These cute edible snow globes, Santas and igloos are almost too pretty to eat

We all know these cooks.

I jokingly call them Pinterest people.

Whenever they entertain, they have at least one really cute edible dish on their table that looks like it was incredibly difficult and time-consuming to make.

These cooks surprise and delight us at Thanksgiving with little turkeys with bodies made of cheese balls and tail feathers of candy corn, with red bell peppers carved into tiny pumpkins to hold crudités on Halloween, or hardboiled eggs stacked to look like snowmen for Christmas.

And they always profess these treats are a breeze to make.

Is this possible?

According to some area cooks, it really is.

But, they admit, while many of them are easy to make, they do take time, and they definitely take patience.

 “You can’t rush them. … They are like doing crafts but you are working with food,” said Sue Taller of Franklin, who has been making these kinds of treats for about three years; earning her the titles “the treat lady" and "Grandma Sue.”

She makes such treats for every holiday and for every baseball, football or basketball game her grandson Ethan has, and for all gymnastic events her granddaughter Addison has.

For the sporting events, she said she makes one treat for the kids on her grandchildren’s teams and their siblings in the stands, then makes “adult treats” for the parents.

Often, that means treats number 30 for each age group.

“I really enjoy it. I love the way they turn out. They usually look cute, they’re unique and they taste good. I like to see the smiles on the kids’ faces, and the adults too,” she said.

But finding the right treat isn’t always easy.

Taller said when she decides she need a new treat to make, she starts by sifting through online sites in search of recipes that not only look good, but are likely to taste good, hold up well, and can be assembled easily.

“I always look at the reviews. … I want to see what people say did or did not work. They don’t always work out the way they show them on the online sites. Sometimes you have to find a way to do them on your own,” she added.

She also looks for the same treat on different sites, as there are often variations in the ingredients and/or the directions.

“Then I might combine some different ways to make the treat,” she said.

For ideas she looks at online sites, often Pinterest, but family members also send her ideas.

Cake pop treats in ice cream cones

For the upcoming holidays, she plans to make cake pop treats in ice cream cones for the younger set, and snow globes from Oreos and peanut butter cups for the adults.

She said she enjoys making treats with cake pops — a mix of cake crumbs and frosting formed into different shapes — because they taste good, are usually easy to make and can be used in a variety of ways.

“In this recipe, it’s everything the kids would like. There is candy inside the ice cream cone, there’s the cake pop, and it’s covered in chocolate.”  

But before she even made the dish once after finding it on jellybelly.com, she changed the recipe. Instead of using jellybeans inside the ice cream cones, she used red and green M&M’s.

She said she got the snow globe idea from her daughter who found it on TikTok. It originally came from savvymamalifestyle.

“It’s got the cookies and chocolate so the adults will love them, and they’re also very cute.”

Like her cake pop desserts, she made a change to this recipe too.

“It originally used regular Oreos but I used Golden Oreos because the white chocolate will cover them better,” she said.

One thing she’s learned over the years, she said, is that if a craft calls for chocolate as an ingredient it’s best to use candy melts instead.

“I use the candy melts because they harden and stay hard. With chocolate they could melt, and I’m always transporting them. I have cabinets full of them. They come in every color.”

To melt them, Taller suggests using a mini crockpot, as it keeps the ingredient from hardening. But, she said, a double boiler works well, too.

She said it’s also important to have the ingredients out, unwrapped, and ready to use, as you often have to work fast when making these treats.

A cream cheese igloo

Beverly Olson, of Franklin, turns a pâté-like mixture into a cream cheese igloo for her holidays.

It’s a dish she’s been making since 1978.

“It’s easy to make. It only takes 20 to 30 minutes if you don’t count the refrigerating. I found the basic recipe in a magazine when I worked at DePaul Hospital. I worked there for 25 years as manager of the food service department.

“Then, I would plan menus for around 125 patients, and I also had to plan menus for staff parties where there could be as many as 200 people, so I was always looking for something new and something different,” she said.

After making the recipe the way it was featured in the magazine (just formed into a ball) a few times for staff parties, she came up with the idea to shape it into an igloo and score blocks into the cream cheese layer.  

For some events, she would make as many as three of them.

“They turned out so cute that nobody wanted to touch them. I used to have to say, ‘Hey, come on, eat this!’ People really enjoyed it. It was always the first thing they went to,” she said.

Now retired, she regularly makes her igloo for the holidays for her family.

“Now I also try to make a door to the igloo, drawing it with a toothpick. But I’m not always successful,” she added.

Making cute edibles is a family tradition

At Ginger Rambo’s Muskego home, making cute edible foods seems to run in the family.

This year, she’ll make a broccoli Christmas tree; her granddaughter, Melissa Schobert, will make Santas out of rounds of Babybel cheese.

“I have always done these kinds of things,” said Rambo. “I started baking when I was a kid, and I made cutout cookies that I would decorate. And then when I had my children I tried to make special birthday cakes for them, like Raggedy Ann cakes in my Raggedy Ann pan.

“My daughters are all creative, too. … They always want to make things special when they have a chance. I think they pick that up from me. We always enjoy something a little challenging and a little different and sometimes that’s with food.”

She said her daughter Kate made little penguins last year out of olives, mozzarella balls and carrots, and every New Year's she makes a snowman out of smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Daughter Karen makes an appetizer platter for Thanksgivings in the shape of a turkey, she said.

“On a large round platter she arranges nuts, dried fruits and cookie or crackers to 'draw' the turkey. For the turkey head, she uses a small red pear with two cloves for eyes and an almond sliver for the beak.”

Rambo said she found her recipe for the broccoli Christmas tree in a magazine and made it last year for during the holidays.

“I thought it would be fun to try it out. It only had the broccoli on the tree, and I decided I would put strips of red pepper on it for garland so it would be red and green.”

Schobert said she found her recipe on Pinterest this year and adapted it slightly. She said it originally called for using food markers and marshmallow for the hat ball.

“I don’t have food markers and I think a piece of marshmallow for the hat ball would go really badly with the cheese so I used poppyseeds for the eyes, bell pepper for the nose and cheese for the hat ball.”

Grandma Sue's Snow Globe Desserts

Makes about 30 

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

• 2 bags (10 to 12 ounces each) white melting wafers
• 1 family-size package (1 pound 2 ounces) Double Stuffed Golden Oreos
• White sanding sugar to decorate
• About 30 edible icing decorations (snowmen, Christmas trees, etc.)
• 1 bag (10.2 ounces) miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Melt about one bag of the wafers in a double boiler. Using a fork, dip some of the cookies into the melted wafers until well coated. Use a fork to remove the cookies and tap to remove any excess coating.

Set on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and quickly cover fronts of the dipped cookies with the sanding sugar and add decoration to the bottom portions of the cookies. Freeze 5 to 10 minutes.  

Do in small batches and do not melt too many wafers at one time, as they will harden quickly. If coating in the pan hardens, reheat until dipping consistency.

To finish: Melt a small amount of the wafers and use to secure bottoms of coated cookies to the bottoms of the peanut butter cups to make a stand.

Note: Can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated. 

Grandma Sue's Christmas Cake Pops Desserts

Makes 20

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 20 mini ice cream cones
• 1 bag, about, (18 ounces) red and green M&M’s
• 1 container (16 ounces) premade white frosting mix
• 2 bags (10 to 12 ounces each) melting wafers (one white and one red)

Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Set aside and cool, then crumble into a large mixing bowl.

Set cones upright and fill to just below the rims with the M&Ms. (Save some of the candies to garnish.)

With electric mixer, mix 1 cup of the frosting mix with the crumbled cake mix. (If making a small batch of cake pops mix 3 cups of the crumbled cake with 1/3 cup of the frosting mix.)

Roll mixture into balls the size of the openings of the ice cream cones, and freeze until hard, about 1 hour.

When cake mixture is solid remove from freezer.

In a double boiler melt some of the white wafers. Dip one-half of the cake pops into the wafers. Set coated portions on the cones and freeze 5 to 10 minutes.

Melt some of the red wafers. Hold the cones at the base and dip the tops of the cake pops into the wafers to evenly coat tops. Garnish tops with reserved M&M’s and freeze 5 to 10 minutes.

Note: Can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated.

Beverly's Cream Cheese Igloo

Makes 20 to 25 appetizer servings

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

Igloo base:

• 1 pound of liverwurst, room temperature
• 1 clove garlic, minced 
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ¼ cup freshly minced onion 

Igloo topping:

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon mayonnaise (more if needed to spread easily)

In medium bowl, beat liverwurst with electric mixer until smooth. Mix in garlic, basil and onion. Form into an igloo shape and transfer to a serving plate. Cover, chill about 2 hours.

In another bowl blend cream cheese, garlic, red pepper sauce and mayonnaise with electric mixer. Spread over chilled liverwurst mound. Smooth top. Refrigerate 8 hours.To serve: Line platter in endive. Using a toothpick score ice blocks into the igloo and create a door for the igloo. Serve with assorted crackers.

Ginger's Broccoli Christmas Tree

Makes about 20 appetizer servings

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

• 1 10-inch Styrofoam cone.
• Plastic wrap
• About 4 heads broccoli
• 1 red bell pepper

Curry dip:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon horseradish
• 1 teaspoon grated onion
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup mayonnaise

For tree: Wrap cone in plastic wrap. Break florets into bite-sized pieces. Using toothpicks, secure florets to cone until entire surface is covered. Cut pepper into long thin strips and use to create a garland to decorate tree.

For dip: Combine all ingredients and blend well. Chill before serving.

Serve with curry dip and additional vegetables.

Melissa's Babybel Santas

Makes 6 servings

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

• 6 Babybel cheese wheels
• Whipped cream cheese
• Poppy seeds
• Orange and/or red bell pepper
• Toothpicks

Peel cheese rounds using the center-peeling strip.  Retain one half of the red wax coating on the cheese to make Santa’s hat. Discard the other half.

Dip the bottom edge of the peeled side of the cheese into the cream cheese to create the beard.

Use a toothpick to line the edge of the wax with cream cheese to create the trim for the hat.

Place a small ball of cream cheese on top of Santas hat to form a pom-pom.

Use poppy seeds to make Santa’s eyes, pressing them into the cheese. Cut a small piece of pepper for his nose and use a little cream cheese to secure to the cheese just above the beard.

To create his mouth, cut a very thin sliver of pepper and press into the whipped cream cheese area.

Insert bottom of Santa onto a stick to serve if desired.