So in case you are not (a) a parent of a young child, (b) an elementary school teacher, or (c) up on all the cool kids shows and toys...ninjas of ALL kinds are very in right now!
What is it about ninjas that are so enthralling to young children?
Could it be their stealthy demeanor? The super cool costumes and back stories? Their delicious candy coating and moist cake-y center?
Hmmmm.....I think the third choice just might be the winner.
Yes, you guessed it...I've been busy making birthday Ninja pops for several children lately!
Before this year I had never heard of Ninjagos before. What are Ninjagos you ask? They are little Lego ninjas....each with their own back story, color, outfit, etc. This is a picture of just a few of them:
It's a pretty big deal in the world of Kindergarten boys.
So when I was asked to make Ninjago pops, I wanted to make sure that they were accurate and awesome to make this little Lego superfan happy on his special day!
The little friend that I was making these pops for has a few food allergies that I've never had to think about while creating dessert pops before, so I had to get creative with them.
Since the cake pops I make typically contain dairy, gluten, and soy (by default in some ingredients), I decided to go with rice krispie pops for this order. I opted to use Earth Balance Soy-Free Buttery Spread in lieu of butter in the rice krispie pops to totally adhere to all the dietary sensitivities I was working around.
Now, I had never experimented with rice krispie pops using anything other than butter, so I was a little nervous about how they would come out!
But thankfully, they shaped into nice little pops quite easily:
The
melting chips that I typically use contain dairy and soy, so as an
alternative I used Enjoy Life Allergen Free chocolate chips....which
taste awesome!
Here are the pops dipped and drying:
Next, I had to figure out what to use for the little yellow Lego faces. Starburst candies of course!
Here's what all my little Ninjas looked like dipped and with their chocolate faces piped on:
And here's a close up of one little Ninja friend:
I couldn't have been happier with how they turned out and I think that they look just like the Lego Ninjago figures!
The best part of making these pops was how happy the little boy at school (and his mom) were with the final product. His teacher said he had the biggest smile when the pops were unveiled at his lunchtime birthday celebration! Success!
The next set of ninja pops I made were some crime fighting ninjas from my childhood that have recently made a comeback. Who am I talking about you wonder? Who else but everyone's favorite heros in a half-shell! Oh yeah...that's right...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Turtle Power!
What a great show that was! I can remember coming home from school and racing to the television (snack in hand) to watch Leonardo, Donatello, Rafael, and Michaelangelo fight crime and eat pizza....don't judge me...you all know you watched too! :)
So when I was asked to make some TMNT pops for a birthday party, I was excited for the challenge.
Here are a bunch of shots of the whole Ninja Turtle gang:
Aren't they adorable?! I was so happy with how they came out! And so were the recipients!
What fun all these ninjas were to make!
I hope you all enjoyed reading about my latest pops as much as I enjoyed making them!
Stay tuned to see what delicious delights I come up with next!
And, remember, though the holidays are over and we're all trying to jump start those new years resolutions...don't forget to eat your sweets!
You only live once, you might as well live it sweet! :)
