Simply Sugarless: Strawberry Aliens (A Sugar-Free Birthday Treat for Kids)

Welcome to Simply Sugarless, our monthly sugar-free recipe column written by Starr Struck's own Sara Meeks. Once per month, Sara picks a "regular" recipe and adapts it into a sugar-free version of that same recipe using only natural sweeteners (fruit, sweet veggies, etc.). A perfect option for those trying to eat less added sugar on a daily basis.

​Take it away, Sara...

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I have officially survived birthday season in my house. With all four of our family members celebrating within seven weeks of one another, it gets just a little crazy around here during the first part of the year.

One of the biggest challenges during this season? Limiting our sugar intake when all we’re doing is celebrating. I refuse to remove ice cream or special treats on our big days, but I do whatever I can to cut back on sugar during the other peripheral celebrations. So, without further ado, this is the birthday treat our oldest son brought to school instead of the more traditional sugar-filled options (I’m looking at you, cupcakes). 

The four and five year olds loved these little friends and even declared that it was one of their favorite snacks of the year! How’s that for an endorsement? I’ve added a few notes below the recipe so be sure to check those out before getting started.

Also, I should be upfront with you and tell you that this is not a quick process. Yes, grabbing something from the grocery store would add about an hour back to your life, but if offering a pretty special and sugar-free snack is on your priority list, give this a try. Don’t forget you can decide to make only a couple of these (with whatever fruit you have on hand) if you’re not in need of a snack to feed 20+. Ha! 


​A SUGAR-FREE BIRTHDAY TREAT: STRAWBERRY ALIENS
Hands-on time: 45 minutes-1 hour (depending on quantity)
Yield: As many as you need and/or want to skewer

Ingredients: 

• Strawberries (the larger, the better)
• Fruit of your choice. My personal preference is pineapple or cantaloupe for the end of the antenna and grapes + blueberries for the rest.
• Plain greek yogurt (any variation besides greek yogurt will be too runny)
• Raisins (the smaller, and stale-er the better)

Supplies:

• Small ziplock baggie (to use as a small icing bag)
• Kabob skewers trimmed to about 4 inches in length (toothpicks would work, too, if you’re ok with shorter, less-hearty antennas)

Directions:

• Cut up pineapple or cantaloupe and use a small cookie cutter to make a shape for the top of the antennas.
• Wash all berries and get them ready for cutting/skewering.
• Using whatever pattern or non-pattern you want, create the antennas of your dreams.
• Spoon the yogurt into a plastic sandwich bag and snip off one corner to create a mini piping bag.
• Prepare strawberries by slicing off the leafy portion of each top to create a flat surface so that the strawberry will stand on it's own. Slice a small notch out of the strawberry near the top filling the notch with the prepared yogurt.
• Press 2 raisin pieces (I cut one in half for each eye) into the yogurt to create eyes.
• Stick your assembled fruit skewers into the prepared strawberries.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Extra notes:

• Unfortunately, you can’t really make these little guys too far ahead of time. I would recommend this as a day-of recipe.
• I’ve made these a few times now and I think cantaloupe is much easier to use as the antenna toppers than pineapple, but both are doable if you already have one or the other on hand.
• In the past, I’ve also used mini chocolate chips for the eyes. Although this would be an incredibly minimal amount of sugar to add to the recipe, I’ve left them off this time. If you want to give your alien recipients just a bit of a sweet treat, go for the chocolate—they make for more rounded eyes.
• If you want to learn a little more about me, you can glean a lot from the fact that the recipe for this snack started out looking like the version in the link below. Apparently I like upping the difficulty level every time I make them. And now you know.

{Created by modifying this recipe.}

I mean seriously, Sara?!? How cute are these little creatures? I'm not surprised that all the kids loved these things. Thanks for sharing! 

View more Simply Sugarless recipes and/or learn more about the column + Sara here.  You can also follow Sara + her fam on her fun photo-a-day blog, Small City | Big Days. ​