- Are you left with plenty of cookies, chocolate, and roast meat after your celebrations? Here’s how to make the most of them
- Melt chocolate and eat it drizzled over fruit, and freeze your kumquats into popsicles
Do you have a lot of leftovers after your celebrations? Here's how to make sure you use them up.The last guests have left and the decorations are coming down off the walls, but you’ve still got a huge stash of uneaten Chinese New Year baked goods sitting in the corner and a fridge full of unfinished food. Before you bin them, here are some tasty ideas that put a spin on your festive leftovers.
What to do with all your red packet money
Cookie crumble
Getting sick of the endless festive cookies feast? Here’s a quick way to transform these treats into delightful toppings. Simply fill a ziplock bag with leftover cookies and smash them into crumbs with a rolling pin (or your bare hands). Sprinkle them over ice cream, yogurt, or our favourite – douse them in milk.
You can't beat Oreos and ice cream.
Melted chocolate topping
If you’re not sure what to do with the stockpile of chocolate gold coins you’ve collected during the holidays, why not turn them into chocolate topping? Melt the chocolate gold coins in a saucepan together with some butter over a very low heat. Meanwhile, make some fruit kebabs by threading fruit slices onto skewers. Dip your kebab into the chocolate sauce for a delish treat.
It's healthy cause fruit!
DIY projects for your leftover mandarins
Roast meat porridge
Don’t let that day-old char siu and siu ngo go to waste. Pop the leftover roast meat into a pot with some rice, water and soy sauce to whip up a tasty breakfast. And if you have leftover rice, simmer one cup of cooked rice with two cups of water or broth for 30 minutes to get a comforting bowl of rice porridge.
We all love char siu, but it's possible to have too much of it.
Stained glass cookie
Here’s a great way to repurpose those untouched hard candies. This recipe requires a little work and baking, but is totally worth the effort and the results are amazingly candylicious. You can use any basic butter cookie recipe for this. Simply cut a hole in your cookies before baking, and while they are in the oven, crush the hard candy into small bits. Sprinkle them in the middle of the cookies and pop them back into the oven for another three to five minutes.
Useful and gorgeous!
Kumquat popsicle
You’ve probably already eaten a truckload of kumquat that you’ll never want to see one again, until next year that is. And if you still have any of these citrus spheres lying around, why not turn them into popsicles to wash away the aftermath of days of gorging on CNY goodies. To do so, slice each kumquat in half horizontally and remove any seeds. Stick a toothpick through and dip it into sugar and cinnamon, and stick it into the freezer for an hour. Enjoy your thirst-quenching treat!
We could easily go another year without having a kumquat.