No-Bake Owl Snack Cakes
These little owls make a tasty take-home favor for fall gatherings or winter woodland-themed parties. Banana-flavored marshmallow snack cakes can be found at most well-stocked grocery stores, but if you can’t find them, chocolate or oatmeal snack cakes could be used instead.
Heather Baird
- 6 marshmallow-filled snack cakes, banana flavor
- 24 standard cream-filled sandwich cookies (not double-stuffed)
- 12 semisweet chocolate chips
- 6 whole almonds
- 36 orange candy-coated sunflower seed (about 3 tablespoons)
- 1/4 cup readymade caramel sauce or corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons unsweet cocoa powder
- parchment paper
- 3-inch round cookie cutter
- 2 new (unused) art brushes
- Yield: 6 snack cakes
Instructions
1. Cover a work surface or cookie sheet with a large piece of parchment paper. Place the snack cakes onto the paper. Using the cookie cutter, gently score half circles onto each side of the cake to denote the owl's wings (don’t cut through, just make a line with the cutter).
Heather Baird
2. Twist apart the cream-filled sandwich cookies so that one half of each sandwich cookie has the white filling intact. Save the cookies with no filling for another use. Place two cookies filling-side-up and press a semisweet chocolate chip, pointed-side-down, into the cream filling.
Heather Baird
3. Brush a dime-sized portion of the caramel (or corn syrup) onto the backs of each cookie to act as 'glue'.
Heather Baird
4. Place the cookies side-by-side onto the upper third portion of the snack cake, creating ‘eyes’.
Heather Baird
5. Brush a small amount of caramel onto one side of a whole almond and place it just below each pair of owl eyes to create a beak.
Heather Baird
6. Brush a small amount of caramel, approximately 1/2” long, onto the left and right bottom edge of the snack cake.
Heather Baird
7. Place three sunflower seeds, with the pointed ends down, on each of the caramel brushstrokes to create talons.
Heather Baird
8. Use a dry art brush loaded with cocoa powder to color the half circle marks to denote the owl's wings.
Heather Baird
9. If giving as a gift, allow the snack cakes to stand at room temperature on the parchment paper until the talons, beak and eyes are well-adhered, for about two hours. Then place in a clear treat bag or small box.
Heather Baird
