[For Seniors] Recommended Snack Activities: Easy, Large-Batch Recipes
At day service centers and other senior facilities, a variety of recreational activities are held every day.
Among them, snack-making activities are especially popular.
For older adults, planning the steps of cooking and doing fine handwork help stimulate the brain.
Another benefit is that making snacks together deepens interaction among seniors.
In this article, we introduce easy snack recipes that are simple for everyone to make together.
Give them a try in your snack recreation sessions!
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[For Seniors] Recommended Snack Activities: Easy, Large-Batch Recipes (41–50)
Choco Banana Takoyaki
Let’s make a sweet treat like baby castella using a takoyaki maker.
Since we use pancake mix, it’s easier than takoyaki and you can make lots of tasty sweets without much risk of failure.
This time we filled them with banana, chocolate chips, and peanut butter, but feel free to try other fillings you like.
Making several varieties and letting the filling be a surprise when you bite in is fun, too.
Flipping them carefully so they don’t burn is good fine-motor exercise, so have all participants take turns doing it.
Fruits dessert mix (Furūche)
This is the classic, long-loved Fruche dessert.
It was apparently released in 1976, so it’s been cherished for over half a century.
The secret to how Fruche sets is the pectin inside it.
The calcium in milk makes the pectin gel into that jiggly texture.
Interestingly, it won’t set well if there’s too much or too little calcium.
Besides chilling it to eat, you can also freeze it in summer—it turns into a sherbet-like treat.
Definitely give it a try!
Fruit Lollipop
When you eat fruit, why not make fruit lollipops that are stylish, cute, and keep your hands clean? Just stack your favorite fruits using cutters to punch out shapes, then skewer them with a bamboo stick—done.
If you think about the order of the layers, they’ll look like candy or popsicles, giving them a pop and super-cute appearance.
Serving them stuck into finely crushed ice lets you enjoy the fruit cold, too.
Depending on the type of fruit, you might even be able to freeze them.
Kinako sticks-style with 3 ingredients
Here’s a simple, three-ingredient kinako-stick style recipe.
Prepare a bowl, water, sugar, kinako (roasted soybean flour), plastic wrap, and chopsticks.
Put the water and sugar in the bowl, stir, and microwave at 600W for 2 minutes to thicken slightly.
Mix in the kinako thoroughly.
Once the dough comes together, transfer it onto plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm.
Take out the chilled dough, shape it into easy-to-eat sticks, and it’s done.
Topping with extra kinako or inserting toothpicks for easier eating is also recommended.
The aroma of kinako and the nostalgic flavor might make your activity time even more fun!
Koinobori Soufflé Cheesecake
Let us introduce a souffle cheesecake that captures the spirit of May, decorated like a koi nobori (carp streamer).
The ingredients are cream cheese, eggs, and granulated sugar—another nice point is that you only need a few items! Put the cream cheese in a bowl and mix it with the egg yolks.
Start mixing with a spatula, then finish by whisking thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites with the granulated sugar to make a meringue.
Add the meringue little by little to the cream cheese mixture, gently folding from the bottom with a cutting motion.
Fold one end of a rectangular aluminum cup to create the tail of the koi nobori.
Pour in the batter and steam-bake it in the oven, then use a chocolate pen to draw the eyes and scales to finish.
It’s sure to be a hit if you make it at home with your grandchildren.
Easy botamochi made with a rice cooker
In March, there is a traditional Japanese event called the Spring Higan.
This time, we’re introducing “botamochi” made with a rice cooker, inspired by the Spring Higan.
You can make three kinds at once: kinako (roasted soybean flour), sesame, and sweet red bean paste.
We cook glutinous rice in the rice cooker along with regular white rice.
Doing so is said to keep the botamochi from hardening over time.
There are plenty of clever tips to make it easily and deliciously, even when homemade.
Some older adults may have made botamochi to offer during Higan.
It’s a recommended activity for March that’s likely to spark nostalgic conversations while you cook.
baked apple
When you think of baked apples, you probably imagine using an oven and taking your time—no complicated steps, but it does take a while.
Here’s a very easy and delicious baked apple recipe you can make just by microwaving.
Cut the apple in half, scoop out the core in the center, add butter in the hollow, and sprinkle sugar on top.
Wrap the whole thing loosely with plastic wrap and microwave it—that’s it.
You can enjoy it warm, or let it cool so the butter and sugar soak into the apple before eating.
