Image : The Onion

We share an office with The Onion, and are huge fans of its hilarious headlines: They strike a nerve, as they’re intended to. So we had a bit of pride for our colleagues when a recent headline spurred Australian celebrity chef Adam Liaw to spring into action.




The headline, as it reads above, was, “Son Needs Costume, 30 Individually Wrapped Treats Tomorrow Morning For Some School Celebration.” Parents everywhere can relate, including Liaw, who tweeted,


Liaw went on to comment: “I am going to write a recipe for something that you can make 25 portions of in 5 minutes that can keep unrefrigerated for 8 hours and contains no dairy, nuts or eggs [to avoid school anti-allergy provisions]. I don’t know what it is yet but I will make it work for the good of us all.” Liaw also promised that the snack would not be too heavy, would fit in standard Tupperware, and be able to withstand a bumpy bus ride. Okay, as a parent myself, I absolutely appreciated this effort, but it sounded much too good to be true.

Damned if Liaw didn’t pull this challenge off, with cute decorated chocolate-dipped breadsticks. Kids would absolutely volunteer to help make these, and they would be devoured at school. (I assume you could also use pretzels? But Liaw advises against using white chocolate, as it doesn’t stick as well.) Only downside for me is that my kids’ public school doesn’t allow homemade anything; this is what the Costco is for. But for after-school snacks, or birthday party favors, I’ll definitely be keeping these in mind.

[Note: The Onion, like The Takeout, is owned by Univision Communications.]