Cheeky Popsicle Cookie Pops

My second daughter is finishing up her last year of preschool at a traditional school - in a few months, I will be homeschooling her as well. As excited as we are to have all our babies at home, we will truly miss this preschool and everyone there! She's made so many friends that we will be keeping in touch with for play-dates. I wanted to make those cutie pies a small end-of-the year treat for them on their last day.

I searched high and low on Pinterest for end of the school year cookie ideas, but just didn't find any that knocked me out. Originally I was going to do a beach ball - for "Have a ball this summer!", but I wasn't hooked on it. I started to see a lot of Popsicle cookies on my Instagram feed and thought that would be fun. I added my own little spin and made them Kawaii Popsicles. I'll be adding a little watercolor tag on them - "Stay Cool This Summer!"

For these cookies, I used my cookie artist idol, Arty Mcgoo's Roll-Out Cookie recipe.  When I roll out cookies, I always roll between two sheets of parchment, this reduces adding more flour to the dough. I also use 1/4" roller bands - this will give you consistent thickness.

And here's a tidbit for you, a tombstone cookie cutter from Halloween will make a perfect Popsicle shape!

I really wanted to make these cookie pops - that adds a huge part of the whole Popsicle idea, right? I can not shove those sticks in nicely. I've tried a bunch and read many articles, but it's always a disaster. So here's what I do. Once the cookies are completely cooled - like the next day - I spread a thick layer of melted candy wafers on the *back* of the cookie, gently sink in your stick and cover with a heaping spoon of more melted candy. You can smooth it out much better than I did, but it's the back and it's candy - I figure no child is going to care or complain, right?

Then I decorated using Bake at 350's Royal Icing recipe. I use the original recipe for piping the sides,ice shading, eyes and smile. You will need to thin it down to flood the cookie. Once it has dried, I painted on a bit of light corn syrup and sprinkled clear sanding sugar.

All done! They just need to be wrapped in cellophane, tied with a ribbon and note.

Stay Cool!