St. Patrick's Day Treats

There was a bake sale at daycare today so I chose some easy treats that everyone seemed to enjoy.

Pretzels with Chocolate
These were really quick and the best part is, the candy coating comes in so many different colours. You could make these for any holiday or event. I don't know where this idea originated but you can find it all over Google. Some people use kisses, but they don't come in all sorts of colours. It's really up to you! And who said you had to use M&Ms? How about whole nuts or a dried cherry? Use your imagination here!

Makes as many as you want.

Ingredients

• Pretzels (I chose square)
• chocolate candy melts
• M&Ms or Smarties

Directions

1. Preheat the to 175F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Place the pretzels in a single layer on the parchment and place a candy melt in the centre of each one.
3. Place the tray in the oven for 4 minutes. That's all mine needed. Kisses are thicker, they may need a minute longer. Try to press an M&M into one and see how it goes.
4. Remove the tray from the oven and immediately start placing an M&M in the centre of each candy melt. Allow the chocolate to harden on the tray before storing in an airtight container.

Related postings on other blogs:
Love From the Oven - Quick and Easy Chocolate Pretzel Bites for St. Patrick's Day
House on Hilltop - These use round pretzels and look like buttons!
Newlyweds - Rolo Pretzel Treats (this one has pecans!)

Chocolate Stir Spoons
Here's another recipe you can find all over Google and Pinterest. Easy and really cute. Use these to stir your coffee or hot chocolate.

And again, I used candy melts in this recipe. You can use pink or blue for a baby shower, or red for Valentine's Day. The bulk store has all sorts of miniature candies and sprinkles that you can use. I found little shamrock sequins which worked with the St. Patrick's Day theme of the bake sale. And the mini gummy bears were too cute to pass up.

Makes as many as you want.

Ingredients

• candy melts
• sprinkles and candies
• plastic spoons

Directions

1. Melt the candy melts in the microwave. 45 -60 seconds should be more than enough to melt a cup of candy melts.
2. Place the spoons on a board (so you can move them around easily if you need to) with a wooden spoon or a rolled piece of foil to hold up the handle. You want to make sure the spoon is level so the chocolate doesn't drip over the edge.
3. Pour some chocolate into the spoons making sure not to go up more than 3/4 of the way. when you add the candies the chocolate will rise. If you fill them too much, it'll just go over the edges of the spoon.
4. Add the candies and sprinkles then allow to dry completely before packaging them up.

Related postings on other blogs:
Glamour This - DIY Chocolate Spoons (this is where I got the idea)
Sweetapolita - Sprinkled Chocolate Party Spoons


Cheater Cake Pops
For this recipe. I used Timbits (aka doughnut holes). This saves you the job of baking a cake and rolling it into balls. You save a bunch of time right there! The candy melts were used again in this recipe, and once again, the colour selection on those is great! I used different sprinkles and coloured sugars to decorate.

Makes as many as you want.

Ingredients

• Timbits (doughnut holes)
• candy melts
• sprinkles and coloured sugars

Directions

1. Melt a few candy melts in the microwave for a few seconds. Dip the lollipop sticks into the melted chocolate, then press the chocolate end into the Timbits. Do them all, then refrigerate for half an hour or so. You want them to be a little bit cool before dipping so the candy melts will harden faster.
2. Melt the candy melts in the microwave. 45-60 seconds for a cup of them will do. Stir it up so there are no lumps. Swirl the Timbits in the melted chocolate until they're completely coated.
3. You can dip the bottoms in sprinkles or sprinkle them over the Timbits while turning them. If you let them dry completely, then you can drizzle more chocolate on to make lines and swirls. Sprinkle with coloured sugars if you like.
4. Let them dry completely on parchment paper before packaging.

Related postings on other blogs:
itmom - Saint Patrick's Day Cake Pops
Pint Sized Baker - St. Pattie's Cake Pops
And finally ....

Lucky Charms Cereal Treats
I loved these. I ate some for breakfast. A twist on the regular Rice Krispy treats, is adding some Lucky Charms to the mix. I would have liked them a bit gooier, so next time I'll probably add less Rice Krispies I used the same little shamrock sequins that I used for the stir spoons. I cut mine in small squares but the number of servings will simply depend on how big you cut yours.

Makes as many as you want.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups mini marshmallows
• 3 cups Rice Krispies
• 3 cups Lucky Charms
• white chocolate
• sprinkles

Directions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and lightly grease it.
2. In a large non-stick pot, melt the butter over medium low heat. Stir in the marshmallows and stir now and then until they're melted and gooey. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the rice Krispies. Stir in the Lucky Charms.
3. Pour the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet and grease up your hands. Use you hands to spread the mixture evenly onto the tray. I picked out about 1/3 cup of the marshmallows from the Lucky Charms. If you choose to do that, sprinkle them on top while the treats are still sticky.
4. Melt a bit of white chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Drizzle it over the cereal then add sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Allow everything to dry, then slice into squares with a buttered knife. Store in an airtight container.

Related postings on other blogs:
Ezra Pound Cake - Lucky Charms Treats (this is where I got the recipe)