Look-Alike Candy Sushi Rolls

Need a fun and unique dessert idea for a party or bake sale? Adorable sushi look-alikes are fun to make and eat, and their bright colors and diverse shapes make them true "eye candy!" Assembled from simple ingredients, including Rice Krispie treats, gummy worms, fruit leather, Swedish fish and other candies, candy sushi is a simple and creative activity for kids, too!

Once you know the basics, the possibilities are endless! Try your hand at making maki rolls and the fish-topped nigiri or Kanto-style rolls. You can make all three, or choose just one type and omit the instructions for the others.

Photo Credit: Photos courtesy of The Micro Farm Project

Ingredients:

Rice Krispies

1 bag of mini marshmallows

Butter

Green fruit roll-ups (or any color you want!)

Long, thin candies (gummy worms, thin licorice, etc.)

Wax paper

1. To begin making your candy sushi, make a pan of Rice Krispy treats that will serve as your sushi rice. Follow the instructions on the cereal package to make the treats. Spread them in a thin, rectangular shape on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to cool. Treats should no more than 1/2 inch in thickness so that they will be pliable when they are cooled.

2. When the treats have cooled, cover them completely with green fruit leather, overlapping when necessary. The fruit leather represents seaweed.

3. Starting at one end, lay the licorice or gummy worms against the short edge of the Rice Krispy treats. Roll the treats into a tight coil around the candy. The fruit leather can be rolled to the inside or the outside, depending on your preference.

4. When the candy is completely wrapped, slice the roll off of the sheet, as shown in the photo. Set the roll aside. Lay new candy strips against the short edge of the sheet, just as you did in step 3. Continue to roll and cut so that you end up with several coil lengths.

5. Slice the coils into 1 inch pieces. Cut gently so that the rolls retain their round shape. If rolls flatten out while you are cutting them, use your fingers to press them back into a circular shape.

6. Press the seam down so that the end sticks securely to the roll. This will prevent the roll from uncoiling.

If you have a piece at the end that is too small to roll up, cut it into rectangles to use for Kanto-style sushi pieces.

Candy nigiri and Kanto-style sushi leaves you (and the kids) lots of room for creativity!

Gather the following ingredients:

Large marshmallows (to represent rice)

Flat s'more marshmallows (to represent rice pillows, if you can find them.)

Fruit by the Foot in various colors (or fruit leather cut into 3/4" strips to represent seaweed and other sushi wraps)

Swedish fish (to represent fish, of course!)

Candied orange slices (to represent shrimp)

Green, orange and red Sour Punch Straws (or string licorice to cut into pieces to represent fish eggs)

Thin candy strips cut from licorice sticks or other thin candy. Use a knife to slice them very thin.

White canned icing to act as "glue" to hold the pieces together

Any other candy!

O-nigiri can be made by wrapping a piece of fruit leather around a large marshmallow. Poke an 'X' into the top of the marshmallow and place a spot of icing on the slit. Cut thin slices of candy into 1/2' lengths and stuff several of them into the 'X' so that they stick out of the top of the marshmallow.

Instead of making and 'X,' spread icing all over one end of a marshmallow. Cut small pieces of candy to represent fish eggs and use them to cover the end of the marshmallow, pressing them into the icing so that they stick tightly.

Kanto is most easily made with flat marshmallows. But if you can't find them, cut a large marshmallow in half and flip the ends so that the stick side is facing up. Use icing to glue Swedish fish to the top of the roll, and wrap the roll with fruit leather.

To make shrimp rolls, slice the end of a candied orange to represent a tail. Glue it to the top of the marshmallow with icing, and wrap with fruit leather.

Candy sushi was the top seller at our last church bake sale to raise money for kids' summer camp. The kids and I had a blast making hundreds of rolls, which we sold for 50 cents each or 3 for $1. By purchasing our supplies in bulk at a discount, we kept our overhead down so that most of the profit could go towards camp fees. During the bake sale, which was held right after our regular church service, the kids walked around and served sushi on a pretty tray. Customers had a blast looking over the trays and selecting their sushi rolls, and we sold every single piece!

Amazon has a targe selection of candies and everything that you need to make candy sushi at great prices. Amazon offers FREE Super Saver shipping on qualified orders of $25 or more, so stock up!

Okay, okay...my conscience has gotten the better of me. If you are like me, and try to feed my kids a healthy diet, here are some healthier options.

For starters, use a whole grain brown rice cereal in place of the Rice Krispies. There are recipes on the web that "glue" the cereal together with peanut butter, almond butter, honey, agave syrup and other substitutes for the marshmallows.

Secondly, top the rolls with dried fruit, nuts and seeds in place of the candy.

Finally, choose organic fruit leather, or make your own. See my post at the following link for an easy guide to making natural fruit leather and dried fruits.

Homemade Tropical Fruit Leather & Dried Fruit

Candy sushi ideas? Questions or comments? I would love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a link to your own candy sushi article, kindly linking back to this lens from your site or lens.