No-bake treat

Hey there -- I'm supposed to demo a recipe in my 5yo's class tomorrow, and it must be nut/chocolate free and cannot be cooked. Any ideas? - your favorite procrastinator

Amanda Hesser
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  • 34 Comments

34 Comments

Panfusine
Panfusine May 2, 2012
You TOTALLY MADE my day reading this Amanda.. Thanks!
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. May 2, 2012
"Brooklyn and NYC Indian Markets Report Record Sales of Cardamom in 2012!"
 
Sam1148
Sam1148 May 2, 2012
What a great demo!

In a similar idea. I'd love to see a crowd-sourced food52 Ipad app (or stand alone book) for brown bagging lunches. With chapters for kids lunches, re purposing leftovers, menu suggestions, storage and transport equipment reviews...and a bit for TSA friendly airline meals.

Something similar to the holiday app.
 
ATG117
ATG117 May 1, 2012
Love the idea! Salt is the most overlooked ingredient in my opinion, and now, with this knowledge, the kids will be able to easily enhance their food.
 
ChefOno
ChefOno May 1, 2012

Sounds like a wonderful experience for the kids. And adding salt to enhance a sweet dish -- now they know more than most of their parents!

 
ATG117
ATG117 May 1, 2012
What did you end up making, Amanda? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. May 1, 2012
There were so many wonderful ideas here it was difficult to decide, but here's what I did. I gave every student a cucumber slice and had them take a bite. Then I went around and sprinkled a little Maldon sea salt on the remaining slice and had them taste it again -- to show the effect of salt. Then we made sandwiches with Pepperidge Farm thin white bread, good salted European butter, and cucumber slices, and used a round cookie cutter to make silver-dollar size sandwiches. After that "course" we made Panfusine's Mango Shrikhand -- because it offered the opportunity to pass around whole cardamom pods and let the students break them open, and to pass around and smell saffron, and to talk about acidity and sugar. I made a few adjustments -- I whipped the cream so I could show them that process and used mango puree instead of canned or fresh mango because I didn't have a food processor and needed to do it all by hand. We didn't measure anything, the kids helped me add the ingredients and mix and taste, and it was a really lovely recipe and the kids were very open and curious about it. We even added a little salt to it to show them that salt benefits sweet recipes as well. Thanks again to everyone for your incredible generosity!
 
cookinginvictoria
cookinginvictoria May 1, 2012
If you can take a blender in, what about your strawberry lassi recipe? I made your strawberry lassis for the gardening club at my daughter's elementary school last spring, and they were a huge hit. We also did a taste testing of conventionally grown strawberries versus organic strawberries first, which was very interesting for the kids. Good luck -- I am sure that whatever you choose, it will be fun!
 
FunkyLady
FunkyLady May 1, 2012
You could make salsa and guacamole from scratch.
 
FunkyLady
FunkyLady May 1, 2012
You could make salsa and guacamole from scratch.
 
ATG117
ATG117 May 1, 2012
Vegetable sushi? If you want a dessert, how about an icebox cake. You can whip the cream there, etc. Pesto, prep the pasta before or serve on bread slices.
 
Brain H.
Brain H. April 30, 2012
Once I made orange honey butter with my son's preschool class: Butter, honey, orange zest, powdered sugar. We slathered it on pieces of bagel and everyone took a little jar home. Messy and sticky, but really fun.
 
bugbitten
bugbitten April 30, 2012
I know the answer. It's fruit salad, because everyone likes to wash blueberries.
 
Louisa
Louisa May 1, 2012
And they love making melon balls.
 
creamtea
creamtea April 30, 2012
I like felixfood's idea: whip some cream with them, dip strawberries, sprinkle maple sugar (TJ's) or brown sugar. Are little short bamboo skewers (Whole Foods) or toothpicks a bad idea for 5-year olds? We're a few years past that stage. They can dip in the cream then the maple sugar.
 
MTMitchell
MTMitchell April 30, 2012
Very related note. My mom used to give us strawberries and a bowl of sour cream or creme fraiche and a bowl of brown sugar. I'm pretty sure I was around 5 when this combo entered my world. It's not really a recipe though and I bet it would get really messy so....maybe have an Important Meeting that starts 5 minutes after the activity starts winding down...
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour April 30, 2012
What about some sort of salad/summer roll? Maybe even with a dipping sauce.
I also think a tartine would be nice, or even some sort of tortilla roll-up.
I hope you're going to do a post on the experience!
 
mrslarkin
mrslarkin April 30, 2012
Will the kids be participating in the prep?

When i worked at the preschool in town, cheese was a favorite on alphabet snack day.

Also, sliced veggies and dip was always a huge hit. They love cutting up veggies/fruit with dinner knives. (not so sharp)

Yogurt, spooned into little dixie cups, a popular snack, too. i like the parfait idea.

I remember the kids loved the hand-crank old-timey apple peeler. Cut up the apples and dip the long peels in cinnamon sugar. Yum!

Good luck!
 
Sam1148
Sam1148 April 30, 2012
Here's a bit on the 'watermelon radish'. It might be out of season. But apparently you might be able to find it at Union Square market. It's a really pretty veggie.
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2010/10/meet-watermelon-radish.html

I tried it in the fall and it was great. So, it might be out of season YMMV tho if you go that way.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. April 30, 2012
You guys are the best -- thanks for all of these wonderful ideas!
 
Sam1148
Sam1148 April 30, 2012
How about cucumber sandwiches, water cress sandwiches.
The Hummus is a good idea too. On a whole wheat bread...sprouts, fresh tomatoes.
Sardine butter sandwiches (that might be problematic with stinky fish oil tho).
A salad with fresh herbs, carrots, cranberries, radishes (kids aren't used to radishes, so the 'watermelon' radish would be good to use as it has a nice color and mild taste). Or some other 'exotic' veggie like a Jicama. And make a dressing in by shaking it in a canning jar. (hand it to a kid to shake the dressing).

Make a big bowl of the salad and bring a sleeve of small 'delitainers', or just small paper plates.

If bringing a electric kettle is okay...and a tea pot. Make some 'proper english tea'. Serve it iced with some of the ginger syrup mentioned here. Or better, little sugar cubes.
 
sdebrango
sdebrango April 30, 2012
What about your raspberry and honey cranachan without the whisky of course,
 
sdebrango
sdebrango April 30, 2012
You can make the oats ahead and bring in a container.
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx
sexyLAMBCHOPx April 30, 2012
fruit yogurt, & granola parfaits or rice krispie treats with gummy bears.
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. April 30, 2012
alternatively, you could have different bowls of plain unsweetened yoghurt and different jars of jam to give each bowl a different flavor. Mix the jam into the yoghurt and dip apple wedges into it for a special dessert (special because it's not just an apple). you could also have various condimenmts to dip the yoghurt apple wedges into- like raisins or dried cranberries or coconut or brown sugar.
best,
mindy
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. April 30, 2012
How about a very short lesson in herbs, where you mix various bowls of soft or whipped butter, each with a different herb, and you pass them around spread on bread. That way, they learn about smelling, what an herb is, and when they go home and ask Mom to make it, she won't hate you- because it's a simple recipe.

you could have your slices of baguette already set up on trays- each tray with a different herb butter- to be passed around after each herb of the demo.

best,
mindy
 
ChefOno
ChefOno April 30, 2012

If you don't want to be invited back for repeat performances, you could fill clear plastic drinking straws with a mixture of sugar and food coloring -- colorful, tasty and fun!

Could you bake brownies off site and demo a frosting?

Crudities and ranch dressing?

 
ChefOno
ChefOno April 30, 2012

I meant to say "butterscotch brownies".
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx
sexyLAMBCHOPx April 30, 2012
Maybe demo how to make the ranch or honey mustard dip and show cool ways to cut the veggies with a, julienne peeler, reg peeler, cookie cutters, etc. Or do the same with fruits, melon baller, etc with a fun yogurt dip.
 
HalfPint
HalfPint April 30, 2012
I totally love icebox cakes, the ones where you take cookies (or graham crackers), smear it with whipped cream or some kind of custard, layer in a dish, and then refrigerate to let the cookies soak up the liquid and get 'cakey'. You would have to make one in advance, but the kids could make their own mini-version in a little mason jar.
 
chairmanhu
chairmanhu April 30, 2012
I dunno if it's too desserty (real word?), but something like strawberries and cream? Alternatively, radishes with butter and salt?
 
Esther P.
Esther P. April 30, 2012
How about a dip? Hummus or something? Or a mashed bean dip if blending is an issue too. A stack of carrot, cucumber ad celery sticks and most 5 yr olds should be happy.... And there can't be many parents that would object to it! Good luck with whatever you choose... Tough audience!
 
SeaJambon
SeaJambon April 30, 2012
And marshmallow bars are always easy for kids - but you would need access to a microwave... If that worked, there are lots of "add-ins" (raisins and other dried fruits) that can make it even more fun, and without either nuts or chocolate.
 
Panfusine
Panfusine April 30, 2012
A pudding perhaps.. I had this recipe on the whole foods site.. Its a snap to make & feel free to omit the pistachios..
http://greaterdc.wholefoodsmarketcooking.com/recipes/12669_mango_shrikhand
 
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