You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through Pinterest, and you see a recipe that screams “EASY!” in all caps? The one with the perfect photo where adorable chocolate pinecones look like they were foraged from a magical forest by Christmas fairies in sparkly outfits? Yeah, I fell for it over the Christmas break.
Our Narnia-themed Christmas dinner needed something special, and these Oreo truffle pinecones seemed like the answer. The recipe looked straightforward: crush Oreos, mix with cream cheese to make truffles, press on Frosted Flakes for “scales,” dip in chocolate.
Easy, right?
Several of the recipe blogs even said the word “easy” multiple times, which should have been my first red flag…
When the Kids Gasped at the Frosted Flakes
I don’t typically ever buy sugary cereals, so when I brought home the Frosted Flakes, my kids actually gasped. This was already feeling like an event. We had our ingredients lined up, our Narnia soundtrack playing, and visions of Pinterest-perfect pinecones dancing in our heads.
Fast forward thirty minutes: our kitchen looked like page out of a Curious George book and our “pinecones” looked… well, let’s just say they looked more like something you’d find after a squirrel’s particularly chaotic day than something you’d serve at a dinner party.
Nothing would stick! This is one of the “better” ones just to illustrate. Not kidding!
We did get some actual LOLs out of it!
The Pivot Moment
We had planned this whole dinner with Narnia themed things. We’d gotten Turkish delight from actual Turkey. We’d found a Turkish delight hot cocoa recipe and had cleaned pink rose petals from our front flowerbed waiting. We were making Mr. Beaver’s Roasted Trout that I found on another blog, from the familiar scene in the book.
When things like this happen, your kids are watching you. Are you going to let the completely unrescuable recipe ruin your afternoon? Are you going to cry? Whine to yourself? Waste the food?
Instead of being sad, we looked at our chocolate-covered chaos and did something better: we pivoted.
There’s nothing wrong with squished Oreos and cream cheese, right? (Actually these were HEB brand Twisters instead of Oreos – I think they are actually better and don’t have artificial flavors like the “real” ones do.)
Anyway.. Winning was in sight! We had melted white and milk chocolate. We had sprinkles of all Christmassy kinds!
So, we simply scraped off the Frosted Flakes, re-rolled our truffles, added some festive sprinkles, and suddenly we had a dessert that was actually delicious, if not particularly Narnia-esque.
And those Frosted Flakes? Well, the birds in our backyard are going to be having their own Christmas feast, thank you very much. I didn’t want my kids eating processed corn with sugar on it, anyway.
My daughter suggested we make a blog about it so here we are!
What My Kids Actually Learned
This wasn’t just about making dessert – it was about showing my kids that:
Plans don’t always work out, and that’s okay. Sometimes the recipe fudges the truth a little… see what I did there… Sometimes the photo is staged or even AI generated. Sometimes Frosted Flakes just don’t stick to chocolate the way Pinterest promised they would. Albeit on multiple recipe pages!
Failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s just a way to reevaluate. Our pinecones didn’t work, but we still had perfectly good ingredients and a kitchen full of creativity. We also made memories of silliness.
Pivoting is a superpower. The ability to look at a situation, acknowledge it’s not working, and ask “what can we do instead?” is one of the most valuable skills we can teach our kids. It’s not giving up – it’s adapting.
Sometimes the pivot is better than the plan. Our simple sprinkled truffles were actually easier to eat and tasted better than fussy pinecones would have. And watching the birds have Christmas over the Frosted Flakes will become its own entertainment.
The Real Pinterest Win
My kids saw me laugh at the mess, problem-solve on the fly, and turn a fail into something that worked. They learned that being flexible matters more than being perfect. And honestly? That’s a better lesson than any Pinterest-perfect pinecone could ever teach.
So here’s to the Pinterest fails, the kitchen disasters, and all the times when “easy” recipes prove to be anything but. Here’s to teaching our kids that the real magic isn’t in getting it right the first time—it’s in what you do when things go sideways.
And if you need me, I’ll be outside watching very enthusiastic birds enjoying what might be the most expensive bird feed I’ve ever provided.
What’s your best Pinterest fail story? How did you pivot?
Homeschool With Joy 