How to make chocolate lollipops

The Home & Leisure channel is one of my indulgences. Once our children are in bed for the evening, I love me some HGTV, Travel and basically all the food networks. I watch it all! A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa. Of course I have heard of her, but I’d never watched her on TV. An episode called “Barefoot in London” caught my eye. For the next hour, I joined Ina (virtually) as she traveled throughout London exploring the London food scene. She visited some of the finest food shops in London getting ideas and inspiration for her own Holiday party menu. On one of her stops, she learns how to make chocolate lollipops that look ah-mazing and I wanted to give it a try this weekend. P.S. These make a great hostess gift!

Below are the step by step photos:

You’ll need:

Chocolate (I prefer Ghirardelli chips either semi-sweet or classic white or both)
Lollipop sticks
Nuts, dried fruits (I used chocolate covered sunflower seeds from Trader Joe’s)
Parchment paper
Baking sheet

Instructions:

Make room in your refrigerator for a baking sheet, these little pops will need to cool. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put one cup of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and add a dash of whole milk. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well between each interval until the chips are completely melted. Using a spoon, scoop some of the melted chocolate and drizzle it onto the parchment paper. Creating an almost perfect circle is easy, because the chocolate will naturally form into that shape. If you want a larger lollipop, add more melted chocolate in the direct center of the circle. You need to work fairly quickly because the chocolate will begin to harden after a few minutes. After you have made the chocolate circle, place a lollipop stick in the center and push it down into the chocolate. Then rotate the lollipop stick completely so it is covered in chocolate, this will help the chocolate remain on the lollipop stick. Then add whatever combination of nuts and fruits you like. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes until completely cooled. Other classic combinations are dried cherries and pistachio, raisins and peanuts – the sky’s the limit. I used chocolate covered sunflowers seeds. Enjoy!

I also made similar chocolate lollipops like Ina did on the show in both milk and white chocolate with dried cherries and pistachios, though cashews would be incredible too!