Day 1: The Starburst Lolly

Day 1! Welcome to the shiny new blog, 

where I'll be rambling about cake and showing you how to make cool stuff. 

I'll do a real intro later, but for now...

This is my test post, to see if I can do this right. This tutorial is on my FB page, but my FB page is the Pinto of Pages. It barely works and when it does, it barely works then, too.
These are terrible photos and my tupperware is hideous, but today we don't care. 

SO! Now I'm gonna show you how to make THESE! 

Starburst Lollipops! Rad, right??

What you need:

Starbursts (Or Jolly Rancher chews; I use both for more color options), 2 or 3 per lolly

Lollipop sticks (available in craft stores)
A clean, new pencil sharpener

A little butter or shortening

Parchment paper

Start out by unwrapping 3 candies & putting them in a microwave-safe bowl. I know I have 6 here, but I don't recommend it. One lollipop at a time is way easier; Starbursts cool quickly. Nuke them for about 8 seconds, in 3-second increments at first until you find the right time for your micro. Mine's a jerk and gives me bricks at 7 seconds, molten candy lava at 9. 

Tape a large piece of parchment paper to your work surface so it doesn't scoot around on you.

Then roll each piece between your palms until it looks like this. 

Roll them a little on the parchment, too; it helps keep a consistent thickness. 

The trick is to roll gently so nothing sticks, and get them all to this point before moving on. 

Then roll them again using your fingers until they're about 1/4" in diameter. 

See? Rolling. Lightly, lightly. We don't want to make spaghetti. Are there fat noodles? Make those.

Once you have them all about the same thickness and length, put them together...

Like this. Not side by side or you won't get the right look.

See? Like so.

And now, we twist!

Twist from the middle outward, and try not to create thin spots.

And rrrrroll again.

Best way to describe this is like you're gently trying to rub out a spot. 

Short, light, quick rolls back and forth.

Sometimes this happens. No big.

Re-twist & re-roll until you have something like this. A little smoother, even.

Mine came out to about 7". 

(I think this is the perfect size to make cupcake toppers.)

Pinch one end to taper it a little, then roll it into a tight spiral.

And now you have one of these!! EEE! Now, these are SUPER sticky if you hold them too long. Rub them lightly against your palm or the parchment to buff out fingerprints and make them shiny. 

FUZZ WARNING: keep your working area as clean and fuzz-free as possible. Lint is SO not tasty.

Moving on! (Take a moment to appreciate my magic color change, hahaha)

Here's where the sharpener comes in.

Buying a new one costs about 50 cents, so no fair trying to grab one out of your kid's backpack. Promise me you'll buy a new, graphite-shaving-free one. Cross your heart! CROSS IT!

Sharpening the tip helps you not pull and damage the outside appearance of your lollies. A blunt edge is harder to work with. (Oh yeah, I learned this the hard way.) Grease the point with a little with butter or shortening.

This part is tricky. Wiggle the stick in slowly, and make sure to aim for the center so you don't stab it out the other side. This one here I smushed a little. You could also just press it up against the back, but that doesn't look nearly as cool. You know what? Forget I suggested that. Go hard or go home. hahaha

When you don't smursh it, you have something like this. =]

And these.

(Wilton makes these little cello bags for treats; I taped mine but twist ties would look cooler.)

Then you go crazy and make Willy Wonka cupcakes for a really cool kid named Jasper!

Like these! (Jasper not included.)

But if you have a Jasper on hand... 

Okay, okay, I'll wrap it up. That's it! 

That's the Starburst Lolly, in all its glory.

Ta-ta for now, and thanks for making it through my first post! ~Rocka