Apple Pops

  

OK... I made these as a treat but I am so making these for our next party and for Halloween-time! These are great!!!


You need:



Apples, sticks, caramel, peanut butter, and sprinkles.


Here's what I did.....


(1) I washed my apples (I only had 2 and they were Red Delicious).
(2) I took my melon baller and made balls of apple (leave the skin on).
(3) I took popsicle sticks and put one in each ball (poked the stick through the skinned side).
(4) This is where you'd warm up your dipping agent. I used Caramel Bits by Kraft (nuked a small amount for 45 seconds in the microwave with a bit of water) and peanut butter (nuked for 30 seconds). Other great ideas would be Nutella, melted chocolate, melted cinnamon chips or fluff.
(5) Take a paper towel and dry an apple and then dip and swirl in the coating.
(6) roll in a coating such as nonpareils, sprinkles, mini chips, coconut, crushed cookies....
(7) place on waxed paper and cool in refrigerator (peanut butter ones are ready quickly (like 5 minutes) while the caramel needs about an hour).


These were so easy, the kids loved them, and so did I! :)

ChocoNut Haystacks

OK... so with the leftover melted Chocolate from the Banana Pop Treats, I decided to not waste it. I had shredded coconut already out from the pops. So what I did was add coconut to the chocolate and then added sliced, hand-crushed almonds to the melted chocolate. I stirred it and then took a cookie scooper (small ice-cream scoop) and made small mounds and put them in a  cool place (fridge or freezer) and let them set up.

If you like Almond Joys, you'd love these.

I got the inspiration from a candy store that used to be in Tanger Outlet Mall in Riverhead, NY. They used to sell these things I believe they called haystacks and they were just mound of chocolate  and coconut similar to these. i thought the almonds would add a bit more and the crunch it added made them even better.

Frozen Banana Pop Treats

I guess I am more of a Frugal mom than I thought... I can't waste things. The bananas were super ripe. There is only so much banana bread or muffins one can eat. I had like 8 bananas that needed to be used. I was going to make banana shakes (like the yummy ones from Cook-Out) but I decided it was a banana pop kinda day. Find the recipe and directions I did as follows (already altered).


6 Bananas
1-1/2 cup of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
4 Tablespoons Butter
Items for coating (sprinkles, sweetened coconut, mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips)


1. Peel 6 medium-large bananas.
2. Cut in half cross-wise.
3. Insert wooden pop stick in each piece carefully.
4. Place on baking sheet.
5. Freeze until bananas are firm which is about 2 hours (or more).
6. Microwave butter/shortening & chocolate chips for 45 seconds on 50% power. Stir and Microwave for another 30 minutes on full power and stir.
7. Using a silicone brush, "paint" on the chocolate quickly but thoroughly.
8. roll in topping on choice.
9. Place on wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze until firm.


*** Mom Note: We also tried smearing peanut butter on them instead of chocolate coating. We then rolled them in sprinkles or chips and they tasted very yummy.


*** Mom Note: Target has a pack of 150 Craft Sticks (plain pack & multi-color pack) for $1.00. Talk about a bargain! They are the perfect size and the kids LOVED that they were colored!


*** Mom Note: There was extra chocolate left.. I couldn't let that go to waste so please see post for ChocoNut Haystacks.