Bunny Butt Marshmallow Pops Recipes

Steps:

• Melt the chocolate- or white chocolate-almond bark (or both) in a double boiler (melt separately if using both). Next, melt the blue and orange candy melting wafers separately in double boilers. Stir them all until they are nice and smooth. These will be your marshmallow coatings.
• One by one, dip the very tip of each lollipop stick into one of the coatings. Then stick that end of the stick into a marshmallow until it's not quite all the way through. Repeat with the rest of the marshmallows, standing them up as you go.
• Next, roll each marshmallow in the coating of your choice, and then tap the stick gently on the side of the double boiler to get rid of the excess. Using your fingers, sprinkle the topping of your choice all over the coating. For a rocky road version, dip in the chocolate and roll in the chopped pecans. For a s'mores version, dip in the chocolate and roll in the graham cracker crumbs. For a cookies and cream version, dip in the white chocolate and roll in the crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.
• Set the pops, stick-side up, on a piece of waxed paper, or stick them into florist foam (used to make flowers stand up).

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch (1 1/2 quart) ovenproof metal bowl. Line 4 muffin cups with paper liners.
• For the cake: Whisk the eggs and egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk in the cream of coconut, pineapple, coconut extract and vanilla extract until combined. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in another large bowl. Beat in the butter, one piece at a time, with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add half the egg mixture and beat on high until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the remaining egg mixture until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fill the muffin cups each 2/3 full, then pour the remaining batter into the prepared bowl. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes for the cupcakes and 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes for the bowl. Remove the cakes to a wire rack and let cool in their pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out and let cool completely.
• For the buttercream: Beat the confectioners' sugar and butter together with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, then beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in 1 tablespoon of the milk and the vanilla and coconut extracts until light and spreadable, 2 to 3 minutes more, adding up to 1 tablespoon more milk if the frosting is too stiff.
• With a serrated knife, trim the flat bottom of the bowl-shaped cake so it lies flat on a plate, rounded-side up, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Remove the wrappers from the cupcakes and anchor 2 of them with a pretzel stick each at the base of the cake to make the bunny's feet (leave about 1 1/2 inches between the feet). Cut the third cupcake in half from top to bottom. With pretzel sticks, attach the cupcake halves to the top of the feet, with the cut-side facing down and the rounded ends positioned to be the heels of the feet. Attach the last cupcake with a pretzel stick to the lower half of the top of the cake to make a tail. Frost the cupcakes with the remaining frosting. Wipe away any frosting that has smeared on the cake plate.
• Pat about 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut all over the cake. Put the remaining coconut in a large zip-top plastic bag. Mix the green food coloring with 2 teaspoons water and add to the bag. Toss and massage the coconut until it is uniformly green in color. Press the chocolate candies into the bottoms of the bunny feet with the larger candy at the top and the smaller ones underneath so they resemble the pads of the toes. Spread the green coconut all around the cake plate to make grass and decorate with candy eggs. Flatten the apricots with a rolling pin and roll into carrot shapes. Cut the leaves in half crosswise and use scissors to snip them to resemble carrot tops. Insert the carrot tops into the wider end of the apricot carrots and arrange them in the grass around the bunny.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the marshmallows on the foil, long side facing up (as opposed to standing up on the short end). Place under the broiler and cook until the marshmallows are golden brown and toasted, 10 to 15 seconds. Cool completely on the baking sheet. The marshmallows will firm up again in the center so you can skewer them.
• While the marshmallows cool, put the graham crackers in a resealable plastic bag and seal. Crush with a meat mallet, rolling pin or can until they are fine crumbs with a few small chunks.
• Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the crumbs and cook, stirring, until toasted and a few shades darker, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, pour onto a plate and cool completely.
• Once the marshmallows have cooled, skewer them and set aside.
• Finely chop the chocolate and reserve one-quarter of the chocolate separately. Put the rest in a heatproof bowl and set over a small pot with 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook, stirring, until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the reserved chopped chocolate until melted. This technique will help the chocolate set hard without having grey streaks, called bloom, on your pops.
• Drizzle the skewered marshmallows with some melted chocolate and sprinkle with crumbs. Set the sticks into the open grids in a wire rack, so they stay upright, until the chocolate is set. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows, chocolate and crumbs.
• Fill a few tall glasses with marshmallows and set the finished pops, stick-side down, into the glasses for serving.

Steps:

• Bake the cake according to the package instructions. Let cool completely.
• Use a fork to break the cake into fine crumbs, then add the frosting and stir until well-incorporated and the mixture holds together when pressed between your fingers.
• Roll the mixture into golf ball-sized balls, with a corresponding number of smaller balls to serve as bunny tails. Chill in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, until firm.
• Add the white chocolate and coconut oil to a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt in the microwave at half-power in 30-second intervals, stirring between, until smooth.
• Dip the cake balls in the white chocolate to coat completely, then place on a sheet of parchment paper. (If the white chocolate starts to harden, microwave for 15 seconds to re-melt.) Before the chocolate sets, decorate with the sprinkles as desired and stick the smaller balls onto the larger balls to make bunny butts.
• Let the cake balls sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator until the chocolate sets.
• Enjoy!