6 Fun Things to Do With Cheetos, According to Celeb Chef Christina Tosi

You could say that Christina Tosi was born for her latest project. The celebrity chef, founder and co-owner of the iconic Milk Bar bakery, cookbook author and host of Bake Squad on Netflix calls crunchy Cheetos her "North star" of snacks.

She's been snacking on Cheetos her whole life, but the cheesy snack played a big role in her first pregnancy. "The only photo I have from pregnancy with my first is me surrounded by snack bags of crunchy Cheetos because for me no matter how I was feeling I was like, 'I have my snack bag of crunchy Cheetos' every single day,'" she says.

And now she's been tapped to create a cake to celebrate Cheetos' 75th birthday. After lots of discussion with her team and tons of taste-testing, she landed on a reimagined version of the classic Milk Bar birthday cake.

"The Cheetle was really the unlock," Tosi says, referring to the proper name for the sticky orange dust that clings to your fingers post-snacking. "The Cheetle is brilliantly dense in flavor in color, in spirit and in cheddar cheese goodness," she says. "It's hidden between the layers and it's part of the decor on top. The Cheetle is really the star of the show."

The sprinkle-flecked vanilla cake is layered with Cheetos cheddar frosting and Cheetos crumbs, plus plenty of classic vanilla frosting. Birthday crumbs and Cheetos crumbs are perched on top.

The best part of all? You can experience this whimsical mashup yourself starting today. You can order a slice at MilkBarStore.com while supplies last. Proceeds from the cake sales will go to The Birthday Party Project, a non-profit organization that provides funding and items for joy-filled birthday celebrations for children experiencing homelessness.

When we were chatting with Tosi about this fun cake project we did a deep dive into the world of Cheetos. Tosi is the queen of salty-sweet desserts and also snack-inspired sweets, so we suspected she might have some other fun Cheetos ideas up her sleeve. Boy did she ever. The next time you buy a bag of Cheetos, you might want to pick up two and try out one of these genius ideas.

6 Things to Do With Cheetos (Other than Eat Them By The Bagful)

Six sweet (and savory) ideas from Christina Tosi herself.

• Grab some frosting. For years, Tosi has enjoyed dipping crunchy Cheetos in vanilla tub frosting (don't knock it til you try it). "There's something about the creamy, dreamy vanilla with the punch and the sharpness and the edge of cheddar cheese of that Cheetle and then you get this like smooth, cool, creamy vanilla," she says. "It's like one edge of dairy and the other edge of dairy." 
• Bump up your pie crust. Crushing Cheetos turns them into a versatile ingredient. "I would use [crushed Cheetos] for a pie crust, especially if it were in an apple cheddar pie. If it's a part of the flavor story in a way that makes sense."
• Upgrade your sandwich. "We like to put crushed up Cheetos in a smushy cold cut sandwich, like with squishy white or potato bread. You have some boring cold cut and maybe some mayo and mustard. We really love the texture of the Cheeto and letting the cheetle energy shine. It's also good on a sub."
• A different kind of cheese board. "They'd be great on a cheese board. I don't know why Cheetos are never invited to those parties." 
• Turn a snack into a cracker. "Grinding Cheetos down and replacing some of the flour with the Cheetos would be a really good cheese cracker moment." 
• Make "chip salad." "We have a little move we call 'chip salad' that we do at Milk Bar where you open all of your favorite little bags of whatever you like and mix them around. Cheetos is always the star there."