The Beaker Expedition

I'm breaking with tradition today by not putting a photo on the top of the blog post.

See...I feel like this story needs to work up to a photo. 

I would start with "Once upon a time" but it's not that kind of story. This is more of a "Oh my goodness, are you kidding me" kind of story.

It's not even a recipe story. I suppose it could be...I will be listing off ingredients and directions...anyway - you will see as we get there.

Sue had to go to dinner at her in-laws. It was her husband's birthday so her mother-in-law decided to put on a spread. All Sue had to do was bring the burgers.

Simple enough.

Sue's hubby said he didn't want a birthday cake but, instead, wanted heaps of Rice Krispie squares.

Again, simple enough.

Sue made up the Rice Krispie squares and had them ready to go. But then she thought, "Boy, that's kind of boring. I think I need to add something fun so it's a little more memorable."

She happened to be at my house looking at one of our favorite sites to steal *ahem..borrow* ideas from (Hungry Happenings) when we came across the most adorable Beaker character made out of a twinkie.

Remember, Beaker, the hapless assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew on The Muppet Show?

Anyway, Rob is a Muppet fan so we thought, you know, how difficult can that be?

Here is where things start to get complicated.

The main "ingredient" to assemble this cute little guy is a twinkie. Want to know one of the benefits of living in an itty bitty town? Well, it's NOT access to a lot of products.

That's right. No twinkies anywhere. Trust me, we looked.

Okay, we're pretty thrifty. We start looking at what we could use instead of a twinkie. Long John donuts were what we came up with. So we bought some. And then we decided they were way to big to go with the other "ingredients" to make Beaker. We walked up and down the grocery store aisles looking for twinkie shaped goodies.

We finally settled on a hot dog bun. Right shape, a little big but it could be trimmed down, a little dark but - oh well, Beaker has a tan.   

We debated then changing him from a sweet treat to a savory treat, using cheese and olives and such instead of candies BUT that would just be weird with the Rice Krispies so...on with the sweetness.

Have I mentioned yet that we had to have this done in an hour and it took us about 40 minutes to find the ingredients?

Yeah. We work well under pressure.

So, now we are in Sue's kitchen. Hot dog bun at the ready.

Here is the list of ingredients that Beth at Hungry Happenings had listed -

Hostess Twinkies (or similar snack cake)

modeling chocolate

food coloring - orange, red, black

black edible ink marker

powdered sugar for dusting cutting board

rolling pin

knife

clay extruder (or a very clean garlic press)

white frosting or melted white chocolate

Here is what Sue and I had managed to pull together -

hot dog bun (body)

1 orange M&M (nose)

red fruit roll up (tongue)

1 white and 1 black sugared Gumdrops (tie and shirt)

orange Airhead (hair)

Mini marshmallow (eyes)

2 mini chocolate chips (eyes)

bit of white icing (to stick everything on)

black edible ink marker (tongue)

bit of granulated sugar for cutting board

rolling pin

sharp knife

Can you see a bit of a difference?

You really REALLY need to click HERE to visit Hungry Happenings to see Beth's Beaker. He is really cute, I promise. You also need to visit her if you want the instructions.

Except for the Airhead for the hair and Gumdrops for the tie, I think everything else is pretty self explanatory.

To turn the Airheads into hair - cut into thin strips with a sharp knife. Heat for a few seconds in the microwave (maybe 4 - 6 seconds) and then quickly roll back and forth in your hands to shape into long strings. Cut to proper length to form hair.

To turn the Gumdrops into a tie - sprinkle cutting board with granulated sugar, roll out gumdrops, one color at a time, until you reach the desired size. Cut with sharp knife to shape. (We used the photo at Hungry Happenings for a guide.)

If you would like us to clarify anything else we did with ours, please ask!

 

Okay, all things considered, I think we did pretty well.

Have you gone to look at the cute Beaker that Beth made? Okay, do that now. You need to see what we were aiming for.

Are you ready? here is our masterpiece...

 

 

And one more for the heck of it. Beaker in the middle of his Rice Krispie mountains.

 

 

He was pretty easy to put together. I think if we had ACTUALLY had the proper ingredients he would have been a touch cuter. As is, he is cute but a little weird. Which is okay...he just fits into our family that much better.

 

Check out Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons for some fun food and craft links!