Needed:
Rice Krispie treats
White fondant
Red and blue edible markers
Pretzel stick
Tiny bit of melted chocolate
Small piece of red Fruit by the Foot
Jelly letters (optional)
Red gumdrop (optional)
Have you caught the Bento craze? Are you busy making special lunches for your kids, where crackers and tomatoes become ladybugs and a hot dog becomes an octopus? If you haven’t gotten on board with the specialized lunches, you’re missing out on the fun, and your kids are losing out on finding those fabulous surprises in their lunchboxes. It’s as exciting to the person who fixes the Bento lunch as it is to the person who receives it. Get started with a fun snack/dessert that looks like paper and a pencil – perfect for a school kid.
An edible paper and pencil will be a thrilling find for the child who opens his lunchbox and finds it. The paper is actually a Rice Krispie treat and most any child can claim that as a favorite food. If you don’t know how to make the treats, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Stir in 10 ounces of marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in 6 cups of Rice Krispies and quickly pour into a well-buttered, rectangular pan. Press the cereal mix into the pan so that it’s pretty thin; it might be necessary to pour some of the mix into another pan.
Cut the notebook paper shape from the Rice Krispie treats. It doesn’t have to have any specific measurements; cut a piece to be a large square or rectangle. Make frosting out of fondant and the treat will look so much more like notebook paper. Work white fondant, roll it out very thinly, and cut the notebook paper shape. Lay the fondant on the Rice Krispie treat.
A red and a blue edible marker can help you create the red line down the side of the notebook paper, and the blue lines that are horizontal. Cut a piece of clean, thin cardboard to use as a straight line, if you wish. Use the straight line to draw a red margin line on the left of the paper, as well as blue lines that go down the length of the paper.
A single pretzel stick makes a great pencil. Pick at the end of the pretzel stick to create a point and dip the point in melted chocolate. A chocolate chip or two will work fine; melt them in the microwave. Cut a piece of red Fruit by the Foot and wrap it around the opposite end of the pretzel to finish the pencil.
You can make a gumdrop apple or even put in jelly letters (ABC, the child’s name, etc.). Bento lunches, with a school theme, are fun and delicious. Just ask your children when they get home from school!
