Mardi Gras Treats!

Mardi Gras is a yearly festival celebrated in many countries around the world.  In the U.K. this day is known as "Pancake Day" or "Shrove Tuesday" coming just before Lent. This day traditionally marks the last opportunity for feasting and celebration before forty days of giving up things you consider treats! Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French. Why not celebrate with a difference and instead of the regular pancakes try some of the foods eaten in Europe.

If anyone ever asks what a King Cake is, you can tell them that you know the answer. This delicious cake is one of the special treats for Mardi Gras. It is made with sugar, eggs, cinnamon, flour, and butter. The cake dough must be shaped into long ropes and then these are braided. The braided strands of dough are connected in an oval. This makes the cake look a bit like a doughnut with a hole in the centre.

Once a King Cake has been baked and cooled a tiny little plastic doll is slipped inside. Then the cake is frosted with a delicious frosting so no one knows where the doll is. Purple, green, and gold coloured sugars are sprinkled over the frosting. Whoever gets the slice of cake that contains the doll is “King” or “Queen” for the rest of the day.

The Mardi Gras colours are Purple, Green, and Gold and are seen all during Carnival Season. Mardi Gras is celebrated every year in February. Here are some special treats you can make at home to welcome Mardi Gras.

King Doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 bag of doughnuts
A can of frosting
Purple, green, and gold coloured sugar crystals

Directions:

Frost each doughnut
Sprinkle with coloured sugar
Place each one on a saucer
Under 1 saucer place a small square of paper that says “King”
Let everyone choose a doughnut and see who gets the crown.

Mardi Gras Salad Snack

Ingredients:

Lettuce or Spinach
1/2 cup of purple grapes (cut in half with seeds removed)
½ cup of Raisins (we will pretend these are purple)
1 Golden Delicious Apple
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise…you can add a little more if needed

Directions:

Place 1-2 lettuce or spinach leaf in each salad bowl
Get an adult to help you cut the grapes and chop the unpeeled apple into little chunks.
Now mix the raisins, apple, and mayonnaise together in a medium sized bowl and put a little Mardi Gras salad snack on top of each lettuce or spinach leaf. Roll these up and eat them.

Mardi Gras Mask

Make a Mardi Gras Mask to wear because costumes and masks are very popular in New Orleans for Carnival Season.

Draw a Mask on a piece of coloured construction paper. The mask can look like big sunglasses or cover your entire face.

Cut it out and be sure to cut holes for your eyes.

Decorate your mask by using glue to attach glitter and feathers.

You might want to put shiny stickers on your mask or use colours and markers to draw special designs.

Glue a straw, a pipe cleaner, or a craft stick to one edge of your mask to hold it up to your face.

Now you are ready for the Masked Balls that are an important part of Carnival Season.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

Check out our range of kids dressing-up costumes inside. 
 

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