Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

image via

so which one should i choose? ha

in all sincerity,

good luck to all the Olympians!

God's speed.

candy popsicle cupcake toppers

wow. summer's almost over.

where'd it go?

soon i'll be hearing those dreaded words,

"so how was your summer?"

because i will have to go back to work full time nursing.

"have a great summer!"

are much much better sounding words to me!

but nevertheless, i will keep blogging along and tell you all about these summer popsicles now before that school bell rings.

so let's get started!

first,

while i was cleaning out my kitchen drawer, i found a pack of small halloween cookie cutters. in it was a small ghost cutter that instantly looked like a popsicle to me. so this was my inspiration. i got what i had around my kitchen and came up with these.

if i had wax paper, i would've used that but all i had was parchment paper so that's what i used.

if you do have wax paper. i would recommend using that instead. (i'm thinking it'd be easier to remove the popsicles?!)

the amount of almond bark candy depends on how thick you want your popsicles to be or how many you want to make.

when i made these i ended up using only 2 cubes of candy chocolate for a total of 

one dozen toppers.

now you will have to adjust the sticks.

one stick was enough for 2 popsicles.

your sticks don't have to be exactly 2 inches.  as a matter of fact, i just eyeballed mine and cut away.

now you'll need to do this:

after you measure your cutter, draw 2-3 areas slightly larger than that measurement on your parchment or wax paper to give you the space needed for the popsicles. 

as you can see from the pic below, this will be your guide to help you place your melted candy.   

i put an "x" on the space in between so i wouldn't mess up since i tend to do that often-LOL

you can do it too, if you want.

then FLIP THE PAPER OVER and use the back side so you won't get pen/sharpie/pencil (whatever you used to draw your line areas) poisoning on your popsicles. just be sure your lines are heavy enough to be seen on the back side of the parchment or wax paper you use.

so now for the next step,

melt one candy bark cube as directed on the package til smooth and creamy.

then:

got that?

good!

now comes the fun part!

you can sprinkle the entire area if you want but as you can see, i chose to use different sprinkles and estimate the area for each popsicle.

sometimes i alternated colors to resemble stripes like the orange and yellow you see in the pic or just used multicolored sprinkles in 2 separate rows (see top popsicle).

no need to be perfect, just have fun with it.

so here are some other ideas i thought about aside from plain sprinkles.

it's a swirl popsicle!

or how about this one?

or get real creative and make picture popsicles with different sprinkles!

you can make a bunch of different kinds!

just remember though,

do ONE ROW AT A TIME

because the candy chocolate will harden

and the sprinkles won't stick so you have to move quickly when decorating!

also, as you can see, i ended up using the 2 outside rows for the popsicles and left the middle row blank for room for the sticks!

i think if you want to make more of these, draw the same pattern on the paper for your next batch and just use the outside rows (man i hope i am making sense here-i think the pic explains it better than i do!)

anywhoo, now it's time to:

this next step is optional because i didn't want the popsicles sticking to the parchment paper once i cut them. i think if i had used wax paper, this step could be eliminated, even though parchment paper is pretty much nonstick.

now onto the cutting process:

now i'm no expert at making these, and i was winging it as i went along. but i'll be honest with you, it was a little tricky cutting these out because some cracked a little on me due to the stick.

but that was easily fixed by using some melted candy as glue and it looked good as new!

just be patient and go slow & careful during the cutting process and they should all come out great :) i was a bit spastic when i cut a few of them at first cuz i was excited and cut them in a hurry :>P

so now that you have them all cut,

hmmm...not bad but try to cut them out with the stick more in the center spazo! 

(i'm talking to myself here)

let's take a closer look at 'em.

and closer still...

awww, what is it about BRIGHT colors that makes me giddy?

anyway, hope you like these as much as me and my kids did!

happy popsicle topper making!

ps(if i was an expert blogger, i would've added colorful twine bows on the cupcakes to up the cuteness factor-but since i'm not, i'll use that as an excuse)

package the pastries

sometimes the smallest thing can mean 

big inspiration.

like these for instance.

last week i made some cookies. 

chocolate swirl pastry cookies  as a matter of fact and i wanted to package them in a fun way just for kicks.

so, i got some stuff and went with it.

to make the kiss label, 

save and print this image and cut into strips

ok so now,

this is what happens to newbie bloggers like me, who get overly excited and forget to do all the steps for a tutorial...

but no matter, we can fix that!

look at what i'm talking about:

whew!

that was a close call...

anyway,

so that little hershey kiss made me do all this. 

what the heck?

so what do you think?

wouldn't it be cute to make a bunch of these for a party and put them in the center of each plate as the 

party favor?

it's utterly CHEAP to make dont'cha think?

and i won't be offended if you want to add your own cookie in it or candy or whatever.

just become my blog follower and all will be forgiven.

LOL! JUST KIDDING (?!?)

so go ahead then,

oh and before i go,

i have to tell you one thing, 

my wonderful reader you,

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY BLOG 

AND HANGING OUT A BIT WITH ME!

XXX with an O too

chocolate swirl pastry cookies

these cookies were inspired by something i saw at 

the $100 store.

y'know, otherwise known as Target.

so i am walking down the aisle 

minding my own business when 

"hello!" look at what caught my eye!

whoa!

"what are these?" i asked and seeing the clearance price, i quickly stuck them in my cart along with a million other things i never intended on buying...

but aren't they beautiful?

how come i never saw these suckers before?

anyway, let's make some cookies outta them since we're all here shall we?

yeah yeah, i know there's a lot of flour there! that's my 9-yr-old son making these so we'll give him a break...

bake in preheated oven at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

stare.

(i like to stare at desserts for some weirdo reason)

 so those darn beautiful swirl chips tricked me. 

they changed colors!

no wonder they were on clearance!

let's take a look at the cookies again.

hmmm...something still ain't right...

wonder if they taste good?

get/print recipe HERE 

oh my golly gee willikers!

they are MIGHTY dang tasty!

i LOVE how the pastry flakes get all over the place when you eat them-HA!

and those chips? 

well worth my $1.91 and more!

but they still look strange to me.

like, not that appealing...

so let's do this:

but can we make them even more appealing?

YES!

take that leftover melted chocolate from your swirl icing,

blob a spot on the back of a cookie and stick it to the end of a ribboned popsicle stick and allow to dry before picking it up.

(pssst! do not stick the stick thru the cookie-

it's too delicate!)

better?

i think so.

you can make these for a party or just because it looks cute and yummy.

and it's also in time for 

"National Lollipop Day"

which is next friday, july 20th.

did you know that?

my sweets calendar tells me all these official holidays that really matter :)

ok so,