put your cone on the serving piece you are going to use so you don’t have to move it later and risk some sort of accident while moving it!

Next, create your pink donut holes by dipping them in candy melts.  I ended up using 2 bags of Wilton candy melts and I melted 1 bag at a time.  Melt your candy in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between each segment, until your melts are turned to a liquid consistency.  I also added a dollup of shortening to make it a little thinner and easier to dip the donut holes into.

Once melted, use a fork to dip your glazed donut hole into the melted candy and place on wax paper to dry.  With 2 bags of candy melts I was able to make about 40 donut holes.

While your donuts are drying, you can get your strawberries ready.  First you will cut your strawberry in half vertically.  Then take each piece and cut out the stem in a v shape to create your heart.

Look how cute they look all lined up together!!

Once your donuts are done drying, it’s time to start creating your tree!  Start at the bottom of the cone and insert the toothpick about 1/2 inch up from the bottom and halfway into the cone leaving enough space for the donut to fit onto the toothpick.  Inserting the toothpick into the foam first is easier than putting the donut on the toothpick and then inserting (I tried!).  Continue adding donuts around the bottom of the cone in whatever order you want…alternating between pink and powdered.  Your toothpicks will be about 1 inch apart to make the donuts fit snugly together.

Continue with the next row, adding strawberries and donuts as you make your way up the cone.  The strawberries aren’t as deep as the donuts, so you have to stick the toothpicks into the cone a little bit further than with the donuts.

Pretty soon your cone will be full of yummy donuts and strawberries just waiting to be eaten!

To serve, simply pull off the donuts and strawberries you want to eat and wash them down with a nice cold glass of strawberry milk – yum!

The decorative medallion on the top of my tree was made using a 2″ printable party circle, some red scrapbook paper, crepe paper streamers, a bamboo skewer and some ribbon.  You can download Valentine’s Day circles HERE where I’ve collected some free Valentine’s Day Party collections from various graphic designers and party planners around the web.  If you have questions about how to make the medallion, let me know and I’d be happy to answer them!

Obviously there are lots of different ways to do something similar to this…use all powdered donuts, use all pink, add in some red ones, or include some other fruits too…be creative, it’s up to you!  You could even color some of the ends of the toothpicks and whoever chooses a colored toothpick gets a special little prize or something!

This is just a fun and different way to serve up some yummy treats for this wonderful holiday!  Do you have any special treats you like to make for Valentine’s Day? I’d love to hear about them!

 

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