Food For Friday: Grad Cap Candy Pops

Last month, I came across this cute idea on Bakerella's blog. I thought it was so clever that I wished I had a reason to make them. And then it dawned on me. I did! My youngest brother was graduating from high school this year and we would be in town for his graduation and party.

I e-mailed the link to my mom and we decided that we would definitely make Grad Cap Candy Pops for his graduation party! We are so happy with how they turned out and they are such a festive addition for a graduation celebration.

We followed the tutorial given by Bakerella with just a couple of modifications. She used Godiva squares for the top of the caps and we wanted a more economical option, so we substituted Hershey's Dark Chocolate Squares. We also used mini baking M&M's instead of rainbow chips for the middle. We didn't want to mix milk & dark chocolate pieces, so that we would have a more cohesive look for the caps, so we also substituted dark chocolate Reese Cups for the regular milk chocolate variety.

If you want to give them a try, don't forget the step of freezing the Reese Cups before removing the papers! It keeps the chocolate from sticking to the wrapper and leaving an exposed peanut butter area on your caps. We also found it helpful to poke the Reese Cup with a toothpick before inserting the stick. I think the dark chocolate is a little firmer than the milk chocolate, which made it a tad harder to insert the stick without the Reese Cup cracking. But, we thought this step was well worth having dark chocolate bottoms and tops that matched! One last hint...leave plenty of time between each step to allow the chocolate to dry thoroughly. Plan to leave them for at least an hour or two to dry between steps.

We are excited to serve our Grad Cap Candy Pops at my brother's graduation party on Sunday! We've had a fun weekend crafting and getting ready for the celebration. I'll post pictures from all the festivities soon!