Kitchen Adventures with a Culinary Goddess

In my head, I'm a culinary goddess.  Someone who can whip up a fabulous dinner with the odds and ends left over at the end of the week.  In my head my baking is out of this world and there is nothing that is too complicated.  In reality, my skill set does not quite match my ambition!  It doesn't stop me from trying and I think today was a success!

After about 4 long hours, I now have 43 pink ribbon white chocolate lollipops!  I've never made chocolate lollipops before (which didn't stop me from agreeing to make them for the fundraiser but also for Abby's Christening) and it was a little bit of trial and error at first.  Here are some things that I learned:

• It's much easier to use the double broiler method then microwaving the chocolate.  First, I found it took longer in the microwave for some reason.  Second, using the double broiler allows you to keep the chocolate warm while your working.
• I had bought a little squeeze bottle which I had read was the easiest way to deposit the chocolate into the mold.  I couldn't agree less.  Unless you melt the chocolate in the squeeze, it takes a lot more time.  I found it was much easier, for this mold anyway, to use a baby spoon.
• The first test lollipop had lots of air bubbles.  Tapping the mold helps to release them.  The method that worked best for me was to tap after every scoop of chocolate.  This also helped to distribute the chocolate evenly.
• Since I'm a total perfectionist, I was worried about keeping everything neat so I was using a paper towel to clean up any chocolate outside the mold.  Thankfully, I figured out there was no need to do that!  After putting the chocolate in the molds, I froze them for about 5 - 10 minutes.  When you pop the lollipops out the molds take a lollipop and just run it around the outside to clean it up. The spills should have only left a thin layer of chocolate and they fall right off!  Voila... a perfect lollipop!

I'm hoping that the rest of my kitchen adventures go without a hitch because I have a million and 1 things to do before Saturday!  I'm sure for a culinary goddess like myself, everything will turn out perfect! Wish me luck!