One of my many hats is to be the teacher appreciation chair on the PTSA at my children’s school. One of my jobs is to create and pass out a monthly treat to the entire staff.
Like I have said before, my kids attend a modified year round school so they only get 7 weeks off in the summer and were back to school this week! I wanted to have a yummy treat for the staff on the first day back, so I chose to make these chocolate covered marshmallows and decorated them to look like apples 🙂 Get it- back to school? Apples for the teachers? I’m so clever 🙂
These are EASY to make and don’t take too long, unless of course you are making 100 like I did!
To make these pops you will need:
Large marshmallows
Cake pop sticks (one per pop)
Wilton’s red candy melts (one bag will cover approximately 25 marshmallows)
Red sugar sprinkles
Shortening
Wax paper
Pretzel sticks for the stems
Begin by melting the candy melts according to the package directions. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
When the chocolate is mostly melted, begin dipping the tip of the sticks one at a time in the candy and sticking them in the marshmallows. Sticking them in the chocolate before you put them in the marshmallows ensures the mallows won’t fall off when you are dipping them in the chocolate. Let all the mallows set on the cookie sheet for about 15 minutes (faster if you stick them in the fridge or freezer) while they set. While they are setting, cut the mini pretzel sticks into small pieces to use for the stems.
Once the mallows have set, re-melt the chocolate and stir in a spoonful of the shortening. Stir until the shortening has completely melted into the chocolate. The shortening makes the chocolate nice and thin and easy to dip.
Set up a dipping “station” with the sprinkles and pretzel pieces at easy access. Dip each marshmallow in the chocolate and cover it completely. Shake it gently to remove any excess chocolate. Over a bowl (to catch any extra sprinkles) cover the chocolate with the red sugar sprinkles and then place face down on the wax covered cookie sheet. Stick a pretzel in the top to be the stem. Do this for all the pops you want to make.
If you live in a cool place, you can let them set on the counter. Here in AZ, I put them in the fridge or freezer until they are hard.
If you were using these for a party or after school treat, you could just remove them from the wax paper and place on a plate to serve. Since mine were gifts, I bagged each in a cello bag with a little “welcome back” note.
These treats are yummy and simple to make. You can do so many variations with different seasons and holidays as well. Last year, I make jack-o-lantern ones with orange chocolate and used black icing to draw on a face. They are also cheap to make!
The teachers loved these back-to-school treats! It couldn’t hurt to make a few for YOUR kids teachers this year as well! 🙂
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