Serve some festive Basketball Party Snacks to your friends and have fun cheering on your favorite team as your party guests enjoy Crunchy Chocolate Basketball Bark and a Cheesy Basketball Bean Dip served with Pringles Tortillas.
This shop is sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. #HoopsWithCrunch #CollectiveBias
Basketball Party Snacks
It's that time again, when college basketball games rule the airwaves. If your friends and family are big fans, then you'll surely want to host a game watching party at some point during the tournament.
Our town was all abuzz last night as the First Four played the first game of the tournament at our local college arena. A few of my friends were lucky enough to have tickets and enjoyed catching the game live. The rest of us, watched from the comfort of our couches on television.
I invited my nephew and some of his friends over to enjoy some fun basketball party snacks.
Being I didn't have any basketball themed decorations around my house and couldn't find much at my local party store, I got creative. I decided to transform a table into a basketball court on which I would serve my basketball themed snacks. I also created some printable basketball baskets in which to serve my chocolate basketball bark.
Fortunately I was able to find some basketball themed plates, napkins, and cups. The tablescape was simple, but it looked really cool.
My nephew and his friends all love Pringles, so I was sure to grab a nice variety of flavors at Target for them to enjoy. To go along with the crispy crunchy chips, I made a simple bean and cheese dip which I decorated to look like a basketball and served some chicken and cheese quesadillas. They gobbled up the savory snacks before digging into dessert.
They really loved the crunchy chocolate bark that I filled with peanuts, pretzels, and Original Pringles crisps. The candy was topped with bright orange candy melts that I decorated like basketballs. It looked so festive on the table and was incredibly easy to make. I'll share the recipe with you below.
I wanted to add just a little more to my table and knew the boys would be happy to have more sweet treats, so I made some butterscotch fudge basketballs too. I'll share that recipe with you tomorrow, so be sure to stop back by to check it out.
First, let me show you how to transform a table into a basketball court. 
You'll need one piece of black poster board to decorate your table.
I looked on-line for a picture of a basketball court, and drew out the design on the poster board, cut it out, and used double stick tape to attach it to a table.
To get a really nice circle shape, I found objects in my house I could use to trace around.
If you don't think you could make this work, you could go to a print shop and have them print a really large picture of a basketball court that you could use to cover a table.
I spaced out my basketball party snacks, including the cans of Pringles, to look like players on the court.
I placed a clear bowl in the center, turned upside down, and set a clear glass pie plate over top. I later filled that dish with the bean dip.
Over the area where the basket would be on the court, I placed my chocolate basketball bark.
Fortunately I didn't have a lot of party guests, because you might notice that those Pringles cans aren't completely full. Once the cans were popped open, my husband and I couldn't resists snacking on some of the tasty crisps. I had not tried the Pringles Tortillas before this party, and thought they were great. They are delicate, unlike most tortillas, and have a really nice corn flavor. They were a great accompaniment to the bean dip.
To make the dip, simply combine two 15 ounce cans of refried beans with a 16 ounce block of processed cheese and a teaspoon of chili powder. Heat in the microwave, for 1 minute bursts, on high power, until hot. Depending on the color of the beans, you might want to add a bit of orange food coloring to make your dip a nice basketball orange color.
I wanted a really smooth dip, so I pureed it in a food processor. You'll need at least a small amount, about 3 tablespoons, to be really smooth. If you don't puree it, push the small amount through a fine mesh sieve. Color it using a bit of black food coloring, then spoon it into a pastry bag or zip top bag. Snip off the tip and pipe it over the dip creating the lines of a basketball.
If you need to make this before your guests arrive, I suggest you wait to add the lines until just before they arrive then keep the dip hot in a warm 225 degree oven until you are ready to serve.
For dessert, I made crunchy chocolate bark topped with orange candy melt basketballs.
To make this chocolate bark, start by drawing lines onto orange candy melts, using a black food coloring marker, to make them look like basketballs.
Then melt and temper milk chocolate or simply melt confectionery coating (candy melts.) You can find detailed information about melting chocolate or confectionery coating on my Chocolate Making Tips page.
Stir in peanuts, pretzels, and Original Pringles.
Pour out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Quickly begin adding orange candy melt basketballs around the edges of the chocolate bark then into the center, leaving room to cut pieces around the basketball candies.
Pop the pan in the refrigerator for 3-4 minutes until it just begins to set. Remove and cut into pieces. Return to the refrigerator until the chocolate completely hardens.
This is one of my favorite chocolate barks to make. I love the salty and sweet combo and enjoy the different textures of the peanuts, pretzels and Pringles along with the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. 
I thought it would be fun to serve the basketball bark in little paper baskets, so I created a printable that you can print out to make your own.
Click on this link to print the printable basketball basket.
Then cut out around the outline, fold along the dotted and whole lines and glue or tape together. Be sure to let the glue dry before adding the chocolate to the paper baskets.
You'll need three baskets to hold one batch of the chocolate bark.
- 30 orange candy melt wafers
- black food coloring marker
- 16 ounces melted and tempered milk chocolate
- or melted confectionery coating*
- ⅓ cup peanuts
- ½ cup pretzels broken into small pieces
- 12 Pringles Original broken into small pieces
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- *Use all light cocoa candy melts or for a darker color mix half light cocoa candy melts with another half of dark cocoa candy melts.
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Draw basketball seam lines on the flat side of each orange candy melt wafer.
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Stir the peanuts, pretzels, and Pringles into the chocolate.
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Spread out into an even layer on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
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Starting around the edge and moving into the center, press the orange candy melt basketballs into the chocolate, leaving enough space to cut around them.
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Refrigerate for 3-5 minutes just until the chocolate dries but is not set hard.
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Remove and cut the chocolate into pieces.
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Return to the refrigerator for another 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate hardens completely.
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Break apart and serve.
You can find Pringles Original, Sour Cream & Onion, Cheddar Cheese, BBQ, Tortillas in the snack aisle of Target. Right now Pringles Super Stacks are 3 for $4. This sales goes on until the first week of April. If you have a large crowd coming over to watch the game, be sure to check out deals on Cheez-It snacks too. You can find them in the Signal the Seasons Savor Spot section or near the Check Lane.
If you feel lucky, enter for your shot at winning $100 in school gear, so you can be decked out for your party. Check it out here: http://cbi.as/2gg-g.
Be sure to follow Pringles on Social media
- Twitter: @Pringles
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PringlesUS
- Instagram: @PringlesUS
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HoopsWithCrunch#CollectiveBias
If you recreate these Basketball Party Snacks
be sure to link to this tutorial and send a picture to beth@hungryhappenings.com,
so I can share it in my Readers' Gallery.
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Carrie @huppiemama
Wow, these ideas are so fun! The chocolate bark looks delicious - sweet and salty snacks are my favorite! And I may have to try the tortilla Pringles. #client
Beth
Thanks, Carrie. My nephew and his friends really enjoyed all the basketball themed snacks.