For somebody on a tight budget, dessert might be considered a luxury. However, for most of us, it’s a luxury that we can’t fathom doing without. If you have children, they have a natural sweet tooth from the time they are born. Certainly, you want to limit your child’s sweets, but depriving them of desserts and other sweets entirely could be viewed as a bit cruel.
You can reduce expenses on desserts by making them at home. However, you can do even better than that. Often you can get much more out of a dessert recipe than you might originally have imagined. Here are some ways for you to maximize deserts to save money.
Use Excess Pie Crust to Make Cinnamon Strips
First of all, never buy premade pie crusts. If you do, you will be immediately overpaying for something you can easily make at home. Another advantage of making pie crust at home is that you can often get additional sweets from any excess pie crust dough you have leftover.
If you make a pie and have excess crust dough leftover, don’t throw it away or give it to the family dog. Instead, make delicious cinnamon strips from the extra pie dough. You can make these cinnamon strips by cutting the excess pie dough into small strips and then covering them with sugar and cinnamon. Heat them in the oven at 400 degrees until they start to turn brown. Depending on the type of sheet you put them on, you may need to lay a parchment on it.
Play and Eat Sweets
Everybody knows that most kids love to play with Play-doh. Most parents also know that younger children also love to try to eat their Play-doh after playing with it. Naturally, the manufactures of Play-doh know this and have made it nontoxic.
Did you know that you can make your own edible playdough for your child? If your child doesn’t have peanut allergies, you can make playdough by mixing creamy peanut butter, honey, and non-fat dry milk together. Experiment with the proportions of each ingredient until you get a consistency that works well for your child.
Now your child has a dessert he or she can not only play with but also eat! You will need to store any excess edible play dough in an airtight container when it is not being used. Also, make sure that you don’t use peanut butter that requires refrigeration.
If your child is allergic to peanuts, you may be able to substitute soy nut butter or sunflower seed butter for peanut butter. Make sure that you check with your child’s doctor first. Also, if you do decide to use one of these alternatives, make sure that the brand you buy is truly nut-free.
Watch Your Fruit
If you have fruit that is past its prime, you can often use it in many other recipes. Overripe bananas can be used to make smoothies. Other types of overripe fruits can be used to make juices that can be refrigerated. You can also make delicious popsicles out of many types of fruit after they have. Overripe peaches, apples, and pears are perfect to use in fruit crumbles or fruit pies.
Keep your eye out for creative ways to maximize your desserts. If you are eating pancakes, consider whether or not you might be able to make fruit syrup out of fruits that you might have otherwise thrown away. Make mini fruit pies out of leftover pie crust. Remember, the more ways you learn how to maximize desserts, the more money you’ll have in your pocket at the end of the year.