Santa Hat Truffle Pops filled with Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch! Gluten free and yummy!!

 

Have you ever made Muddy Buddies from the recipe on the side of a Chex cereal box? Well, this recipe is inspired by that recipe. I love the chocolate peanut butter crunch and I thought it would be great on a stick! Since, we are getting close to Christmas; I decide to make Santa Hats. I took the idea for the hats from Bakerella, the queen of cake pops.



What you will need for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch:
· ½ cup of Milk Chocolate chips
· ½ cup of Creamy Peanut Butter
· 2 Tablespoons of Butter
· ½ teaspoon of Vanilla (I always forget to put that in the picture!!)
· 4 ½ cups of Rice Chex turned into 1 ½ cups of crumbs
· ½ cup powdered sugar

My monkey steals a few Chex. I was surprised it wasn’t the chocolate chips!

Steps:
1) Combine Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Butter in a large microwave safe bowl (large enough to stir in the Chex later). Place the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute.
2) Add the Vanilla and stir. The chocolate and butter should be melted and the mixture should be smooth.
3) Add in the Chex crumbs and powdered sugar. Stir to combine.
4) Mold the mixture into any shape you want. For the Santa Hats, mold it into a cone shape. This recipe makes about 18 cones.

5) Allow the cones to cool and harden. I left them on the counter for 2 hours.

 
What you will need for the Santa Hats:
· 8 oz of White Chocolate Candy Melts
· 8 oz of Red Candy Melts
· 18 lollipop sticks
· Paramount Crystals (not needed, but makes the chocolate nice and smooth)
· Clear Sanding Sugar
· 18 Round Balls (I used Pretzel M &Ms, but you could use yogurt covered raisins, white gumballs or any other round candy you like.)
· A food grade paint brush (found at any craft store in the candy section)
· A drying rack. Like the one in the pictures? My hubby made it! And I think I’ll do a give away with another one.
 
Steps for Santa Hats:

1) Melt your White Chocolate according to the back of the package or follow my steps found here.
2) Dip the bottom 1/3 of the cone in the chocolate and insert your lollipop stick. Do this gently and don’t go in more than half way.

Please ignore the big, prego belly in the shots!

3) Insert in the drying rack and allow to set.

Mr. Wonderful loves this shot. He calls it his action shot because you can see me dipping in the background. ;)

4) Melt the Red Chocolate according to the back of the package or follow my steps found here.
5) Dip the top 2/3 of each cone into the Red Chocolate. To get the excess chocolate off, I gently swung the pop upside down to release the chocolate.

6) Place in the drying rack and add your candy ball to the top. I had a diaper (well, my son had a diaper) emergency right after I dipped my hats. So, I added my balls on top after the red had dried with a little melted chocolate as the glue. But, it is so much easier if you add it while the red coating is still wet. Allow to set.

7) If you used a white candy ball, skip this step. If you didn’t (like me), dip the ball (that’s ‘glued’ to the hat) in white chocolate and allow to set.

8) You could be done now, but it’s Christmas!!! You need some sparkle! Plus it hides a number of mistakes!
9) I used a food grade paint brush for this step. I simply painted on extra white chocolate on the trim and ball of the hats and dusted with Sanding Sugar. It works best if you ‘paint’ an inch of trim and then dust with sugar. And repeat!

Now, I know the Pretzel M&Ms aren’t gluten free, but if I was making these for someone that needs gluten free, I would use a gumball or a Peanut Butter M&M for the ball.



The filling is really yummy and the hats are pretty cute. Happy Holidays and Enjoy!!

 

Have you ever made Muddy Buddies from the recipe on the side of a Chex cereal box? Well, this recipe is inspired by that recipe. I love the chocolate peanut butter crunch and I thought it would be great on a stick! Since, we are getting close to Christmas; I decide to make Santa Hats. I took the idea for the hats from Bakerella, the queen of cake pops.



What you will need for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch:
· ½ cup of Milk Chocolate chips
· ½ cup of Creamy Peanut Butter
· 2 Tablespoons of Butter
· ½ teaspoon of Vanilla (I always forget to put that in the picture!!)
· 4 ½ cups of Rice Chex turned into 1 ½ cups of crumbs
· ½ cup powdered sugar

My monkey steals a few Chex. I was surprised it wasn’t the chocolate chips!

Steps:
1) Combine Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Butter in a large microwave safe bowl (large enough to stir in the Chex later). Place the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute.
2) Add the Vanilla and stir. The chocolate and butter should be melted and the mixture should be smooth.
3) Add in the Chex crumbs and powdered sugar. Stir to combine.
4) Mold the mixture into any shape you want. For the Santa Hats, mold it into a cone shape. This recipe makes about 18 cones.

5) Allow the cones to cool and harden. I left them on the counter for 2 hours.

 
What you will need for the Santa Hats:
· 8 oz of White Chocolate Candy Melts
· 8 oz of Red Candy Melts
· 18 lollipop sticks
· Paramount Crystals (not needed, but makes the chocolate nice and smooth)
· Clear Sanding Sugar
· 18 Round Balls (I used Pretzel M &Ms, but you could use yogurt covered raisins, white gumballs or any other round candy you like.)
· A food grade paint brush (found at any craft store in the candy section)
· A drying rack. Like the one in the pictures? My hubby made it! And I think I’ll do a give away with another one.
 
Steps for Santa Hats:

1) Melt your White Chocolate according to the back of the package or follow my steps found here.
2) Dip the bottom 1/3 of the cone in the chocolate and insert your lollipop stick. Do this gently and don’t go in more than half way.

Please ignore the big, prego belly in the shots!

3) Insert in the drying rack and allow to set.

Mr. Wonderful loves this shot. He calls it his action shot because you can see me dipping in the background. ;)

4) Melt the Red Chocolate according to the back of the package or follow my steps found here.
5) Dip the top 2/3 of each cone into the Red Chocolate. To get the excess chocolate off, I gently swung the pop upside down to release the chocolate.

6) Place in the drying rack and add your candy ball to the top. I had a diaper (well, my son had a diaper) emergency right after I dipped my hats. So, I added my balls on top after the red had dried with a little melted chocolate as the glue. But, it is so much easier if you add it while the red coating is still wet. Allow to set.

7) If you used a white candy ball, skip this step. If you didn’t (like me), dip the ball (that’s ‘glued’ to the hat) in white chocolate and allow to set.

8) You could be done now, but it’s Christmas!!! You need some sparkle! Plus it hides a number of mistakes!
9) I used a food grade paint brush for this step. I simply painted on extra white chocolate on the trim and ball of the hats and dusted with Sanding Sugar. It works best if you ‘paint’ an inch of trim and then dust with sugar. And repeat!

Now, I know the Pretzel M&Ms aren’t gluten free, but if I was making these for someone that needs gluten free, I would use a gumball or a Peanut Butter M&M for the ball.



The filling is really yummy and the hats are pretty cute. Happy Holidays and Enjoy!!