Yeah, yeah, yeah, PANDAmonium

September 20, 2012 10:24 PM

Black and white or panda themed party food.

After throwing an epic goodbye Tai Shan when he left DC for China, my friend's panda party hiatus is over!
After some serious fertility issues, Tai Shan's mom, Mei Xing, gave birth to a new butterstick!
Goodbye panda party becomes Hello panda party!
Last time, following the request for black and white or panda themed foods, I made these but more awesome: (graham cracker ones, pretzel ones and oreo ones). Big crazy hit, for a crazy easy recipe.
I need some new black and white or panda-themed ideas to bring that will raise the bar from last year.
Requirements:
Doesn't have to be easy. Can be hard. Should be easy to transport.
Could be savory or sweet, but if savory it should be finger-food canape style.
black and white or otherwise panda related (not Chinese food generally, or bamboo-probably more like "looks like a panda!")
no meat-everything else is fine: dairy, eggs, gluten, nuts, etc.
Ideas?

posted by atomicstone to food & drink (19 answers total)

Oh man, make black sesame dumplings. Super bonus: make little sugarcane skewers for people to poke them with and then they can chew on it and pretend it's bamboo.
posted by Mizu at 10:36 PM on September 20, 2012

my friend made this panda bread successfully and it looks amazing
posted by saraindc at 10:39 PM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Black and White Cookies!
posted by mochapickle at 10:45 PM on September 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Look at the treasure trove of ideas that pops up when you google image search for "panda bento"!
posted by kitty teeth at 10:51 PM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Panda Cupcakes.
posted by Sylvia Plath's terrible fish at 11:33 PM on September 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Faux-reos or whoopie pies.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:54 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

What about All Sorts?

You'd have to find some with just black and white pieces, then pick through them.
posted by Gorgik at 3:31 AM on September 21, 2012

Er, not "just".
posted by Gorgik at 3:31 AM on September 21, 2012

Homemade oreos. (I've made these and they were delicious.)
posted by anaelith at 4:44 AM on September 21, 2012

I made this panda cake for my (panda crazy) sister's birthday earlier this year. I didn't use ready made cake mix or icing and it took me all day but it looked pretty good in the end. Be sure to not use natural black food colouring - it didn't work well enough.
posted by neilb449 at 5:21 AM on September 21, 2012

Black olive penguins!
posted by chiababe at 5:43 AM on September 21, 2012

This isn't black and white but it is panda-themed! Go to one of the big Asian markets in the area and pick up Hello Panda cookies. They're filled with frosting and SOOO GOOD. And cute!
posted by brilliantine at 6:04 AM on September 21, 2012

This is the thing for your party. Not sure where to get this candy though.
posted by travelwithcats at 8:12 AM on September 21, 2012

Panda licorice.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:28 AM on September 21, 2012

Can you get mini Oreos? Scoop of vanilla ice cream, with mini Oreos for ears and eyes and a chocolate chip for the nose.
posted by Soliloquy at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2012

Breadsticks that you shape like bamboo stalks? You could do the kind of thing like making an epi de ble baguette shape to add a couple of leaves to the center stalk.
posted by aimedwander at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2012

Some ideas:

- White bean dip topped with black sesame seeds
- onigiri with panda markings
- goat cheese topped with sticky dark balsamic vinegar. (This isn't quite black and white, more very dark brown and white, but so extremely tasty and easy that it was worth mentioning.) Also delicious and easy: goat cheese topped with tapenade. Either one is good with crackers, baguette slices, and/or crudités.
- black bean quesadillas with qhite cheddar on white corn tortillas, or black bean dip served with white corn chips
- here's my own recipe for black and white sandwich cookies [self-link, obviously]. They're rich and crispy, balancing the strong cocoa wafer against the sweet lush filling.
posted by Elsa at 10:56 AM on September 21, 2012

Panda Bear macarons!!!
posted by french films about trains at 5:41 PM on September 21, 2012

Thanks for all the great ideas. As you may be aware, our baby panda died suddenly on Sunday. Party has been cancelled. I shall file your great ideas away for the next time we have a baby panda. Soon, I hope!
posted by atomicstone at 2:59 PM on September 24, 2012