Sugar Swings! Serve Some: snowman
Showing posts with label snowman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snowman. Show all posts

Monday, December 21, 2015

Winter themed graham cracker treats


During the holiday season I like to make fun but quick treats for the kids.  Since I work full-time out of the house and have 3 kids in elementary school, things get hectic and busy (as I'm sure it does in every house these days).  The love graham crackers so I use them as "canvases" all the time.  


These are my latest little winter scene graham crackers.  Cute, fun and I think it took me 1/2 to throw them together.  I think they would make great class treats or teacher gifts too.  Use all sorts of flavors graham crackers too :)

See the details here at sheknows!

I'm still recovering from the #12daysofStarWars countdown - 12 treats in 12 days was a lot! It was  fun though so if you missed it you can see the last post and recap here.  And we did see the movie this weekend! I won't give any spoilers but I'm sure all fans (the old and new) will love it.  JJ Abrams did a great job and it has everything you think it should.  


See the recap here!

And a very Merry almost Christmas if you celebrate!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Summer in December "Sandmen"


We are experiencing some really mild temperatures in Jersey right now.  So mild that on many of us ate outside for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a little bizarre but it sure was nice.  That said it kinda doesn't feel like December should be starting this week here.

So I thought I'd share a treat with you to welcome in December with sandmen instead of snowmen!


They were very simple to make with some toasted coconut marshmallows.  The toasted coconut reminded me of sand so "sandmen" had to be made.  


Just stack them and "glue" them together with some melted chocolate.  If you want them to stand up, attach them to pieces of graham cracker (used as a base).  


The rest of the details are:
  1. Noses are candy coated orange sunflower seeds (attach with melted chocolate)
  2. Eyes/mouth are black sprinkles (attach with melted chocolate)
  3. Scarves are various flavored Tootsie rolls (microwave for 5 seconds then roll out and cut into scarf shape, snip ends with cooking shears)  
  4. Beach balls are made from a vanilla Tootsie roll (microwave for 5 seconds and roll into balls, and color with edible food writers)
  5. Beach hats are made from potato chips and vanilla tootsie roll (microwave for 5 seconds and roll into top of hat shape, use little more melted chocolate to keep it together)


 My favorite are the beach hats! They really make the "sandman".


Eat them as a fun snack as is or you can add to cupcakes as fun toppers.

Happy almost December! Only 3 weekends until the Christmas holiday!

Stop by starting next weekend on the 6th as I'll be doing a #12daysofStarWars countdown.  The new Star Wars movie The Force Awakens opens this month on the 18th and to celebrate I'll be sharing a Star Wars treat everyday until then!  Many are new treats but I'll be sharing my favorites over the years too.  

Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter! #12daysofStarWars @sugarswings

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Cereal Snowmen made from Mini Wheats & Marshmallow Trees



Happy New Year Peeps! Hard to believe it's now 2015, but I can tell its definitely Winter.   How? Well because it's SO.COLD.OUTSIDE!  Commuting into NYC in this weather is not so fun.  It's that painful cold where you can't move your fingers in a few minutes.  I think I'm gonna officially start my countdown to Spring - 67 days!



But in the meantime I made some snowmen.  A little army of snowmen made from cereal.  Mini Wheat cereal to be more specific and as if mini was not small enough the fun folks at Kelloggs made Little Bites Mini Wheats that are half the size of Mini Wheats! They made mini minis!  Thank you Kelloggs people.  

OK I know they might look a little like penguins, so feel free to call them Snow Penguins.
You guys know anything mini works for me so I had to scoop up a box.


The snowmen are made by "gluing" the mini wheats together with some melted vanilla chips/melting wafers.  To get them to stand, add a blob of melted candy to parchment paper and while still wet, add the snowman.  Once the candy hardens they will be sturdy and stand on their own. 


Their scarves are made from fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls.  To make them, microwave a Tootsie Roll for 5 seconds (to make it flexible) then roll candy flat.  With a knife or pizza cutter, cut out strips for the scarves.  Trim the ends to make it look more scarf-like!


Noses are a candy coated sunflower seed.  I use Sunny Seeds because they are so tasty!  Snowman eyes and buttons are different sized black sprinkles.  I also added little marshmallow trees for some extra wintery scenery.  They are just made by stacking star shaped marshmallows on top of each other and adding a yellow star sprinkle (also glued with melted vanilla candy wafers).


Enjoy them on their own or add them to cupcakes! Hopefully they make enduring this bitter cold a little bit easier.

Again happy happy New Year and have an awesome week!


Thursday, January 2, 2014

Disney Frozen Movie Cupcakes


Have you seen the new Disney movie Frozen? If not go see it, regardless if you have girls or boys, or no kids at all. It's based loosely Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen fairy tale but this is a really cute movie and actually a pretty good story line for girls.  It does have the absent parents that Disney works into a lot of the stories, but it's not your typical prince charming saves the distraught princess theme.  (Brave was also a really good one too!)

We saw it a couple weeks ago, and my kids got the soundtrack for Christmas, so it's been Frozen, Frozen and more Frozen over the past couple weeks.  I guess there could be worse things, at least we are past the Barney and Wiggles stage - those songs tend to be crazy earworms!  My little 6 year old girlie girl also asked for Frozen cupcakes.  So here they are with all of the Frozen main characters (well most of the characters, aside from the "people" because they are harder and take longer to do, and we needed these for a get together this past weekend).



Above are a Rock Troll and the super funny snowman, Olaf.  All Olaf wants to do is enjoy summer time, just don't tell him what happens to him in the summer (happy snowman of course)!  The Rock Troll is made from candy pebbles with the detail added with Wilton candy melt.  Olaf is made from 2 large marshmallows (head cut to size), mini marshmallows for the neck (snowmen have necks?!) and one cut in half for the feet, candy eyes, candy coated sunflower seed nose, and candy melt is used for the rest of the detail.

And below are Sven the reindeer (because reindeer are better than people!) and the icy snowman/body guard Marshmallow.  Sven is mostly candy melt with pretzel antlers, candy eyes, and an m 'n m nose.  Marshmallow is all candy melt and some blue sprinkles for his ice teeth/spikes!


And since I did want to represent the Frozen sisters Elsa and Anna, I did their colors in the frostings - light turquoise and white for Elsa and blue and magenta for Anna (pronounced "Ahhhhna - as corrected by my 6 year old a dozen times or so).  To get the 2 toned icing, I used this technique - where you add each color to a separate icing bag, then add both bags to a 3rd icing bag.  It worked great and was quick!


All the cupcakes are decorated with these fun edible snowflakes that I've been meaning to use forever which fit in perfectly with the Frozen theme! They have no real taste, its kinda like the edible easter grass made from starch.


We even did some fun snowflake pretzel snacks to go along with the cupcakes.  Pretzel snacks are my favorite go to party snack, since everyone seems to like sweet and salty - both kids and grown-ups alike.  They are just a square pretzel base with some chocolate or white chocolate drizzled on and while still wet add your favorite sprinkles. Very easy and portable too.


And you get a fun Frozen dessert platter!



And WOW -  the first post of 2014!!! Goodbye 2013 and hello 2014.  Aren't we supposed to have jetpacks and buttons to zap you anywhere you want to go by now? Come on scientists, you are a little behind the sci fi books and shows.  Well maybe 2014 is the year, at least we have Google glasses and 3D printers, although if you ask my kiddos I don't think that quite beats a jet pack or a flying car! Happy New Year to All!



Tidy Mom's I'm Loving It

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas!! some candy snowmen for you...!


just a quick merry christmas to all, and thought you'd like to see my snowman army for the holiday!


made from christmas malt balls and gum drops, orange sprinkle for carrot nose, chocolate arms, and held together with candy melt....they kinda remind me of calvin and hobbe's snowmen....


and they go nicely in the treat box for christmas this year!


have a great christmas for all who celebrate--enjoy your time with family and friends, and some much needed down time!