Elsa's Snowy Parfaits | "Frozen" & "Frozen Fever"

          Smalls had her birthday recently and I was finally able to give her the little Elsa nendoroid from Good Smile Company that I'd been saving. She's soo cute that I was inspired to make a snowy treat to go along with her! The recipe below is sort of a riff on ambrosia salad, jello salad, and parfait, with a little bit of tang from the Kool-Aid.

Elsa's Snowy Parfaits

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Ingredients:
1 pkg. (3.56 oz.) White Chocolate Pudding (I used Hershey's brand)
2 1/4 Cups Vanilla Yogurt
16 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
16 oz. Small Curd Cottage Cheese
1 pkg. Blue Kool-Aide
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Small Marshmallows
1/4 Cup Shredded or Flaked Coconut
1/3 Cup ~1/4" Angel Food Cake Cubes (optional)
1/2 Cup Pineapple Tidbits (optional, you know what they say about yellow snow...)
1/3 Cup Bright White Candy Melts
1/3 Cup Yellow Candy Melts
4-6 Black Candy Melt Wafers
EZ-Thin Dipping Aide (optional)
Pocky, or other type of thin biscuit stick
Various Blue, White, Pearl Sprinkles (I used little snowflakes & pearlescent flakes, but you can use anything you'd like!)
Your Favorite type of Wafer

Important Items:
2 Candy Squeeze Bottles or Candy Decorating Bags
Parchment Paper
Snowflake & Sunflower Temlpate (download here & print full page)
6-8 Clear Cups (I used 6 10 oz. plastic cups)
Sandwich Baggie

Directions:
1. Chocolate Snowflake & Sunflower "Wands": Lay a large sheet of parchment paper on a flat work surface & slide the snowflake & sunflower template underneath. In a small bowl, melt the white candy melts with a little optional EZ-Thin in 30 second intervals in the microwave, stirring after each heating, until melted & smooth. Scoop into a squeeze bottle or decorating bag & pipe onto the parchment following the snowflake templates. Next, melt the yellow candy melts & scoop into another bag or bottle & pipe following the sunflower templates. Gently place 1 black candy melt wafer, flat side up, in the center of each sunflower. Let the snowflakes & sunflowers harden & then reheat the bag or bottle of white melts & pipe a line halfway down each snowflake & gently place a pocky stick on the line of melt. Let sit to harden. Gently peel the sunflowers off of the parchment (a thin knife around the edges works well) & flip them over. Reheat what's left of the yellow melt & pipe a line halfway down the center of the flat side of each flower. Lay a pocky stick on the line & let harden.
2. Making & Building the Parfait: In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup of the yogurt with the pudding powder & stir well until the pudding powder is completely mixed in. Add the cottage cheese & 1/2 of the Cool Whip (8 oz.) & stir. Next, fold in the shredded coconut & marshmallows. If you'd like to add pineapple, cut the tidbits into tiny pieces & squeeze lightly in a paper towel to remove excess juice, & then fold in with the marshmallows & coconut.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the blue Kool-Aid powder & powdered sugar. Add in the remaining 1 cup of yogurt & stir until fully combined & smooth. Line up your cups & spoon in a layer of the cool whip/cottage cheese mixture, & then spoon some of the blue mixture on top. If you're using angel food cake bits, place a few in & then top with white. Continue to layer like this for each cup; white, blue, cake (optional), until you run out of mixture or cups. If you're not serving right away, place in the fridge to chill.
4. Decorating: Fill a sandwich baggie with cool whip & snip of 1 end to make a medium/large opening. Pipe a thick swirl of Cool Whip on top of each parfait & then cover the top with your sprinkles of choice. On the right side of each Cool Whip spiral slide a snowflake or sunflower "wand", nestling it into the cool whip, & on the left side snuggle in a wafer.