Candy Coated Marshmallow Pops

I had my grandsons over on Sunday and we made these cute little marshmallow pops.

I have a huge collection of sprinkles in my house for sprinkle emergencies. When my oldest grandson was about five, we would regularly bake a little five inch layer cake, frost it, and he would proceed to decorate it with sprinkles, M&Ms, and frosting swirls. I had one of those Easy Bake Decorating Pen Kits and he would have so much fun with it. In the end, the cake would have every single color and type of sprinkle available on top of it, and would be dripping with frosting swirls.

It's been a while since we've made treats together, so when I spied a big bag of marshmallows at the grocery store, I just knew I had to make these with "help" from the boys.

Of course, I let the boys loose on the rest of the sprinkle collection, and each one of them took home a box full of their own multicolored marshmallow pop creations (plus a bag of mixed sprinkles).

As much as I love to make complicated multi-step dishes that, as a good friend says, "require algorithms and graphs," these are so fun to make with kids, are adorable as part of a holiday table, and are actually pretty tasty. I have an Electric Chocolate Melting Pot (of course I do) that I used to keep the chocolate warm after melting it in the microwave, but it is not necessary (still, it's really convenient). And marshmallows are fat free!

Candy Coated Marshmallow Pops

Ingredients and Supplies

1 bag of marshmallows

1 12 ounce bar/bag of almond bark or candy melts in the color/flavor of your choice

Sprinkles

Shortening and/or paramount crystals

Lollipop sticks (can be found at craft stores)

Styrofoam blocks (for drying the pops)

Instructions

1. Melt the candy in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted. 
2. If the candy is too thick, add shortening or paramount crystals, 1 1/2 tsp to 1 T, until the candy reaches a consistency that is easy to work with. You can remelt the chocolate/candy melts as needed to keep it at the right consistency. 
3. Dip the sticks into the melted chocolate and stick them 3/4 the way through into the marshmallows. Allow the candy to harden. 
4. Swirl the marshmallows into the melted candy, and then tap the marshmallow over the bowl to shake off excess. 
5. Over a plate, sprinkle the pop with sprinkles. 
6. Place the stick into the styrofoam and allow the pops to harden, about 30 minutes.