Wednesday 7 December 2011

Party Favours: Candy "Sushi"

For my daughter's 8th birthday last year, we decided to lend a little Asian flair to the decor. There's nothing that irks me more about planning a kids' party than worrying about filling little bags with useless plastic toys and generic candy.

One Mother's Day, my daughter proudly presented me with a little tin full of candy "sushi". It was so cute that I had to revive it for her Asian-inspired birthday celebration. It is very easy to make and fun for the kids to get involved, too.

Candy "sushi" - a nom nom nom.


All you need is:

  • Ingredients for making a typical rice krispies bars recipe (Rice krispies-type cereal, marshmallows, butter, and vanilla extract)
  • Long licorice or shoestring-type candy
  • Fish shaped candies (the Swedish ones are yummy)
  • Flat, dark green or blue tape candy
  • Any other candy you like, cut into strips or bits
  • Aluminum "bento" type boxes - I found them at the Dollarama (3 for $1)
Have all your candy close at hand. Make your rice krispies bars, as detailed on the box of cereal - Mix and heat the ingredients, but do not refrigerate the end result or allow it to cool too much.

Roll out the sticky rice krispies treat into a long rectangular shape (the "short" side should be about 6" wide). Use butter to grease your supplies and hands, as necessary. Place your candy strips and/or shoestring licorice about one quarter of the way in along the entire long length of the rectangle - you don't need much - a few strings will be enough.

Once you have filled your "sushi", simple roll the rectangle so that you are left with a long log. Cut the log into 1" or so pieces. They should now look a lot like sushi!

Now we decorate! Roll your sushi in the tape licorice candy to mimic the "nori" (or seaweed wrap). Alternatively, I think it would look neat if you wet the edges and rolled it in sprinkles to mimic sesame seeds that are sometimes seen on sushi rolls. Use the remaining candy (like the fish shapes) to place on the tops of certain pieces. These are only recommendations - have fun with this part!

Place your assembled pieces in the little "bento" boxes. You can even decorate the lids with the party-goers' names, stickers, etc. I added a fortune cookie to the box - I realize that isn't at all Japanese like the sushi is, but covered my bum by calling the party "Asian-inspired", right? Because who doesn't like fortune cookies?!

Personalizing the sushi "grass"
Wrapped and ready to be snacked on.


The best part of this project is that the candy sushi is yummy. I ate a lot of them while preparing, so don't feel guilty :)


2 comments:

The Restless Runner said...

Oh my, I'm in love with your candy sushi! Fab idea! I may do this for my daughter's next birthday :-) thank you

MamaJ said...

It's a lot of fun - the kids love pitching in, too!