Name: Buddy's Candy Spaghetti
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: USA
Ingredients: 200 g spaghetti; 100 ml maple syrup; 60 ml chocolate sauce; 50 g mini marshmallows; 2 tbsp crushed candy canes or hard candy; 2 tbsp sprinkles; 2 tbsp chocolate chips; icing sugar, to dust

Buddy the Elf makes this for his own breakfast in Elf (2003), piling spaghetti with maple syrup, chocolate sauce, marshmallows and whatever candy is in reach, utterly convinced he's made a completely normal meal.

This one isn't meant to be sophisticated. It's a joke about someone raised entirely on sugar discovering pasta for the first time and treating it exactly like dessert, so lean into the excess rather than trying to tone it down.

Part of our 40 famous movie foods list.

method

Cook the spaghetti in boiling water according to the package, until tender. Drain.

Toss the warm spaghetti with the maple syrup, so it coats every strand.

Pile the syrup-coated spaghetti onto a plate.

Drizzle generously with chocolate sauce.

Top with the mini marshmallows, crushed candy, sprinkles and chocolate chips, as generously and chaotically as you like.

Dust with a little icing sugar, and serve immediately.

chef's tips

This is not meant to taste sophisticated, and it shouldn't; it's a deliberately over-the-top joke about someone raised entirely on candy encountering pasta for the first time and treating it exactly like dessert.
Toss the warm spaghetti in the maple syrup first, before adding anything else, so the syrup actually coats the noodles instead of just pooling at the bottom of the plate.
In Elf (2003), Buddy makes this for his own breakfast in his apartment, piling on every sweet thing within reach, convinced it's a completely normal meal, and the scene is one of the most quoted moments in the film.
Use whatever candy you have on hand; the specific toppings matter far less than the sheer, cheerful excess of the whole plate.