Father's Day Snack Mix

Being a Dad is hungry work, isn’t it? Mix it up this year with a fun Father’s Day Ties n’ Mustaches food gift. Present the snack mix to Dad in a little paint can favor box along with his favorite beverage. Or just in a big bowl, which I’m sure will please him just the same. For the candy part of the snack mix, you can make any of his favorite things instead of ties and mustaches. Little hammers or baseballs or music notes or… well, the kids will know best what those “things” are. You can also just have the younger kids pipe dots and squiggles for Dad instead of the more complicated shapes.

How to make Ties n’ Mustaches Snack Mix:

You will need:*

Candy melts (chocolate/brown for the mustaches and any other colors)

Disposable decorating bags

Scissors

Baking trays

Wax or parchment paper

Kix Cereal, nuts, dried fruits, pretzels, or any of Dad’s favorites

*Find candy melts and 12-inch disposable decorating bags at the craft store.

 To make the mustaches: Line a baking tray with wax or parchment paper and set aside. Place about ½ cup of brown candy melts in a disposable decorating bag. Microwave for 90 seconds at 70 percent power. Massage the bag and continue to microwave at 15-second intervals until fully melted. Twist the top of the bag closed and secure with a rubber band if desired. Snip off about ¼ inch from the tip of the bag. On the baking tray, pipe mustaches by piping a dot and pulling to one side, repeating on the other side. The finished mustaches are about 1 inch across. Let harden at least 1 hour before packaging.   To make the tie, repeat the instructions above for melting candy melts using two different colors. Snip ¼ inch off of the tip of a decorating bag filled with melted candy melts, and pipe a dot and the diamond for the tie. Snip 1/8 inch off the tip of another bag of melted candy melts in a different color. Pipe stripes or dots on the ties. Let harden about 1 hour before packaging. Mix together an assortment of Kix cereal, nuts, pretzels, dried fruits and chocolate shapes.     Meaghan Mountford, author of Sugarlicious: 50 Cute and Clever Treats for Every Occasion, has been creating crafty sweets for 15 years. She is especially fond of decorating cookies, marshmallows and putting sweets on sticks. See more on her blog, the decorated cookie.