This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Kraft. All opinions are mine alone. #SweetenTheSeason #CollectiveBias
Its been mentioned before and will probably be mentioned again, Kent and I host an Open House every year at Christmas time, a time for all our family, friends, neighbours,work buds,acquaintances, people we meet in the grocery store (Ok not quite that wide spread but close) Seriously we invite everyone and their families, its a time to bring everyone together and spread Christmas cheer. This year I thought I would try something different for the under 18 group, create a special area just for them to make them feel welcome ( and maybe fill them up on a sugar high before sending them home). Now I am a baker so cookies would be easy but hey kids get cookies everywhere right? So I stumbled on the idea of a Shooter Bar, actually a Dessert Shooter Bar with a focus on the holidays so hello Candy Cane right?
If you were 12 or 8 or even 18, heck even if you are 48 wouldn’t you be happy with a shooter bar filled with all kinds of deliciousness? I know I would, so guess where you will find me, hanging at the bar, I mean with the Kids.
So how exactly does one create a Shooter Bar you may wonder, well a bit of planning, a bit of shopping ( and hopefully you have a Walmart with a Bake shop closeby) and a bit of imagination and of course a sweet tooth. I wanted to keep things simple, create a few basic shooter desserts but also offer additional condiments for people to add special touches ( and Joy Juice AKA Water in fun jars is also a necessity)
I started with the basics Jello Pudding in chocolate, Vanilla and Pistachio and created some basic dishes, some tri flavoured, some double the fun flavours and a few solo cups for the non- adventuress guest.
and then I went with some flavouered whip creams
offer chocolate shavings and candy cane pieces
and maybe candy canes and red velvet cupcake marshmallows ( to add or on their own)
How quick, easy and festive does this all look together right, all set up in the Family room just waiting for the munchkins to arrive. So on a serious note, to get ready I took a quick trip to the Walmart in Ogdensburg and was able to find everything I needed ( well except for the no bake Candy Cane Dessert Mix that I was pretending I wanted for the shooters but actually I just wanted it for myself LOL). Walmart has a bakers aisle where all the ingredients you want are all together in on spot, quick and easy, I was in and out in no time at all. ( and lets not even talk about how inexpensive all these ingredients are)
My list was quite simple, Jello Pudding, Bakers semi sweet Chocolate, some Jet Puffed ( my secret ingredient) Red Velvet Marshmallows and Jello gelatin in any colour I could find ( another secret ingredient). grabbed it all, headed back home and I was set for a dessert marathon. Get ready you ae going to be shocked at how fast you can whip all of this together or as a great family activity everything here is kid friendly, no baking required.
I started with the three puddings but a little trick for you, I substituted eggnog for the milk in the Chocolate pudding and added some candy cane to the vanilla, and of course the pistachio is festive enough on its own. Two cups of milk, a mixer and two minutes and the puddings are ready to be set aside.
Next up was the whipped cream ( and my secret ingredient or bonus hack) add some marshmallow to your whipping cream to make the consistency a little more “stiff” plus no sugar is required and then…
Here it is folks coolest idea ever….. remember all that Jello, well you are going to use them to colour your whip cream ( its true honest and if you are ever out of food colouring, jello can be used to colour cookies/frosting/fondant, you name it, instant colour and some additional yummy flavours. I divided the whip cream into several bowls and then added the equivalent of a tablespoon of jello mix to each bowl. I say equivalent because I don’t measure I usually go by what colour I want.
How cool right, two great hacks for the price of one and if you want more well head over to Kraft , I promise you will not be disappointed.
So I have one piece checked off my list for the open house, Shooter bar is set to go and I can’t wait for the kids to discover all the yummy goodness, so have you checked out Kraft yet? I am curious about some of the other cool recipes and hacks so check back and let me know what you tried and how it worked.
