Monday, March 5, 2012

St. Patricks Day Treat- Leprechaun Hat Pops


It's time for my sweet-n-treat of the month so today I have a super easy St. Patrick's Day pop to share with you.


Leprechaun Hat Pops


Making these sweets takes just a few ingredients:
  • Marshmallows
  • Green Chocolate- 1 bag makes about 24 pops
  • Dark Chocolate- 1 bag is more than enough (half a bag would be fine)
  • Yellow Chocolate- 1 bag is more than enough (half a bag would be fine)

And some materials:
  • Lollipop Sticks
  • One skewer
  • Toothpicks
  • Parchment Paper
  • Foam block to hold your pops
  • Bowls and spoons for melting chocolate

The first step is to put your marshmallows onto lollipop sticks.



Next, melt some green chocolate and dip each marshmallow into the chocolate to coat. Don't worry about completely covering the end of the marshmallow where the lollipop stick was inserted, for this technique it's not important.


Set the pops aside so the chocolate can set. (You'll need green chocolate again so save any unused chocolate and don't put your dishes in the sink yet!)

Once the chocolate has set completely, the next step is to melt the chocolate you'll use for the band around the hat. (I tried both dark chocolate and yellow as the band on my hats but I liked the look of the dark chocolate bands best.)

Once the chocolate has melted set a sheet of parchment paper out on the counter, large enough to fit all your marshmallows.

Gently pull the green chocolate marshmallows off their lollipop sticks. (Yeah I know that sounds weird but trust me- there's a reason).



Dip the bottom of your marshmallow (the end where the stick was inserted) into the accent color. Making sure that the chocolate goes about a quarter of an inch up the sides all the way around the marshmallow to create a band.


Set the marshmallows onto the parchment paper (wet chocolate side down) and allow them to set completely.



To avoid getting a pool of chocolate around the bottom of the marshmallow, scrape the flat end of the marshmallow on the side of the bowl before placing it on the parchment. This removes the excess chocolate. Here again it's not so important that the bottom of the marshmallow looks good. What's important is that there is a nice band of the accent color all the way around the marshmallow.




The next step is to make a brim for each hat. Melt more green chocolate, and set out another sheet or two of parchment paper.

Spoon a circle of chocolate onto the parchment paper. The circle should be slightly bigger than the circumference of a marshmallow. You can swirl the tip of your spoon in the middle of the circle to help it get a little bigger and to even out the surface if needed.



While the chocolate is still wet place your marshmallow, band side down, into the center of the circle. The marshmallow will sink a little and the brim will spread out more. Don't worry that's supposed to happen!



Once you get the hang of it, you can go faster by spooning out a few brims, then place a bunch of marshmallows. Just don't make so many that the first brim starts to setup before you place the marshmallow.


Once the brims have set, you could add the buckle and stop here. They make cute little treats just as they are. But I'll show you how to make them back into pops because it's really fun and keeps people guessing about how you made these.

I make the buckles last, so if you're going to leave them off the sticks then jump to the end to see how to make the buckle.

When chocolate is set and the hats can easily be removed from the parchment. Take the pointy end of a skewer and gently drill a hole into the bottom of each hat. Making sure the hole is in the center. You don't have to go all the way into the pop, the skewer just helps to get through the chocolate without cracking it.



Once you have all the holes drilled. Gently slide the pops back onto lollipop sticks. The stickiness of the marshmallow will hold it in place on the lollipop stick without any problem.


You can reuse the original sticks, but I find the the marshmallow residue stuck to them gets a little hard so I use new sticks. But if the idea of needing two sticks for each pop bothers you, I think you could use the same stick.

The last step is to make a buckle over the band. Melt your third chocolate color (Yellow if you made brown bands, or vise versa.) And use a toothpick to draw a rectangular buckle over the band.



These took no time at all to make. Even with having to wait between steps while the chocolate set up, I had a big batch finished and bagged in one afternoon.



Enjoy!




11 comments:

  1. These are so freakin' CUTE!!! Not too difficult either. Thanks for the great idea!

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  2. How adorable...and they look doable enough even for me to make!

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  3. Thanks for the comments ladies. These really are super easy to make!

    : )

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  4. From the looks of it, it all seems easy and beautiful. It may not be rocket science, but still, making these (melting chocolate without burning it brr)looks like such a chore for me. Bravo, Meg!

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  5. Kookie you could absolutely do this- I just know it!

    Melting the candy wasn't as bad as you might think. I used candy melts (also called confectioners chocolate I think) and melted it in the microwave.

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  6. Those are so cute! They look great. Whenever I dip marshmallows they do not look that good. :)

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  7. Wow how creative you are. They look terrific. We have a great drink for St. Patrick's Day. Come on over and checkit out. We have some great things to share this week..

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  8. How cute are these? Super easy too!

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  9. This is so cute. The kids would love these. I also wanted you to know that I featured this today at http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/2013/02/pinteresting-features-n-shtuff-70.html

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