Some years ago it was my father’s cousin’s birthday. Therefore I wanted to surprise her with some fun snacks. I have seen somewhere the photo of these snacks and I thought “that can’t be so difficult”. And it was not. It only takes some time, because there is quite some cutting and putting pieces together. It is like a puzzle. But when you make 3 of them you just start doing it without thinking too much. These Pingu snacks are something different, refreshing and they put a smile on your face.
Ok, this is what you need to create the Pingu snacks (20 pieces):
- 25 big black olives (without stone)
- 25 small black olives (without stone)
- 2 carrots
- cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
- 20 toothpicks
How to cut the carrots:
Start with carrots. First, peel them and cut in 3 millimetres thin circles. That means you don’t cut lengthwise but you start at the round part (like you see on my drawing). Try not to cut them too thick, because later it will be harder to eat. Cut something more than 20 pieces; around 25. Probably you will need an extra piece.
Now done that, take one small round piece of carrot, place it flat on the cutting board, cut it in half and again in half and again and again; until you get small 2-3 millimetre pieces. Those will be used as a beak. Beak? Yes, we are making a bird. But don’t worry, they can’t fly. So you should make 20 small pieces for the 20 beaks.
The rest of the carrot circles will be used as feet. Take each circle, place it flat down and cut out 1/4 (do the first cut to the middle of the circle and at the angle of 90° the second cut). You can use this part also to cut out the beaks. Whatever is easier for you. You will see not every cut will be great, so maybe you will need to do more extra pieces. They are all small, so you will not need an extra carrot.
How to cut olives:
For the body parts and heads, I used black olives. Black because that is how the King penguin looks like. Here I cut only the big olives. You make a cut lengthwise on each of the bigger olives; not completely through but only on one side. You will need 20 pieces of these too. Well, you figured it out by now that you need 20 pieces of everything. Take the Philadelphia cheese and with a small spoon or knife fill the big olives; spreading it gently. The part with the cheese will be the penguin’s belly.
Now the small olives. These are the heads. Take an olive and make a small cut (like a micro hole) in the middle; just with the tip of the knife. In that cut you stick the little carrot piece that you have made for the beak. The thicker side goes in the cut. And there you have a penguin’s face.
How to put the pieces together:
Time for building the Pingu snacks now. Starting at the bottom; first place the feet (circle carrot minus 1/4), then the belly (big olive with cream cheese – turn the belly to the side where the missing part of the carrot is), then the head (small olive with small carrot beak – the big hole should be facing down, the small up) and at the end go through all with a toothpick. That will help that everything stays together.
Voilà! We have made penguins. Enjoy!
