Christmas Tree Crispy Pops Food

CHRISTMAS TREE POPS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with a circle of baking parchment.
• Put the butter in a big mixing bowl with the sugar and vanilla extract, and mix until it looks creamy. Crack in the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each one. Sift the flour and cocoa together, add to the bowl with the milk and stir everything together until smooth. Spoon into the cake tin and use the back of a wooden spoon to spread the top to make it as flat as you can. Bake for 20 mins until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean, with just cake crumbs stuck to it, not wet batter. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack.
• Remove the cake from the tin and use a serrated knife to cut it into 8 wedges. Turn each one so that the round, outside edge is facing you, and push a lollipop or cake pop stick through the middle of the outside edge. Remember to leave enough of the stick poking out for you to hold.
• Mix the food colouring and icing sugar with enough water to make an icing that is a bit runny, but still quite stiff. Try drizzling a bit on a spare piece of paper; you want it to stay in strips, not run all over the place.
• Spoon some icing over each cake wedge (you can cover it completely or drizzle lines across them in a tree shape). Decorate with sugar snowflakes and mini Smarties, then lift onto a wire rack and leave to set completely (this will take a few hours). Iced cakes will keep in the tin for up to 2 days. The un-iced cake can be frozen for up to 6 months. Defrost completely before cutting and decorating.

CHRISTMAS TREE CRISPY POPS

Steps:

• Melt the marshmallows and golden syrup in a pan, then stir in Rice Krispies. Working quickly, pack the mixture into ice cream cones and push a lolly stick into the middle of each one. Chill the cones for 1 hr until completely firm. Mix icing sugar with green food colouring and enough water to make a thick icing. Dip the cones into the icing and decorate with sweets and sprinkles. Prop up on a wire cooling rack to set.

CHRISTMAS TREE CHEESECAKE POPS

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Cut the cheesecake into 8 even wedges. Firmly insert a wooden ice pop stick into the short side of each cheesecake slice, about 2 1/2 inches deep. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and freeze until solid, at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
• Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Add the green candy melting wafers and coconut oil to a tall wide-mouth microwave-safe container. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between each, until the melting wafers and coconut oil are melted and the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute 30 seconds.
• To make a plain tree: Dip a frozen cheesecake slice in the candy melts to fully coat. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and immediately sprinkle with green sprinkles. Dip the bottom of a gold star dragee in the candy melts and press on the top of the tree.
• To make a tree with rainbow lights: Follow the directions above for a plain tree, quickly sprinkling a few a few rainbow nonpareils over the green sprinkles. Add a gold star as above.
• To make a tree with white lights: Follow the directions above for a plain tree, quickly sprinkling a few silver nonpareils over the green sprinkles. Add a gold star as above. Attach a small round piping tip to the tube of white decorating icing and pipe a garland on the tree.
• To make a tree with snow: Follow the directions above for a plain tree, quickly sprinkling a few white nonpareils over the green sprinkles. Add a gold star as above.
• Freeze the pops until ready to serve. Use a sharp knife to trim any frozen candy melt drips from the sides of the pops. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving, or serve frozen.