At first, I was a dumb dumb and didn't know how this worked until I saw the helping Elf and was like "oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." I certainly think the crafting recipe should be in the help/tutorial section on the main menu or smth like that.
I don't have much to add other than what the previous two have said. I'm just here to say that I like Santa belly jiggle physics.