Sharks in the kitchen!
May 12, 2021 7:35 AM Subscribe
I'm going to a shark themed picnic and need to bring an appropriate treat!
My book club recently read "Sharks in the Time of Saviors". We are meeting in Central Park this weekend to discuss and I'd love to bring a nice shark-y dessert or snack. What can I bring?
Difficulty - I'll be taking the subway there, so whatever it is has to fit in a tupperware in my backpack. So it cant be like, a giant cake, or a watermelon carved into a shark head or anything huge and unwieldy. No booze either, which takes out any kind of themed cocktail. Basically I'm hoping for some kind of cookie or cupcake or brownie etc that somehow invokes the idea of sharks or I guess Hawaii (where the book is mostly set).
There will be six adults and one child. I'm in nyc with access to pretty much any ingredient. I have a tiny kitchen with the basic stuff. No candy thermometer, no cookie cutters, no icing pipers. Assume that I have already googled "shark based snacks" and seen the lists and suggestions online.
My book club recently read "Sharks in the Time of Saviors". We are meeting in Central Park this weekend to discuss and I'd love to bring a nice shark-y dessert or snack. What can I bring?
Difficulty - I'll be taking the subway there, so whatever it is has to fit in a tupperware in my backpack. So it cant be like, a giant cake, or a watermelon carved into a shark head or anything huge and unwieldy. No booze either, which takes out any kind of themed cocktail. Basically I'm hoping for some kind of cookie or cupcake or brownie etc that somehow invokes the idea of sharks or I guess Hawaii (where the book is mostly set).
There will be six adults and one child. I'm in nyc with access to pretty much any ingredient. I have a tiny kitchen with the basic stuff. No candy thermometer, no cookie cutters, no icing pipers. Assume that I have already googled "shark based snacks" and seen the lists and suggestions online.
Shark themed charcuterie plate? If you slice a wedge of Drunken Goat or some other white-ish cheese into triangles they can be arranged like rows of shark teeth at the top and bottom of the plate, and the salami or prosciutto can be in between, as if inside the shark’s makeshift “mouth.”
posted by slmorri at 7:43 AM on May 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by slmorri at 7:43 AM on May 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Extra points for macadamia nuts and pineapple and coconut?
Aloha cupcakes with blue frosting and Sublimity's mentioned fins
Or add to the charcuterie plate - dried pineapple, macadamia nuts, and dried coconut chunks/curls
posted by RoadScholar at 7:47 AM on May 12, 2021
Aloha cupcakes with blue frosting and Sublimity's mentioned fins
Or add to the charcuterie plate - dried pineapple, macadamia nuts, and dried coconut chunks/curls
posted by RoadScholar at 7:47 AM on May 12, 2021
Strawberry smoothies? You could call them "Buckets O' Chum." Bonus points if there are still large-ish bits of strawberry in there.
posted by jquinby at 7:47 AM on May 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by jquinby at 7:47 AM on May 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
Lady fingers!
posted by BostonTerrier at 8:06 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by BostonTerrier at 8:06 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
...served with a side of Quince!
I'll show myself out, thanks.
posted by jquinby at 8:08 AM on May 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
I'll show myself out, thanks.
posted by jquinby at 8:08 AM on May 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I think you need some shark-shaped cookie cutters (with next-day delivery, which these particular ones may or may not have - can't tell from the UK).
Alternatively, these pineapple cookies look as if they'd travel well.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:13 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Alternatively, these pineapple cookies look as if they'd travel well.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:13 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Do you need to bring a dessert? If not I'd go with the Hawaii setting and bring spam musubi. It's a really nice little picnic snack, and the saltiness will be great if you're out in the sun and heat drinking a lot of water.
posted by phunniemee at 8:16 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 8:16 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sprite (or seltzer) with grenadine in and a toy shark or gummy if possible
posted by raccoon409 at 8:37 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by raccoon409 at 8:37 AM on May 12, 2021
There used to be some Baby Shark branded kids food - cereal and gummies and stuff. Not sure if it still exists though.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:51 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by kevinbelt at 8:51 AM on May 12, 2021
Oooh! I had a friend take a big watermelon. Scoop out it's innards and carve a mouth with shark teeth into the side. Then arranged it with bits of watermelon coming out of it's mouth like chum. It was glorious.
ETA: You said no watermelon shark. My reading comprehension clearly needs work...I just got so excited! What about a mini-watermelon but same principle?
posted by jeszac at 8:58 AM on May 12, 2021
ETA: You said no watermelon shark. My reading comprehension clearly needs work...I just got so excited! What about a mini-watermelon but same principle?
posted by jeszac at 8:58 AM on May 12, 2021
I'd repurpose the super easy Butterfly/Fairy cake - basically mini-sponge cakes, you cut the tops off them and use those to make 'wings', but I bet you could just cut a triangle, big swirl of blue icing, stick it in as a 'fin'. Pick an icing or frosting that hardens and they should stay put over the journey if you handle them reasonably carefully.
posted by AFII at 9:01 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by AFII at 9:01 AM on May 12, 2021
I'm certain that gummy sharks exist (there are many kinds but Albanese always makes the best gummies). How about this fish bowl gelatin recipe with gummy sharks?
If you wanted to be adult (reserve a couple specifically marked for the child) you could do this as jello shots.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:17 AM on May 12, 2021
If you wanted to be adult (reserve a couple specifically marked for the child) you could do this as jello shots.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:17 AM on May 12, 2021
Oh, foo, I just noticed the no-booze. You could still do plain jello cups, or the big bowl would probably travel best.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:18 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:18 AM on May 12, 2021
Lazy idea: surfboard shaped cookies (Pepperidge Farm brand Milanos if you don't want to bake) with a toothy "bite" taken out of them. Perhaps with a few dabs of red icing.
posted by eotvos at 9:31 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by eotvos at 9:31 AM on May 12, 2021
Best answer: Could you handle a glass casserole dish? Blue jello, gummy sharks, drink umbrellas, fruit leather, cookie crumbs, and I personally would add little Sour Patch Kids sunbathing/fleeing the beach: shark-infested jell-o.
A more portable version might be to make sharky blue jell-o (use the concentrated "jello shot" formula so they're quite firm, but with water or lemonade instead of alcohol) in a silicone muffin pan so they pop out, and serve with lemon Oreos or Biscoff cookies or other sand-colored cookies.
You could do basically the same with cake - white frosting dyed with blue gel food coloring on one half, push the sharks down into it, sandy cookie crumbs with the beach gear over undyed frosting on the other half.
Is anybody bringing beverages? The "family friendly" version of this blue lemonade uses ginger ale and blue koolaid - I think you could half that recipe, make the non-water part as concentrate to travel in one repurposed 2l bottle, and then carry a separate half gallon of plain or sparkling water to mix on site.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:33 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
A more portable version might be to make sharky blue jell-o (use the concentrated "jello shot" formula so they're quite firm, but with water or lemonade instead of alcohol) in a silicone muffin pan so they pop out, and serve with lemon Oreos or Biscoff cookies or other sand-colored cookies.
You could do basically the same with cake - white frosting dyed with blue gel food coloring on one half, push the sharks down into it, sandy cookie crumbs with the beach gear over undyed frosting on the other half.
Is anybody bringing beverages? The "family friendly" version of this blue lemonade uses ginger ale and blue koolaid - I think you could half that recipe, make the non-water part as concentrate to travel in one repurposed 2l bottle, and then carry a separate half gallon of plain or sparkling water to mix on site.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:33 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
eotvos' suggestion 'surfboard shaped cookies' made me think of Trader Joe's longboard organic tortilla chips which are easily paired with a salsa or dip.
Make some grey fondant, fabricate some shark fins, and have those sticking out the top of cupcake frosting, or (store bought?) brownies/cake, maybe with a layer of dark blue icing (sea) on top.
Lean in to the beach/hawaii vibes and fabricate fondant/chewing gum flip flops for cupcake toppers. Decorate Nutter Butters as flipflops.
Pineapple isn't native to hawaii but it is often associated with that location - cut pineapple chunks, maybe with shark fin picks?
Helium Shark balloon would be obnoxious on the train, but would mark the group outside (so people can find you) and fun for the kid to take home?
posted by enfa at 10:06 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Make some grey fondant, fabricate some shark fins, and have those sticking out the top of cupcake frosting, or (store bought?) brownies/cake, maybe with a layer of dark blue icing (sea) on top.
Lean in to the beach/hawaii vibes and fabricate fondant/chewing gum flip flops for cupcake toppers. Decorate Nutter Butters as flipflops.
Pineapple isn't native to hawaii but it is often associated with that location - cut pineapple chunks, maybe with shark fin picks?
Helium Shark balloon would be obnoxious on the train, but would mark the group outside (so people can find you) and fun for the kid to take home?
posted by enfa at 10:06 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
cold custard; plastic shark.
posted by k3ninho at 2:01 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by k3ninho at 2:01 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I bought the shark cookie cutters linked by ManyLeggedCreature and I'm going to try my best to make some nice cookies. If that fails, I'll make a big jug of Lyn Never's suggested Blue Lemondade. Lots of good ideas here though!
posted by silverstatue at 6:32 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by silverstatue at 6:32 PM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Sublimity at 7:42 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]