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Kosher Theater Treat Ideas


Pam R

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Right now, we bake 7" cookies that are sold at snack stands at a large theater in town. (By snack stand i mean that they sell specialty coffees and wine and a few food items.)  The FOH manager has asked us for some other ideas for items he can sell.  He has already tried our caramel-nut-corn at a couple of functions we've catered at the theater, and he's interested in that as well.  But I'm stumped on other ideas.

 

The items need to have a pretty good shelf life, though there is a freezer in the building that things can be stored in.  All ingredients need to be kosher and the items should be somewhat high end. 

 

Any ideas? Thanks! 

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How about some spicy, glazed nuts or cream puffs?

 

Here is a link to the cafe menu for the Angelika Theatre in my neighborhood for some ideas: http://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/pdfs/mosaic_menu_cafe_2014.pdf

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I was thinking various nut brittles would be nice, and I see they're included in Plantes Verdes list above. When I'm in a theater and I want something to nibble on, I don't want to deal with plate/fork/knife or anything I have to mess with too much. Some bar cookies might fit the bill, as long as they're not the gooey type.

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Thanks for the suggestions! I should have pointed out that the items are ordered every couple of weeks, so items like cream puffs won't work.  

 

But, I love the nuts idea and  when I saw pretzel a light went off.  I tried baking my first batch of pretzel today -- the oven temperature was WAY off, and they browned way too much before they were able to crisp up, but the flavour was great.  I'll try another batch next week because I was thinking of large pretzel sticks, dipped in chocolate/caramel/crushed nuts/candies/etc.  

 

Brittle is also a great idea or, I was thinking, barks.   I like some of the other suggestions too -- but I'm going to start testing these ones and go on from there.  Thanks! 

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When you mentioned "bark" I immediately thought of mendiants (they're like bark, but in circles, with dried fruits usually) so if you can get kosher dried fruit, this could work...  I also love the idea of pretzels, as well as a box of assorted pate de fruit (upscale jelly candies!)

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PamR, just out of interest, you bake 7" cookies for a theater. Is this a movie theater or an arts (playhouse) theater? Secondly, you say 7" and I presume this refers to 7 inches - if so, wow! Never seen a cookie that size! Do you supply them packaged in cellophane or just loose?

Sorry for the questions, but I have not been to a "movie" for over 30 years and our local theaters (live plays) do have very small coffee shops but not much in the way of something to eat/snack. Something for me to investigate!

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Not movie theatre, but live performance theatre. Plays, concerts, opera, symphony plays there and private events (we'll cater a fundraiser for 1000 there next month).

The cookies are 7 inches and we use cellophane bags that have a sticky strip across the top - you pull off a strip of plastic and then fold the top over to seal it. We got lucky and one of our suppliers had the bags that fit the cookies perfectly.

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How about something soft, possibly in a non-crackly packaging? In my life, I think I've seen four (five? not so sure) fights break out in theatres between snackers who made persistent rustly-crackly noises, and fellow audience members who were driven nearly homicidal by this.

 

Marshmallows make a nice change form the crunchy things, and keep fairly well.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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Food is not actually allowed in the theatre itself.  Food/drink must be consumed in the lobbies during intermissions. 

 

That's nice to hear!

 

Even if they don't avert homicides, marshmallows might be worth considering in their own right. They lend themselves to some interesting flavours (I had some lemon ones not long ago that I'm dying to recreate), and I've been kind of fascinated by them since I saw some minas6907 made.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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Spicy Cashews

Toasted Wasabi/Tamari Almonds

"Snack Mixes" (aka bridge mix, flavored chex mix/party mixes with nuts)

Salted Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

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and to follow up Michaela's suggestion for marshmallows, we cut them into squares, dip one end in chocolate and then roll it in sugared almonds (sliced almonds doused with simple syrup and sugar then baked til crispy and golden and very addictive). 

 

And, in one of Maida Heatter's books she has a recipe for chocolate pepper pretzels which are very nice indeed.  Made them one year expecting them to be christmas ornaments (along with other sugar and gingerbread cookies) but we ate them instead because they were too good to put on the tree :laugh: they're a nice change from the typical pretzel....

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  • 4 months later...

It's been a while since I've posted - life got in the way and I wasn't at work much for a few months. But we did put together some different samples for the venue, including:

  • assorted macaron
  • chocolate dipped pretzels with toffee and pecans
  • sweet & spicy nuts
  • marshmallow/cereal bars with dried cranberries, chocolate chunks and pumpkin seeds
  • homemade marshmallows (assorted flavors, most half dipped in chocolate)
  • caramel/nut corn
  • specialized sugar cookies (Wicked just came through town and we did huge witches hat cookies)

From that, he selected the caramel/nut corn, the marshmallow treats and the Witch's Hat cookies (which we will do in other shapes for other events) ..  plus the 7" assorted cookies.  They keep ordering more, so we may add some of the other items (or other ones) in the future.  They seem to be open to other ideas, so if anybody has any, don't hesitate to post 'em.

 

Thanks for the help!

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