Pocky Sticks with Popping Candy

Try say that really fast five times! Luckily making these weren't as hard but it did take a long time to roll each one out. I gave up after making about 40. Still, they are really fun to eat and more fun to watch when an unsuspecting victim realises it's popping in their mouth.

I went with this recipe from Frelia as I had all the ingredients in my pantry already and it turned out really well. I like the addition of hazelnut meal as it gives it a more nutty taste. Next time I think I'll cut down the sugar slightly and maybe add some salt just to try balance it out a little more. I think that the slight saltiness of the sticks should go well with the chocolate (as crazy as that sounds!)

Dough (which makes around 60 sticks)

Pinching off little balls and rolling them as thin as I could get it before they'd fall to pieces

Close to being as thin as the real Pocky Sticks

Fresh out of the oven

The chocolate dip mixture

Pocky Sticks with Popping Candy

Ingredients

125g butter

125g icing sugar

1 egg

50g hazelnut meal (if you don't have this Frelia suggests subsituting with flour)

250g flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (because I didn't have hazelnut flavouring)

200g dark chocolate (or milk chocolate, whatever you prefer)

50ml cream

2 x 10g sachets of popping candy (but otherwise you could use nuts, hundreds and thousands, shredded coconut, etc)

Method

1. Combine softened butter, icing sugar and egg in the mixer (I justed used the dough attachment on high speed to save cleaning the beater attachment but this will take a little longer).

2. Add hazelnut meal, flour and the vanilla essence. Mix until it forms a ball of dough.

3. Wrap the dough in cling film and refridgerate for at least an hour.

4. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Take a small ball of dough and roll it out as thin as possible without it breaking apart. Place each one on a flat cookie tin with baking paper on it. These won't expand much so you can keep them quite close together. Bake for 10mins.

5. Allow to cool completely. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and the cream in a double boiler.

6. Cover 3/4 of each stick with the chocolate and allow that to cool slightly before you sprinkle the popping candy on (or any other nuts or candy you prefer).

7. Place it on a sheet of baking paper and allow to cool completely at room temperature.