Itsy Bitsy Foodies

I have seen dessert sushi before and have even attempted it with rice pudding, which was a disaster.  It wasn’t until my cousin made it with Rice Krispie Treats (a brilliant idea!) for her daughter’s 1st birthday party that I thought seriously about it again.  It was the perfect addition to a treat table that I recently did for an Ariel birthday party. 

The sushi is easy to make.  I recommend making the Rice Krispie Treats extra moist so that they are easy to roll and form into sushi.  It also works well to spread out the Rice Krispie Treats into one and a half pans so that they make a thinner layer of treats.  When ultimately rolled into sushi the thinner “rice” layer makes the bite-sized desserts easier to eat. 

Ingredients

Rice Krispie Treats:

4 Tbsp butter

40 large marshmallows

5 cups Rice Krispie cereal

2-3 large spoonfuls of marshmallow creme

Swedish Fish or other gummy fish candies

Green Fruit by the Foot or Fruit Roll-us

To make the Rice Krispie Treats, measure out the rice cereal so that it is ready to pour into the melted marshmallow mixture.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.  Add the marshmallows to the melted butter and stir them constantly until they have completely dissolved.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the rice cereal, working quickly to stir the melted marshmallows and cereal together before the marshmallow mixture starts to harden.  Stir in a couple of spoonfuls of marshmallow creme to reach your desired consistency.

Spread the mixture into a greased 9×13-inch pan and a greased 8×8-inch pan.  (This quantity of Rice Krispie Treats usually goes in one 9×13 pan but I spread the mixture thinner so that when rolled the sushi is easier to eat.)  To prevent sticking, wet your hands with water or use a damp paper towel to press the Rice Krispie Treats into the pan. 

Let the treats set for 10 minutes.  They should still be moist, pliable and easy to work with. 

To make hand-formed sushi (nigirizushi), cut rectangular pieces of Rice Krispie Treats (roughly 1 inch x 2 1/2-3 inches) and gently round the edges to make more of a mound.  Place a large Swedish Fish on top.  As an optional decorative finish, cut a thin strip of green fruit roll-up or Fruit by the Foot to wrap around the “rice” and the gummy fish.

To make rolled sushi (makizushi), cut rectangular pieces of Rice Krispie Treats the width of the Fruit by the Foot (roughly 3/4 inch) and as long as you would like.  I cut rectangles roughly three inches long so that when rolled the sushi wasn’t too thick.  You can experiment and find what works for you.  Working with one at a time, press a “rice” rectangle onto a Fruit by the Foot and then top it with one mini Swedish Fish or a small chunk of gummy candy.  Starting with the cut end, roll up the sushi and then cut the other end of the Fruit by the Foot, sealing the ends together. 

(If you can find green fruit roll up sheets, you could make dessert sushi as you would regular rolled sushi.  The sheet of fruit roll up would act like the seaweed.  Press the “rice” onto the fruit roll up and then sprinkle gummy candies along the bottom edge, rolling up the sushi and slicing it into pieces.)   

Serve the dessert sushi immediately or store the treats in a sealed container or a Ziploc bag to prevent them from drying out until you are ready to serve them.

TIP: I used the Target brand generic version of Fruit by the Foot because they have a green color that matched my theme and most closely resembled the color of sushi.  The fruit rolls were sticky and hard to work with.  I recommend rolling the sushi on waxed paper so that the fruit-flavored roll doesn’t stick to the surface and tear while you make the sushi.