Edible Party Hat

Parties are always fun. There's good friends to socialize with, have few drinks, and of course there's the food! Have you ever noticed that everyone seems to crowd around the food table during parties, more than anywhere else? You've probably done it yourself, and who can blame you; party food is a great time to explore new eats, and share old favourites with friends.

But much as I admire all the pretty platters of pastilla at parties, I wish people would get out of the way...there's those of us who are hungry! What if I could bring my appetizer with me wherever I go in a party, and share it with my friends, all while not feeling like a waiter carrying around food. How about an edible party hat!

What better way to party down, than to take your appy with you! Make some unleavened bread baked over a foil form to make an edible hat with your choice of dip!

To make your own edible party hat, this Instructable is separated into two parts:

• part 1 - hat made from unleavened bread
• part 2 - dip

Enough talk, let's make an edible hat!

Unleavened bread or flatbread is "a simple bread made with flour, water, and salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough...unleavened [bread] is made without yeast or sourdough culture. There are many other optional ingredients that flatbreads may contain, such as curry powder, diced jalapeños, chili powder, or black pepper. Olive oil or sesame oil may be added as well. Flatbreads can range from one millimeter to a few centimeters thick." ^{_{-wikipedia.org}}

Unleavened bread has been around for ages and works well for this type of application as the dough is pliable when raw, and will retain its shape when cooked. There are hundreds of varieties of unleavened bread and more recipes than you can shake a stick at. Feel free to use this project as a guide and remix the portions/spices to make your own variety, add your own recipe in the comments below.

Basic unleavened bread

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cups warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
• seasoning spices (your discretion)
  • ground pepper
  • garlic + onion powder
  • oregano

yield: adult-sized 1 party hat

In a large bowl combine flour, salt, spices and butter. Then slowly add water until mixture has a rough oatmeal-like consistency, you may not require all the water measured. Kneed dough for 2-3 minutes until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and dough-like constancy has taken. Small amounts of flour or water to dough can be added as required to achieve proper dough consistency.

Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C, and let your dough rest for a few minutes.

When making your unleavened bread, consider spice arrangements that will suit your dip. Here are some combinations to get you started:.

dip / bread combination possibilities

dip flavours	unleavened bread additions
tzatziki hummus	oregano + lemon juice + garlic
curry dip	cumin + coriander + tamarind
cheesy nacho dip	masa harina (in lieu of flour)
spinach dip	green colouring + nori flakes

Unseasoned unleavened bread is like cardboard, you've been warned.

Gently remove dough from the bowl and press on to a lightly floured surface, then attack with rolling pin until flat roll out dough with a floured dough roller working your way from the centre outwards, flipping the dough occasionally to prohibit dough sticking to surfaces.

Continue rolling/flipping dough until it's reached a homogeneous thickness of about 3-5mm (1/8-3/16").

Bent aluminum baking dishes and aluminum foil were used to make a mold of the hat shape I wanted. Working our way from the top downwards, this mold has three parts:

Crown (bowl)
One pie dish was placed on my head and crumpled until it conformed to my dome-like head shape. Then, the peak was concaved to create the bowl shape for the dip.

Riband
Another pie dish was bend over my head same as the first, however retain the dome-like shape of this dish. Do not concave dome of second dish.
After bending, the two pie dishes should have a similar outside diameter and be stackable.

Brim
The brim was created using a flat cookie sheet with a ribbon of aluminum foil placed on the inside which the dough was wrapped around (shown on next step).

After rolling gently drape dough over mold, you may need a second set of hands to help position the thin dough and keep the mold intact.

With the mold covered, I placed a small bowl in the crown to act as a weight and draw down that portion of the dough. Portions of the dough had to be stretched/cinched around the riband, be gentle with thin dough.

The brim edge was formed using a small ribbon of folded aluminum foil, the edge of the dough was wrapped around this ribbon, then trimmed to a consistent length.

With the dough in the mold, place in middle rack of your preheated oven.

Cook for about 5 minutes at 350°F/180°C. Cook time will vary depending on dough consistency, ingredients and individual ovens.
This dough does not need to be cooked for very long, especially if you didn't use any eggs.  If unsure if your bread is done, remove and let cool, then determine of more cooking time is required.

When cooled, the bread should be soft and easily ripable, if you bread is hard when cool you've overcooked it.
Always err on the side of caution and constantly watch your bread as it's baking.

This hat took me two tries to get right. Be patient.

There's no end to the types of dips out there, so feel free to remix the recipe given here, or make your own and share it in the comments below.

My dip was a roasted red pepper and artichoke dip. The picture shown is just what I pulled out of my fridge, not everything that's in this dip. Think of it as a suggestion to build your own variety from.

In a blender, combine:

• 2-3 whole roasted red peppers
• 3 whole pickled artichoke hearts (12 quarters, or 6 halves)
• 1 diced green onion
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1-2 mushroom(s)
• sprinkle parmesan cheese

yield:  dip for 1 partyhat

Once mixed, pour dip into a plastic sandwich bag (or other impermeable laminar food-safe membrane). Place bag directly in hat with opening at the top. The plastic will prevent the dip from melting through the bowl of the hat and onto your melon.

Some of you may be thinking you've seen this somewhere before:

And, before you even ask: Yes, that is my green sweater Ned is wearing. Thank you for noticing.