Have you ever visited Confessions of a Cookbook Queen's blog? She is totally hilarious, loves all things pink and sparkley, and creates the most decadent, indulgent, desserts!

A couple weeks ago she posted a recipe that called for Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses and I was shocked to learn such a thing existed.

You heard me… “PUMPKIN SPICE – Hershey KISSES.” See you’re shocked too right?!

One of the reasons we’re both so shocked about this is that they don’t sell them anywhere… except for at Target. At least… that was my experience. I looked at Walmart, Albertson’s, CVS, Michael’s, JoAnne’s… no one had any clue what I was talking about. So then I had to go back to the source and Ms. Cookbook Queen herself informed me that they were where all good things go to hide… at Target.

She was right. There they were. But, Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses were not the only thing I found!

I also found Candy Corn Kisses and even Caramel Apple Kisses.

I had no idea Hershey was branching out like this with their chocolate.

So along with grabbing the Pumpkin Kisses to make the Cookbook Queen’s Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Blossoms, I also just had to buy the Candy Corn ones and figure out something to do with them.

When you don’t know what to bake… bake brownies! Right?!

Who’s with me?

I mean you can never go wrong with brownies.

BAM!

How you like them brownies?!

Oh yeah!

Candy Corn KISSED!

These were so easy to make, they look extra special for fall, they taste fantastic, and you just have to make some!

Thanks Cookbook Queen, for the inspiration! I wish I had taken some pictures of your Pumpkin Cinnamon Sugar Blossoms that I made, but I literally baked them and dashed off to church with them and they were instantly devoured!

Next time I make them, I promise to get some pictures. And oh yes! There will be a next time.

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(UPDATE: If you’re here visiting from the Pioneer Woman’s Pie Post… WELCOME! You might also enjoy reading about the time I got to meet Ree, and my take on her throwdown with Bobby Flay this week, including links to some of their recipes. Thanks so much for following the link and stopping by my blog. Happy Thanksgiving!!!)

The holiday season is upon us. Year after year there is a growing expectation in my marriage for me to become…

A pie maker.

One of my husband’s most beloved things about Thanksgiving and Christmas is his grandma’s cherry pie.

When we got married and said our vows, one of them was, that I would learn to make this pie.

Okay… not really… I mean I didn’t actually have to say that during our ceremony, but believe me… it’s been implied.

In order for this marriage to work well, one of the things I will need to eventually, quite literally, “bring to the table”, is the ability to perfectly reproduce Grandma’s Cherry Pie, during the holidays.

But… I’m not quite there yet.

I’ve taken some lessons with grandma, I’ve written things down, I’ve experimented on my own, but I have not yet achieved official “Now That’s Grandma’s Pie” status. I won’t give up though. I’ll keep plugging away. My practice season is upon us.

Since I don’t quite have it down, I can’t share the secrets of making that perfect pie with you… yet.

But what I can share are these…

Holiday Pie Cupcakes.

Cupcakes.

Now there’s an area where I feel a bit more confident.

They don’t require a lot of counter space, complicated ingredients, a rolling pin, or the dreaded transfer of a thin sheet of sticky, easily tearible dough, from cutting board to pie pan.

Phew. I’m breakin’ a sweat just thinkin’ about all of that!

Back to cupcakes.

Ahhhh cupcakes.

Yes… that’s better.

Holiday fruit cupcakes that look like pie.

And… with these you don’t have to commit to just one kind.

My husband loves cherry, my father in law loves apple, my favorite is peach, and everyone loves fresh raspberry.

With these little beauties, you don’t have to commit to just one or two types of pie for your celebration. It’s easy and fun to quickly make several different kinds, at once.

I used apples, peaches, and raspberries with the batch shown, but you can use whatever types of filling your family loves best: cherries, blueberries, candied pecans, ready made pumkin pie cheesecake filling – sky’s the limit!

I’ve found that this Butter Pecan box mix flavor is perfect for these mini pies, both in taste and color.

I used canned pie filling for my Peach, and Apple Pie Cupcakes, but for the Raspberry Pie Cupcakes I used fresh raspberries, lightly covered in store bought Strawberry Glaze.

In order to make these Fruit Pie Cupcakes, you’ll need to leave plenty of room in your cupcake papers for the fruit to lay on top of the cake and still be held within the paper. When pouring the batter into the cups don’t fill them more than 1/2 way. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full is just about perfect. And, if you do have some cupcakes that puff up too high to fill with fruit, never fear… once they’re baked just use a knife to gently cut the cupcake down enough so the fruit will fit. No one will ever see the part you cut hidden under all that fruit.

Next, cover the top of the cupcake with your favorite fruits. For raspberries, blueberries, and cherries, they look beautiful if you place them one by one with your fingers, but for the canned peaches and apple slices, you can dice them up and spoon them on.

Once you get all your fruit on, you’ll be tempted to stop right there… And… of course, you could. These Fruit topped cupcakes are beautiful and delicious just like this.

But, if you want to take it a step further and create a little Holiday dessert that will truly thrill your guests, give this extra step of turning Fruit topped Cupcakes, into little Mock Pies, a try.

The Pie Hatch and Crust design is created by piping on Frosting. I like to use a delicious mixture of Butter Cream and Caramel frosting, to get a great taste, and perfect pie crust color.

One or two tablespoons of Caramel Frosting. mixed into a full tub of Buttercream, will give just the right shade for a Mock Pie Crust.

If you’ve seen any of my other Cupcake recipes, you’ll know I often just use a plain old Ziploc bag as my piping tool. But, in order to get a flat appearance for the hatch-work on the top of these pies, you really are going to want to use a piping bag and a flat tip.

Here are some examples of Wilton Tips that would be appropriate for this project. Personally I prefer a small smooth flat tip like #44 above, to create the look of a pie. The ribbed edge tips are more for creating the look of a basket weave, although if you already have a ribbed tip, you can turn it upside down so that the smooth edge is on top, to get the same effect as a smooth flat tip. Tip #46 above demonstrates this.

When you place your berries in, one by one, you’ll end up with some gaps in between them. You should fill those holes in with cut or torn pieces of berries so that you have a nice full dome shape for your hatching to rest on.

Don’t start your first line on the middle of the cupcake because it can throw off the spacing of your lines. Using your piping bag and tip, lay your first line just off of one of the sides.

Lay all of your lines across the top, from one side to the other. I was able each time to fit three or four lines across in each direction, depending on the spacing. I think the cupcakes with four lines going each way came out the best.

Rotate your cupcake and begin piping lines horizontal to the ones you’ve already done.

Don’t worry about how the ends of your lines look because they will be completely covered up by the Mock Pie Crust you’ll do next. Just make sure each end of every line touches the cupcake paper, but doesn’t droop or flop out beyond it.

If you do have some frosting that accidentally drips down the cupcake paper, use a lightly damp paper towel to wipe it off. No harm, no foul. It will dry in seconds and no one will ever know.

Your Hatch Top is done as simple as that!

You’ll be so proud of yourself at this point, and you should be… You’re almost done!

Using the same piping bag and tip, create your Pie Crust by working in sections. Don’t try to pipe all the way around the cupcake without taking a break.

Using an up and down folding pattern, pipe the area directly in front of you. Stop piping, rotate the cupcake, and pick up where you left off using the same up and down folding motion. Each cupcake will be divided into about six small sections like this.

I highly recommend taking the time after you finish decorating each cupcake, to immediately place it on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator in order to help the shape of the Buttercream on top of the fruit and glaze to set in it’s place. Leaving the cupcake out while you decorate all of the others, may cause some the frosting to begin drooping and coming apart.

And please don’t give up if your first try at this is a mess. Mine was. Just pick out a couple of cupcakes that didn’t turn out so well in the baking process and without even bothering to put any fruit on them, use them to practice the piping techniques. Or, if you can’t waste any of the 24 cupcakes you baked, practice the piping technique on the dome of an orange or a rubber ball. (Better buy an extra tub of Buttercream for this just in case) When you’ve got it down, move on to your lovely Fruit Topped Cupcakes and turn those little tarts into Pies!!!

And, whether you’re a pie expert, or are in the learning stage of pie making, be sure to head over to Tidy Mom’s Love the Pie Party for all kinds of fantastic tips, tricks, recipes, and inspiration for making great pies this holiday season.

If you do make awesome pies, you may also want to make some of these as well. They’re just to pretty, festive, unique, and EASY, not to include in your celebrations this year!

Your guests, both young and old, will adore them. And they aren’t just attractive and clever… they also taste sooooooo good!!

Happy Holidays!

This post is also linked to: Fireflies and Jellybeans

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What kid doesn’t like pudding right?!

Heck… what PERSON doesn’t like pudding?! I love it!

So, last week the kids and I had our first go at making homemade pudding pops.

At my house there are far more fans of Vanilla than Chocolate, but we mixed up a batch of both flavors to experiment with.

And for this activity the Vanilla is certainly much more fun to work with because…

You can add food coloring to it and make all kinds of fun colors.

Except for purple.

See that cup in the bottom right hand corner?

That was supposed to be purple, but no matter what ratio of blue and red food coloring I tried, I just couldn’t get the shade I was striving for. I guess because of the original yellowy base, the end result stayed far more in the realm of a weird taupe brown color, than a purple.

Oh well.

I’m not a huge fan of purple anyway.

It would have nicely completed our rainbow of colors though.

Next time I might try this with a White Chocolate pudding so I can start with a white base.

Anyhow… moving on…

My original intent was to make beautiful stripey pudding pops like this which I’ve seen on a few different websites and blogs.

This one was intended to be patriotic, but again… no white pudding.

Because of the lack of white in this one, it actually reminds me more of Dr. Seuss than our flag.

Which is fine… I like Dr. Suess.

I like him A LOT.

(I just watched Dumb and Dumber on TV last night. I totally said that statement in my head as I typed it, just like Jim Carey… in case you care.)

The Rainbow Pop.

See now in this picture the purple does actually look purple.

Not too bad.

This is cute, but it really is trickier than it looks to create these lines.

It takes a very steady purposeful hand not to drip and slop and accidentally ding your spoon against the insides of the cup.

This was my 8 year old son’s effort to make a rainbow pop.

It really is pretty tricky and it takes more patience and focus than you plan for as you begin.

This one would have looked really cool if we had swirled it a little with a toothpick and gave it more of a tie-dyed look.

And instead of topping his with purple, he went for a stripe of chocolate.

Good decision.

It turns out that Vanilla pudding pops are not as delicious as Vanilla pudding. The taste gets a bit dull when frozen and really needs some chocolate with it to make it worth eating. In fact I recommend a lot more chocolate mixed in to each pop than just the stripe seen above.

But that’s also just my adult opinion.

The kids could care less.

They loved these things.

But kids taste buds and food interests are weird. Anything bright and colorful and sweet excites them. My kids like to eat ice cream cones topped with magical marshmallows.

When we try this again I think I’ll do it with food coloring and Vanilla Ice Cream instead of pudding. We already know how good ice cream tastes frozen.

So after we realized how tricky creating smooth lines was, the rest of the pops went something more like this.

Little bit of this, little bit of that, glob here, splat there, spoonful of some more here.

The kids didn’t care about the stripes. They just loved all the colors and getting to play with their food.

We all really had a lot of fun doing this together.

And you’ll notice once again, I do let my kids get messy with food… but I demand it takes place outside.

That’s just how I roll.

We had a variety.

Popped in the sticks…

Put a cookie sheet full of pops in the freezer…

And the next day there was a fun fight about who got to eat my perfect looking rainbow one.

For more amazing, fun, creative popsicle ideas, you and your kids can enjoy this summer, and for years to come, check out this neat popsicle book.

And tell me…

How has your summer been going?

What kind of fun have you and your family been having?

Please… link your Summer Family Fun posts below.

If you’re new, you can check out these guidelines first.

I can’t wait to see what everyone has been up to!

Linked to: I’m Lovin’ It Fridays @ TidyMom, Check Me Out Saturday, Weekend Wrap Up PartyCraft School Sunday

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April is a CRAZY birthday month in my life. My husband, his father (who we live with), my daughter, and myself all have birthdays in April. There are even more April birthdays in my extended family.

A few years ago my oldest son wanted a Lego Star Wars theme for his birthday. The only problem was that there weren’t any Lego Star Wars party products on the market at that time. I had to improvise.

I bought Star Wars action figures and stuck them on a store bought cake.

For the Lego part, I bought Lego candy from the mall candy store, and stuck the pieces on store bought cupcakes.

Not super impressive, but it worked for him.

Another year my son wanted a Super Mario birthday theme. More specifically, he had just gotten the game, Mario Galaxy for Wii, and he asked for a Mario Galaxy birthday party.

Great.

Another theme request for which there were no party products in the stores.

So once again… I improvised.

I made those Mushroom cupcakes myself. Yep. I did. I can do cupcakes.

Now when it comes to layered cakes… that’s another story. I’m not there yet due to lack of counter space… and patience.

The cake itself was an Albertson’s signature cake that I ordered. It was supposed to be a Dora Magical Mountain cake or something like that, but it totally reminded me of the worlds in Mario Galaxy.

So… I ordered it, and asked the decorators to leave off the characters.

Then at home I found Mario characters on Google Images and printed them, pasted them to cardstock, cut them out, taped them to toothpicks, and stuck them in the cake.

I also piped some frosting eyes on the star shaped candles, to make them look like stars from the Mario games.

Now looking at this picture, I realize the only star I got right with the eyes, was the top one. Ooops! Oh well… no one noticed at the time.

It was good enough for a little boy’s birthday party.

Now…

Do you want to see a SERIOUS custom Mario cake?

Prepare yourself.

This is a Mario Kart Wedding Cake.

Incredible right?!

I cannot get over the beauty…

the perfect whimsy…

the magnificent details…

Just incredible!!!

This completely edible masterpiece was brilliantly designed and sculpted by Beth from Let Them Eat Cake in Costa Mesa, California. More fabulous photos of this cake, the wedding, and hand sculpted bride and groom Miis, are available for viewing on the Bride and Groom’s Flickr page.

And check out these AMAZING Mario and Luigi cookies made recently by my friend Amanda at iambaker.

I don’t know why I only think about decorating sugar cookies at Christmas time. This is such a great way to incorporate a sweet treat into a party theme.

Aren’t they FANTASTIC?!

My son would have gone crazy over having these at his party! Amanda makes all kinds of amazing goodies, and has done several beautiful cookie sets to match event invitations and decor. When you get done here, hop on over to her blog and have a look. She provides a whole lot of inspiration for making parties and important occasions, special and personalized, with custom treats.

For the Mario Galaxy party I did for my son, not only did I improvise on the cake, but I also improvised with the party ware.

I found that great party hat at my local party store, and once again using Google Images I printed a Mario pic, cut him out, and glued him on.

And for the plate… I’m getting to that.

Here are some examples of the several I’ve made.

The possibilities are endless.

If you can print it, you can make it into a character plate.

I’m thinking of using this slightly doctored pic of Papa for his birthday plates next year.

Perfect don’t ya think?

Happy Birthday Papa Norge! Grrrrrrrrrr!!! We are vikings!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!

And I would love to do some custom plates for a fairytale themed party for my daughter.

These photos are from Puddin Pop Designs Blog. She created an incredible custom Little Red Riding Hood Party for her daughter, complete with custom costumes, pinata, decorations, desserts, guest book, A Walk to Grandmother’s house game, and more. You name it, she made it. You’ve got to go read about the details and see all of her pictures. I just LOVE this idea, and she told me her daughter is already asking for a Goldilocks and the Three Bears party for next year. I can’t wait to see what brilliant things she comes up with for that one.

Here’s a plate I made for my youngest’s first birthday.

Miffy was his favorite character at the time but I couldn’t find Miffy party supplies anywhere. There were all kinds of things available online, but they all needed to be shipped from Sweden or Japan where Miffy is much more popular, and I couldn’t stand to put money out for the crazy shipping costs.

So what did I do?

You got it!

Once again… I improvised.

And here’s how you can too!

Here’s the trick.

You buy your colored plates, and you buy the same size set of clear plates.

With a good color printer, print out any images you need for your theme.

This is where your imagination can really run wild.

You can go so far beyond kids birthday parties with this, using personal photos to celebrate family reunions, sweet 16 parties, Anniversary plates made from a wedding photo, hilarious pictures of friends or relatives, birth announcements for baby showers, … sky’s the limit!

If you can print it, you can plate it!

I like to use a cake plate as my tracing template for the image that will go onto a dinner plate. It’s a great size.

Use a clear cake plate so you can see your image through it, and determine exactly where you want to place it on your image.

Using a pen, marker, pencil, crayon… whatever… trace the plate to create the circular image.

Cut out the circle, and then using a glue stick on the backside of the paper, give the image a light coating of glue, making sure to put glue particularly all the way around the edge. Then stick it to the center of one of the colored plates.

Next apply some glue just to the bottom round edge of a clear dinner plate.

Attach the clear dinner plate to the colored plate.

And there you go!

A clean, smooth, shiny, FABULOUS, custom dinner plate.

Of course you could follow the same steps and create custom cups too, but I’ve never bothered to take it that far. Regular party cups and napkins that match your color scheme work just fine.

Taking advantage of available store bought products that match your theme and colors, and mixing them with custom elements you’ve created, offers the best of both worlds for parties with ease and originality.

For popular character themed cupcake toppers and much more, check out my online store. Every purchase made there helps my family financially with a commission, and we appreciate your business SO MUCH!

And by the way… they have now made Mario and Luigi party supplies available. I have them for sale in my store here.

Party on!

(This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Frugalicious Friday, TidyMom, Trendy Treehouse, Metamorphosis Monday, Made it Monday, The Girl Creative, DIY Project Parade 10, Motivate Me Monday, Craft Schooling Sunday, It’s So Very Cheri, Making the World Cuter, Made By You Monday, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Talented Tuesday, DIY Day, Boardwalk Bragfest, What You’re Workin’ With Wednesday, A Little Creative Therapy, Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party, Look What I Made, Make It Yours Day, Fun to Craft, Tatertos and Jello)

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This cake WILL change your life!

Seriously.

It will.

Part of why it will change your life is because it is so easy to make.

It starts off with a box mix like this one.

Yeah yeah I know… so it’s not completely from scratch. Let’s not be cake snobs.

No one will ever know you didn’t slave over this thing for weeks in a 17 step process.

They’ll think you ordered this from some exquisite authentic Italian bakery and when you ever so modestly let it slip that you made it yourself…

Well…

You just wait and see what the reaction will be.

Yep.

I told you.

This cake is going to change your life.

It’s also going to change the lives of those you serve it to.

Follow the directions on the back of the store bought cake mix box, and bake accordingly.

Once your cake comes out of the oven and has cooled, transfer it to whatever lovely serving dish you would like to present it on; preferably one with an upturned edge like you see in the picture above.

Now the fun begins.

You get to poke your freshly baked cake with a fork… like this.

All over.

Everywhere.

Go crazy.

You have my permission to play with your food.

Just don’t tear it.

The more holes you make, the more portals available for yummy, drippy, sweet, creamy, goodness to seep through.

We are in fact going to add some of our very own ingredients now.

This is what will make this cake our own.

And this is what will make our cake a DREAM.

1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1 whole can Evaporated Milk

1 whole can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Stir it all together. It makes about 3 cups of goodness.

Now if you thought poking this cake with a fork was fun, check this out.

You get to pour the milky goodness ALL OVER.

Well…

All over the cake anyway.

Here’s a tip:

You’ll tend to want to pour a whole lot of cream in the center because that’s where you’ll feel safe. When you get over near the edges you’ll start to freak out and lose faith in yourself worried that you’re pouring too much OVER the edges. This will create a super soggy cake in the middle and a super dry cake around the edges. With this kind of cake people who receive an edge piece will not get the delicious unique experience we’re trying to go for here, and people who get a middle piece will think you went a bit overboard with the soaking.

That’s not what we want.

What we want is a super even distribution of liquid over the entire cake. So don’t worry so much about the middle. By all means cover the middle, but that part is easy… the cream will get there.

Put extra thought and focus into wetting those edges.

Just pour slow, take your time, and try to pour the cream not past, not behind, but right into the edges of your cake.

This is what we’re going for.

Creamy Lemony Dreamy Deliciousness.

And see…

A milk moat.

It’s perfectly normal.

Don’t worry.

You’ll see.

Just make sure those edges, center, and entire cake are good and soaked with the ENTIRE 3 cups of dreamy creamy.

Now place the whole thing in the fridge to chill.

When you pull it back out, that moat will be gone! The Lemon cake will have soaked it right up.

See.

No more moat.

Just a leftover creamy glisten, reminding you, you have made something wonderful.

Something special.

Now we’re going to cheat with some store bought stuff again.

To make the topping add 3/4 cup store bought Lemon Frosting to 1 and 3/4 pints of Cold Heavy Whipping cream.

Also add 3 tbsp Sugar.

Whip it on low until it gets thick enough not to splash all over your kitchen and then crank it up to full power and watch the magic happen.

There is just something so fun about watching liquidy cream turn into fluffy whipped goodness like this!

This is such a fun recipe… the whole thing!

Cheating with store bought ingredients, fork poking, cake soaking, cream whipping.

You must try this!

So here’s my yummy bowl of whipped lemon topping, next to my cream soaked lemon cake, on a perfect Spring day with family.

Get out your spreader and start-a-spreadin’.

Don’t be shy now.

Remember we gave up on our fear of edges hours ago.

And here it is.

Lemon  Dream Cream Cake.

I made it up, so I get to name it and I say you have to say the DREAM part when everyone asks you,

“What on earth is this miraculous creation?”

And trust me… they’ll ask.

It’s always nice to give everyone a little hint about the tastes they’ll soon encounter by putting a couple of little lemon slices on the top.

Makes it look pretty too.

Then just serve it up and dig in!

This cake also tastes amazing after it’s been in the fridge a while.

I served it up immediately after making it today, but you can make all of it ahead of time and then put it in the fridge. When you pull it out for your guests, it will knock their socks off.

Adding that lemon frosting to the whipping cream creates a topping that tastes and feels like whipped cream, but when you chill it, it sets up like icing.

The only thing I wouldn’t recommend with this cake is leaving it out for any length of time. It tastes best chilled and it stays together best chilled. Remember, you’re dealing with a whole lot of milk and cream here. And if you somehow forget that…

The cake will remind you.

Look close.

Can you see the milky goodness?

This is when it’s as cold as can be.

If you let this creamy dream sit out on the table for too long, you’ll start to have a creamy puddle.

Keep it cool.

Then it’s perfect.

It’s moist, sweet, lemony, and wonderful.

Serve it up with some great coffee and you will have VERY happy people in your midst.

Here’s What You Need…

Lemon DREAM Cream Cake

Serves 12

1 Box Lemon Cake Mix Prepared – Recommended Duncan Hines Super Moist Brand

3/4 cup Lemon Frosting – Recommended Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 pints heavy whipping cream divided (1/4 cup for soaking and the rest for topping)

3 tablespoons sugar

- Prepare cake according to box directions, and set aside to cool.

- Flip cooled cake out onto serving platter. Platter should preferably have turned up edges to help trap liquid.

- Using a fork make multiple punctures all over the surface of the cake including along the tops of the edges.

- Mix 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream in pitcher or measuring cup with pouring spout.

- Pour entire contents of milk and cream mixture evenly over the surface of the cake making sure to soak the edges as well as the center. Set cake in fridge to chill and set.

- Prepare whipped topping by mixing remainder of heavy whipping cream (1 and 3/4 pints) with 3 tbsp sugar and 3/4 cup lemon frosting. Whip in stand mixer on low/med for 2 minutes until thick. Switch speed to high and whip until light and fluffy.

- Spread whipped lemon topping on cake and serve immediately or set in fridge to chill. Garnish with halved lemon slices.

I’m Lovin’ this cake! To see what other people are “LOVIN”, check out “I’m lovin’ it Fridays” at TidyMom.

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I started out making Valentine Cupcakes.

I made these candy covered brownie hearts to go on top, and then it dawned on me what cute Brownie pops they would make.

If you’d like to make some yourself, just follow along below.

It’s pretty simple.

I used regular ol’ boxed brownie mix and poured my batter onto wax paper laid out on a cookie sheet.

There isn’t enough batter in one box to cover an entire cookie sheet… unless it’s a small one.

But, because the brownie mix is so gooey, it didn’t run. I was able to spread it out with a spoon so that the entire thing was about 1/3 inch thick, and it stayed in place.

I cooked it at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

After the brownie sheet was baked and cool, I placed it in the fridge for an hour to harden.

After the brownies were good and cold I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the hearts.

I dipped the cookie cutter into powder sugar in order to keep the brownies from sticking to it.

For each pop I used two brownie hearts.

I spread some whipped chocolate frosting on one side of each heart.

Then I used a lollipop stick and pressed it firmly into the frosting on one of the hearts.

Next I took the second heart and placed it on top pressing both hearts firmly together around the stick.

Next, use the spreading knife to smooth out any frosting that has squished out between the cracks.  If there are any gaps between the two brownies, add more frosting to fill them in and then smooth it out.

You’re half way there.

It’s really important at this point to place your brownie pops back into the fridge to let them firm so that they don’t come apart when you are dipping them in the candy coating.

You can use melted white chocolate and add your own food coloring, or these colored candy melts that can be found at most craft and baking stores.

Fill a coffee cup 2/3 of the way with the candy melts and microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Remove the cup from the microwave and stir the candy with a spoon until it is smooth. Allow the melted candy to cool for at least 5 minutes before beginning to dip your brownies otherwise the warmth will pull your brownie off the stick.

Next, dip your pop half way into the cooled melted candy.

If you dip the pop all the way down into into it, the weight of it may pull the brownie off the stick. It’s better to use a spoon to help cover the base of your brownie.

Hold your pop over the cup and allow some of the excess candy to drip off.

Turn the pop a few times to allow each side to run smooth.

Set your pop upright in a glass and allow it to dry.

The pops will do best if they are quickly placed back in the fridge to firm up.

Even at room temperature, the brownies and frosting inside can soften and cause your pop to slip down your stick.

Once the brownie pops have cooled completely, choose the smoothest side on which to write your message.

You can find a pen with edible ink in the baker’s aisle at your grocery store or craft store.

Viola!

You can add some decorative ribbon to really make them special.

Here’s what you need…

Brownie Mix and Brownie Ingredients

Small Heart Shaped Cookie or Fondant Cutter

Powdered Sugar

Wax paper

Chocolate Frosting

Lollipop Sticks

Marker with Edible Ink

Decorative Ribbon

Happy Brownie Pop making!!!

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