Brownie lolli pops, and a lovely gift idea.

Wow! just plain "Wow" brownies on a stick? What's next, iceream soup? If you read my blog you know by now that I'm a huge brownie fan. If you ever wish to bribe me, just bake me some brownies and I'm game. The brownie recipe below was adapted from an old Hershe's cocoa recipe but feel free to use any fudgy brownie recipe of your own. I chose this one because it only requires cocoa powder and not melted chocolate like so many other fudge brownie recipes do. So, make these brownies and save the melted chocolate for the dipping. :)





Ingredients
1 cup chocolate, chopped into small pieces (you can also use hershey's mini morsels) 3/4 cup Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted and divided
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the pops
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate morsels (the brownies are sweet, so I would't use milk chocolate).
20 to 30 lolli pop or popcicle sticks (craft sticks).
1 cup brewed coffee to moisten hands
Colored sprinkles to dip


Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Stir together cocoa and baking soda in large bowl; stir in 1/3 cup butter. Add boiling water; stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter; stir until smooth. Add flour, vanilla and salt; blend completely. Stir in your chocolate pieces. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into desired size squares.


How to assemble the pops.

Allow your brownies to cool slightly just until you can manage them by hand make sure to cut off all the rough edges of your brownies.

Moisten your hands with the coffee to prevent the brownies from sticking to your hands.

roll the top of the brownie into the center of your ball. The crackley top has dry edges that make it hard to make your ball nice and round. Go ahead and puch them almost all the way down to the bottom, making an even and tight ball. If necessary moisten your hands to make sure the ball is smooth and free of cracks. stick in the lolli pop sticks and press the ball tightly to make sure it sticks to the stick. I used wooden sticks and found that dipping the tip into the coffee allowed them to stick to the brownie ball better.

Allow the lollies to cool completely before dipping into your melted chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave but make sure not to overheat or the results will be lumpy and grainy chocolate. If you're melting the chocolate in the microwave make sure to microwave in 10 to 15 second intervals, stirring after each until your chocolate is smooth. Dip the pops into the chocolate until completely covered, allow them to cool in your hands for a few seconds before dipping them into your sprinkles. Place the pops sprinkles side down on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or in a nonstick cookie sheet. You can drizzle your pops with melted chocolate or decorate with colored icing after they're completely cooled. The chocolate has completely cooled when the pops loose the shiny chocolate look and appear more dull in color.



I'm just keeping it real, check out the huge finger print on my "Oh so beautiful" brownie pop, please don't go checking my criminal record. :P