Yodel Bûche de Noël

french dessert no-cook christmas kid-friendly quick & easy small plates

Judy Moy

Makes 1 bûche de Noël, serving 1

Ingredients

2 Yodel snack cakes

1/4 cup purchased or homemade chocolate frosting

Assorted decorations such as cloth leaves (available at floral shops and craft stores), chopped maraschino cherries, Red Hots, M&M's and other candies, colored sugars, shredded coconut, confectioner's sugar, and cocoa powder

Toothpicks, small offset spatula or butter knife

Method

Place Yodels in freezer 5 minutes to firm up chocolate coating, then peel off and discard (or eat!) coating.

Using small sharp knife, cut thin slice off each end of Yodels. Cut 1 Yodel in half crosswise on angle and discard (or eat!) 1 half.

Using toothpick, attach other half of cut Yodel to whole Yodel to form "branch." Using small offset spatula or butter knife, cover Yodels with frosting, drawing spatula in long strokes down length of "log" to give appearance of bark and leaving ends of "logs" uncovered to show spiral pattern. Once branch is secured with frosting, gently remove toothpick.

Decorate as desired with leaves, chopped cherries or red candies for berries, brown candies and/or cocoa powder for earth, and shredded coconut or confectioner's sugar for snow.