How to Make a Sweet & Savory Snackadium

Packers at 49ers. Seattle at Atlanta. Yup, its that time of year again…NFL Playoffs! I absolutely love weekends in January because the playoffs give me an excuse to graze on snack food all day. Now the day of the Super Bowl is a whole different story. Instead of just popping open a bag of chips, we like to make an event out of it. One year, it was a vegetable dip in a fresh-baked bread bowl. Another year it was buffalo chicken pizza bites. This year, I had the opportunity to create a Snackadium, which will certainly be recreated again to serve as the centerpiece of my Super Bowl Sunday snack table. This is absolutely a fun project to create…and best of all is the fact that you get to eat it when you are done!

I chose to create a Snackadium with both sweet and savory snacks…that way, everyone wins! Creating my Snackadium really did not take too long, especially since the cream cheese bars are baked the day before. I have included a guide below for recreating a Snackadium similar to mine.

1) The day before, bake the Cream Cheese Pastry Bars. I featured these bars in a recent post, so take a look! I used Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough, and I almost had to hire a bodyguard to keep my family from eating the bars before the Snackadium was complete! (Remember: these bars need to be refrigerated overnight, so plan ahead!)

2) The next day, cut the Cream Cheese Bars into triangles. These will become the bleachers to your Snackadium. I used right triangles with two 3″ legs.

3) Bake fresh breadsticks to use along with chips for the dip. I used Pillsbury pizza dough and cut long strips of dough. Then I simply twisted the dough several times and baked it to create the perfect dipping tool! You can also use Pillsbury’s Italian Bread dough to create small football-shaped dippers. Instead of baking as a loaf, just slice the dough into 1/2″ pieces. As you put them onto the baking sheet, just press the edges together to create football-shaped pieces of dough. Don’t forget to create 2 goalposts out of pizza dough before you bake them! (Just cut a couple of strips of dough and attach together in the shape of a goalpost…very easy.)

4) While the breadsticks are baking, make the taco dip which will serve as your field. I chose a 7-layer Mexican dip (recipe below), but if you already have a favorite dip, then go with that! I also made the taco dip in a small pan for easy transportation to the snack table. (It also keeps your Cream Cheese Bars from mixing with the Taco Dip…I’m all about trying new things, but that combination is too much even for me!) Instead of sprinkling olives around the top of the entire dip, I made a row of olives on each end to serve as the endzones of my Snackadium.

5) Finally, line the Cream Cheese Bars around your taco dip. Place the breadsticks in a bowl next to your Snackadium, and you are officially ready for the big game!

May your team do well in the playoffs, and happy snacking!

I have partnered with Pillsbury through DailyBuzz to help promote their Crescent Roll and Pizza Crust products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you Pillsbury for this awesome opportunity to create a Snackadium!