Colorful Critter Train

Name: Colorful Critter Train
Prep time: 2 h 5 min
Cook time: 2 h 5 min
Total time: 2 h 5 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 2 rolls of Wild Cherry Life Savers; 2 chocolate-covered mint cookies (1-3/4 inches); 1 serving Red Hots or Wilton Cinnamon Sprinkle Decorations; 946 milliliters confectioners sugar; 1 animal cracker; 1 serving Dish towels; 1 bag Pastry; 454 grams box of graham crackers; 1 serving Green food coloring; 1 drop Red gum; 14 x 19-inch board or heavy cardboard, covered with freezer paper or plastic table covering; 3 candy clown or clown head icing decorations (optional); 10 x 5-inch jelly roll pan; 1 serving Red shoestring licorice or Twizzlers Pull-N-Peel Licorice; 1 package Small of M&M Candies; 3 tablepoons Wilton Meringue Powder; 10 pretzel sticks (3 inches long); 1 small Decorator tips—ribbon, round, and large stars (Wilton ribbon tip #5 and star tips #18 23); 1 serving Waxed paper; 1 serving Finely serrated thin-blade knife; 4 shortbread cookies (1-3/4 inches); 1 roll of Assorted Life Savers; 6 sugar wafers; 5 chocolate/vanilla sandwich cookies (one 2-1/8 inches across and the rest 1-5/8 inches across); 6 Tbsps warm water; 1 package cake mix (regular size); 1 serving Cutting board; 1 serving Pattern; 1 serving Ruler

Colorful Critter Train might be just the main course you are searching for. This recipe covers 60% of your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. One portion of this dish contains approximately 361g of protein, 534g of fat, and a total of 12457 calories. This recipe serves 1. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes. Head to the store and pick up waxed paper, twizzlers pull-n-peel licorice, wilton cinnamon sprinkle decorations, and a few other things to make it today. To use up the lime peel you could follow this main course with the Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios as a dessert.

Instructions

be done a week in advance and stored in an airtight container. Do make sure to have extra icing on hand the day of the party for any necessary last-minute repairs.

Ingredients you will need

Icing

CUTTING CRACKERS/COOKIES: Use a clean ruler and knife to score straight cutting lines onto graham crackers and cookies.

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Crackers

Equipment you will use

Knife

Cut

along straight lines with the knife, working with one cookie or cracker at a time.

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Equipment you will use

Knife

Place cookie or cracker always on crumb-free cutting board, cleaning the board often. Draw the knife toward you on the scored line without applying pressure. Continue to make similar strokes toward you until the cut is completed (five or more strokes).

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Equipment you will use

Cutting Board

Knife

To cut curved lines, guide the knife along the lines to make the first stroke. Then cut in the established groove until cut is complete. Or gently carve away the cracker to the marked line.

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Equipment you will use

Knife

ICING: Make icing with recipe that follows, using it to glue the train pieces together and decorate them. Making sure that bowl and utensils are grease-free, beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes with heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes with hand mixer). Keep in an airtight covered bowl. Cover bowl and

Ingredients you will need

Icing

Equipment you will use

Hand Mixer

Blender

Bowl

pastry bags with damp dish towels. *For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

Ingredients you will need

Icing

Water

Equipment you will use

Kitchen Towels

Pastry Bag

ASSEMBLY: For each car, refer to appropriate diagrams and individual directions. To glue pieces together, fill a round-tipped pastry tube with icing and add lines of icing to edges of pieces being added or as directed.

Ingredients you will need

Icing

Cut graham cracker base piece(s) and sugar wafer axles for each car as directed, then glue sugar wafer axles on edge about 1/2 inch from each short edge.

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Sugar

Wafer

Base

Decorating:. As assembly of each car is completed, decorate cars with icing stars (using smaller star tip to make stars), or cover areas with dots, stars or rows of icing, then press in rows of Red Hots, Cinnamon

Ingredients you will need

Cinnamon

Red Cinnamon Candy

Icing

Sprinkle Decorations or M&Ms as shown. If desired, add candy clowns or clown heads to back of engine cab and front and back of caboose.

Ingredients you will need

Candy

M&ms

Cut two 2- x 4-inch graham crackers. Glue these together for a two-layered base. Glue on a 1-1/2-inch wafer axle (front) and a 2-inch wafer axle (back).

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Wafer

Base

Cab: Glue four shortbread cookies on edge for sides and add a 2-1/2-inch-square graham cracker roof.

Ingredients you will need

Shortbread Cookies

Graham Crackers

Wheels: Glue a Life

Saver wheel to each end of the front axle. Glue chocolate-covered cookies to the back axle, making sure that the engine sits evenly.

Ingredients you will need

Chocolate

Add a Life

Saver to the center of each cookie wheel. For each side, cut a 3-inch piece of licorice and glue from center of front wheel to center of back wheel.

Ingredients you will need

Licorice

Front: Glue four 1-5/8-inch sandwich cookies on edge in front of cab. For cow-catcher, cut and use one half of one 2-1/8-inch sandwich cookie, gluing at an angle to front of graham

Ingredients you will need

Sandwich Cookies

cracker base. Form a smokestack by gluing together four Life

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Base

Savers, alternating colors. Glue to top front of engine front. Decorate as directed above.

Cut two 2- x 2-1/2-inch graham crackers. Glue two 1-1/2-inch wafer axles onto one 2- x 2-1/2-inch piece.

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Wafer

Add Life

Saver wheels to ends of both

axles.

Cut four 1/2- x 2-1/2-inch graham cracker sides and four 1/2- x 1-3/4-inch graham cracker ends. Glue ends of two pretzel

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Pretzels

sticks (centered 1/2 inch apart) between each set of sides (Fig.), and glue ends of one pretzel stick centered between each set of ends (Fig. 2b).

Ingredients you will need

Pretzel Sticks

Figs

Let icing set thoroughly, about 20 minutes.

Ingredients you will need

Icing

Add glue to lower and side edges of a cage side and an end and press in place to base with pretzel bars to inside. (Side will be along 2-1/2-inch edge of base and end along 2-inch edge.) Quickly press a pretzel into the corner of the cage just formed. Glue an animal

Ingredients you will need

Pretzels

Base

cracker to base inside cage. Glue in remaining side and end of the cage, adding a pretzel to all four corners.

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Pretzels

Base

Top: Use template to cut two cage car top sides and two cage car top ends as follows: Trace the templates for the pieces onto

freezer paper and cut templates out.

Place templates on end of crackers and score with knife.

Ingredients you will need

Crackers

Equipment you will use

Knife

Cut out pieces.

Add glue along top edge of side and end cage pieces and press remaining 2- x 2-1/2-

inch graham cracker top piece into place.

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Graham Crackers

Let

icing set.

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Icing

Add glue along bottom and side edges of cage car top sides and ends. Set ends in place between sides on edges of top piece.

Decorate as directed above.

CABOOSE (Fig. 3): Base/top: Repeat as directed for Cage Car.

Ingredients you will need

Base

Figs

Let icing set.

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Icing

Add two 1-1/4- x 2-inch graham cracker pieces for sides and two 1-1/4- graham cracker pieces for lower

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Graham Crackers

ends.

Add remaining 2- x 2-1/2-inch graham cracker for top.

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

Upper box: Glue edges of two 3/4- x 1-3/4-inch graham cracker pieces for upper sides to edges of two 3/4- x 1-1/8-inch graham cracker pieces for upper ends. On top, glue a 1-1/4- x 2-inch graham cracker piece. Glue assembled upper box centered on top of lower box. Decorate as directed above.

Ingredients you will need

Graham Crackers

b>CAKE: Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Grease and flour bottom and sides of jelly roll pan and line the bottom neatly with waxed paper to aid in removal from pan.

Ingredients you will need

Cake Mix

All Purpose Flour

Jelly

Roll

Equipment you will use

Frying Pan

Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack.

Equipment you will use

Wire Rack

Oven

Frying Pan

Let cool completely.

Place cake in the middle of covered board or cardboard.

Cut a piece of freezer paper the same size as the jelly roll pan bottom. Draw a train track onto the shiny side of the freezer paper as shown in Fig. 4a.

Ingredients you will need

Jelly

Roll

Figs

Equipment you will use

Frying Pan

Cut out the freezer-paper track as a template and position

on cooled cake.

Reserving 1/2 cup of canned vanilla frosting, tint the remaining vanilla frosting with green food coloring. Frost cake up to the

Ingredients you will need

Green Food Color

Vanilla Frosting

edges of the template. (Dont worry if you frost the edges of the template, this will be removed when the template is lifted.)

Mix 1/2 cup of vanilla frosting with 1/4 cup of chocolate frosting. Lift the template; and frost train track with mixture.

Ingredients you will need

Chocolate Frosting

Vanilla Frosting

Use ribbon tip and chocolate frosting to form railroad ties (Fig. 4b), spacing them about 1-1/4 inches apart on train track. Use round tip to add the rails (spaced about 1-3/4 inches apart) and Happy Birthday.

Ingredients you will need

Chocolate Frosting

Figs

Decorate edges of cake if desired with green-tinted frosting and larger star tip.

Ingredients you will need

Frosting