St Patrick's Day Cucumber Pot's of Gold

I tested making little "pots of gold" for work awhile back –they're really easy and fun. A lot of my job as a developer is to test things like this to see if they're going to work, how hard they are to make or what options look and taste the best.

Slice a (washed) cucumber into 2” sections.

Use a melon scooper to take out the soft center then add hummus, a handle and some gold “coins”.

I tested making the tiny coins by punching disks from a yellow pepper with a straw, an apple corer and also tried them diced.

 Here are some of the options I tried:

 And here are some of different handles:  celery, carrot and a scallion (not so good). 

My favorite version has little legs but it's more complicated to make and it actually seeps a little cucumber juice after its sat for awhile. The celery handle is the easiest and looks the best.

I wonder what else you could use for the coins? Cheese? Some tiny crackers?

St. Patrick's Day Cucumber Hats

I made these fun cucumber hats for work awhile back- not with the clovers though.

I love this little set of "Jelly & Aspic" cutters for punching out tiny shapes- usually in the middle of cookies or to make flowers from Airheads for cupcakes. Even though the set has a clover, I like the one without the stem. You get similar sets at Amazon or buy the fondant cutters at the craft store.

I tested American cheese cut at the deli for the hat bands first but the per-wrapped singles drape over the cucumber sections more easily.

Cut 1.5" sections of an English cucumber.
Halve them lengthwise and lay the pieces flat on a plate with the peel side up.

Cut a straight section of the cucumber to make the brim for each hat.

Add a thin slice of American cheese band and  a square of cheddar to make the buckle.

Punch out a few clovers (or use a small flower punch) from the flat slice of cucumber then cut and add a stem.




 Happy St. Patrick's Day!