Sweeten Your Hanukkah With a Dessert Table for All Ages
Homemade treats and creative thinking amp up a crafter's holiday table that you can easily re-create
Brooke Pratt wants her family's dessert table to shout the arrival of the holidays this year. "I like things to be larger than life. It's just how I work," says Pratt, the crafter and maker behind Sucre Shop. Like many crafters, Pratt tries to outdo projects from holidays past by challenging herself to go where she's never gone before. Here she shares a dessert spread that's fun for all ages and more interactive and bright than the traditional Hanukkah table.
"Yellow is only a slight departure from gold, which is typically used for Hanukkah; I love yellow because it's much more intense and bright," Pratt says. Yellow also symbolizes the flames of menorah candles.
Instead of setting the table with a menorah, Pratt created a menorah shape with pudding cups. She numbered shot glasses using gold stickers, put little stars on a glass for the shamash (extra light) and filled them all with blueberry pudding.
Instead of setting the table with a menorah, Pratt created a menorah shape with pudding cups. She numbered shot glasses using gold stickers, put little stars on a glass for the shamash (extra light) and filled them all with blueberry pudding.
Pratt's kids are at an age when they can appreciate all the things that pop and sparkle. "Year after year their curiosity grows, and they really enjoy seeing how I've interpreted the colors and shapes of the holidays into each dessert," she says.
Pratt made these butter star cookies with royal icing by cutting holes in the center before baking, so each cookie can rest on top of a glass with a brightly colored striped straw poking through. She peppered the table with gold coins, or gelt, and dreidels.
Pratt made these butter star cookies with royal icing by cutting holes in the center before baking, so each cookie can rest on top of a glass with a brightly colored striped straw poking through. She peppered the table with gold coins, or gelt, and dreidels.
A cake stand holds meringues sandwiched together with royal icing in the shape of a dreidel.
Pratt decorated these cookies with the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hay and shin. These letters create a Hebrew phrase that roughly translates to, "A great miracle happened there."
There's a reason Pratt's dessert table is loaded with fried items like doughnuts and olive oil cupcakes. "It's to remind us of the miracle of oil on Hanukkah," she says.
A tower of plain doughnuts and sprinkles next to condensed milk and honey invites guests to decorate and sweeten their dessert.
A tower of plain doughnuts and sprinkles next to condensed milk and honey invites guests to decorate and sweeten their dessert.
The symbols and colors of Hanukkah decorate these wooden scoops from Sucre Shop and make a lovely pair with the sprinkle bowls.
"Our Hanukkah dessert table reflects our love of all things sweet, fun, handmade and homemade. You'd be surprised at what a bright color here, a twist of ingredients there, can do for your table," says Pratt.
More:
9 Fresh and Fun Hanukkah Decorating Ideas
20 Holiday Essentials to Get You to New Year's
More:
9 Fresh and Fun Hanukkah Decorating Ideas
20 Holiday Essentials to Get You to New Year's
Balloons, straws, bags: Shop Sweet Lulu