Cookies and milk are not the only snack options for the Christmas holiday season.
Fun to make and even more enjoyable to eat, Christmas-themed snacks are ideal for casual parties to to fill in the times between meals. Throughout December, incorporate the holiday theme in all of your snacks and meals to prolong the festive Christmas atmosphere. Make your own Christmas snacks for a fresher treat than the packaged red and green snacks from the grocery store. Does this Spark an idea?
Pretzel Rods
For a Christmas snack pretty enough to give as a gift, make chocolate-dipped pretzel rods. Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave. Dip the bottom half of a pretzel rod into the melted chocolate. Roll the dipped portion in crushed peppermint candies and sprinkle it with green decorating sugar. Cool the pretzel rods on wax paper until the chocolate hardens. Keep these snacks in an air-tight container for up to one week at room temperature.
Sandwich Shapes
Use cookie cutters to cut prepared sandwiches into Christmas shapes. Make a sandwich and press a Christmas tree or star-shaped cookie cutter into the top of the sandwich and press it all the way to the bottom. Use metal cookie cutters if the sandwich has a meat or vegetable filling. The metal cookie cutter will pass through the bread and tougher fillings better than a plastic cutter. Use smaller cookie cutters for cutting slices of melon into stars, snowmen or Christmas tree shapes for serving as a side dish for the sandwich snack.
Tree Dip
Prepare an artichoke or spinach dip using your favorite recipe. Put it into a tree-shaped serving bowl. Such bowls are found in the holiday serving-dish area of mass merchandisers or kitchen-supply stores. Top the dip with cherry tomatoes at the tip of each of the branches on the bowl. The cherry tomatoes resemble Christmas ornament balls on a tree. Serve the dip with skewers of alternating slices of green bell pepper and cherry tomato. This snack is especially ideal for serving at a party with a menu of light appetizers.
Festive Chips
Instead of fried, white chips, serve festive and healthy, baked red and green chips. Use cookie cutters to cut star and tree shapes from green spinach tortillas and red tomato tortillas. These colored tortillas are labeled either as flour tortillas or sandwich wraps. Look for them in the bread section, the bakery or the deli of your local supermarket. Spray the red- and green-tortilla shapes with cooking spray on both sides and sprinkle them with salt. Bake the tortilla shapes in a 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for five to seven minutes or until they begin to slightly darken. Remove the chips to a cooling rack to allow them to cool and become crisp. Serve these festive tortilla chips with a bowl each of red and green salsa for dipping.
Tags: cookie cutters, cherry tomatoes, Christmas tree, cookie cutter, metal cookie