This weekend offers many opportunities for friends and family members to undertake activities together.
The options range from watching the various competitions of the Olympics on television, celebrating Valentine’s Day, attending Saskatchewan Winter Games events, or undertaking group projects for Family Day.
Regardless of the choice of activity, the question will always arise: “what can we have for a snack?”
Today’s recipes from a variety of sources suggest snacks that will be easy to make and could involve group dynamics at work in the kitchen.
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Lemon Hearts
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3 tsps. grated lemon peel
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground blanched almonds
sugar for sprinkling
About 20 candied cherries, cut in half
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and the cup of sugar until creamy; beat in egg yolk and lemon peel. Gradually add flour, blending thoroughly; stir in almonds. Gather dough into a ball with your hands.
On a lightly floured board, roll out dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut out with a 2 to 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter; transfer cookies to greased baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle cookies lightly with sugar. Place half a cherry, cut side down, in centre of each and press in lightly.
Bake in a 325 degrees F oven for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden. Transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store in airtight container. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.
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Spiced Cocoa
red hot cinnamon heart candies
small marshmallows
instant cocoa
Ziploc snack baggies
Pour enough instant cocoa for one serving into the snack baggie. Add some cinnamon hearts and marshmallows. Give guests a bag to take home, or when children drop in, let them make their own cocoa by adding the ingredients of the baggie to a cup of hot water or warmed milk. Stir to dissolve the candies. Different flavours of candies can be used for variety.
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Holiday Fruit Pie
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 large can strawberry or cherry pie filling
Cool Whip
red food colouring
Remove Cool Whip from freezer. Colour Cool Whip with a few drops of red food colouring until the desired shade of pink is reached. Pour the pie filling into the pie crust and top with coloured Cool Whip. Refrigerate for two hours. Slice and serve.
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Roll-ups
strawberry flavoured cream cheese
strawberry jam
tortilla
Spread cream cheese and jam on a tortilla. Roll the tortilla into a log and cut into 1 inch thick slices. This can be a heart-smart treat by using low-fat cream cheese and jam and whole wheat tortilla.
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Cookie Pops
20 vanilla wafer cookies
1/2 cup peanut butter
1-6 oz. bag white chocolate chips
1-6 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
coloured candy sprinkles, red and white
pink and red gummy or sour patch bears
cake decorating writer gel in green, pink, red, black, and white
1 tube each of white, red, and pink cake decorator frosting with flower tip
red food colouring
ice cream or lollipop sticks
wax paper or paper plates
Spread peanut butter onto the flat side of the cookies. Place an ice cream stick into the peanut butter on half the cookies. Top with another cookie so the stick is sandwiched between the two cookies.
Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, one minute, then in 20 second increments, stirring until smooth.
Before melting, separate the white chips into two bowls. After melting, add a few drops of red food colouring to one of the bowls of white chips to make pink chocolate.
Dip cookie pops in the melted chips, covering completely. Roll pops in red and white sprinkles and lay or stand on waxed paper or paper plates. Place in refrigerator to chill.
To add more fun, use some of the following variations:
Drizzles
Alternating between white chocolate, pink chocolate and semi-sweet, drizzle melted chocolate over the cookie.
Writing
Write a message on plain pops.
Flowers
Using the flower tip, pipe on flowers with cake decorator icing. Use green gel to add stems and leaves to the bouquet.
Another variation is to use vanilla or chocolate frosting instead of peanut butter for the filling.
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Thought for the day: “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Joyce Walter can be reached at 691-1259 or jwalter@mjtimes.sk.ca
