HALF POPS RECIPES

Steps:

• Pulse the madeira cake in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over just simmering water or in the microwave. Shop bought madeira cake can vary in texture so you may need to add a little extra melted white chocolate to make the mixture stick into balls. Stir the orange zest into the chocolate, then work the chocolate into the crumbs using your hands.
• Form into 10 small truffle-sized balls, then roll gently in your palms to smooth the surface. Arrange the balls on a baking parchment-lined dinner plate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the mixture to set.
• Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave or over a bowl of just simmering water. Dip a lolly stick into the melted chocolate about 1.5cm in and poke half way into a cake ball. Repeat with the remaining balls. Put them back on the plate. Return to the fridge for five minutes.
• Dip the cake pops one at a time into the melted chocolate, allowing any excess chocolate to drip off and spin the pops to even out the surface. Poke the pops into a piece of polystyrene or cake pop holder if you have one, keeping the pops apart. Allow to set for about half an hour.
• Heat the white chocolate in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool for a few minutes until it has a thick, runny consistency. If the chocolate is too hot, it will melt the dark chocolate underneath so make sure you do not overheat it. Spoon a small amount on top of the cake pops and tip them back and forth so that it runs down the sides a little. If you have holly decorations, set one on each pop. If using writing icing, wait for another 20 minutes or so until the white chocolate has set. To avoid a bloom on the chocolate, cover the cake pops in chocolate on the day you want to eat them – or the day before at the earliest.
• Pipe on holly leaves with the green icing and two little dots for berries using the red. Once finished, store them in a cool place, though not the fridge

Steps:

• Preheat a waffle iron to the medium regular setting.
• For the waffles: Sift together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vanilla extract and 2 egg yolks. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and very gently stir until halfway combined. Pour in the melted butter and continue mixing everything very gently until just combined.
• In a separate bowl using a whisk (or in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment), beat the 4 egg whites until stiff. Slowly fold them into the batter, stopping short of mixing them all the way through.
• Scoop the batter into the waffle iron in batches and cook according to the manufacturer's directions. Lean toward a deep golden brown color and crisp texture.
• For the vanilla maple glaze: Combine the powdered sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, maple extract and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
• When all 8 waffles are done, cut each one in half and insert a ice-pop stick in the bottom of the short side to create 16 pops.
• For the toppings: Add the cereal to a bowl and toss together. Add the nonpareils to a separate bowl.
• Drizzle some of the glaze over each waffle. Decorate half of the pops with the nonpareils and half of the pops with cereal. Serve warm or at room temperature on a platter.