What Comes After Turkey? Thanksgiving Donut Hole Pops, Of Course!

The holiday season has begun, and I couldn’t be more grateful. We've big plans to spend the week together. Just me, the kids, shopping, chopping, whisking, baking, stirring, tasting. I anticipate a weekend so full of family fun you could call it a felony.

A weekend to which I say: Lock me up and throw away the key. This is one life sentence I'm more than happy to serve. And while I'm serving it, you betcha that I'm whipping up some of these turkey pops. Warning: They're like Lay's potato chips; you can't just have one! Recipe below. Happy Thanksgiving!

THANKSGIVING DONUT HOLE POPS

FOR ALL THE DONUT POPS:

1 box plain donut holes
1 package of Candiquik chocolate flavored candy melt
15-20 long, thin wooden popscicle sticks

ALSO NEEDED FOR BASIC DONUT POPS:

1/5 cup chocolate sprinkles

ALSO NEEDED FOR THE TURKEY DONUT POPS:

2 tablespoons mini white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon blue or green flat, circular sprinkles
15-20 candy corns
15-20 red Jelly Belly jellybeans or red licorice candies

ALSO NEEDED FOR THE ACORN POPS:

5 pretzel sticks, broken into half-inch pieces
1/4 cup chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS

FOR BASIC DONUT POPS:

For basic chocolate covered donut pops, melt the Candiquik according to package directions. Carefully press a wooden popscicle stick into the center of a donut hole, then roll it around gently until covered with chocolate coating. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off of the donut pop. Decorate immediately using any of the three techniques below.

TO MAKE THE BASIC POPS:

2 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles
Follow the basic directions, coating the donut holes one at a time, and decorating them immediately, before the chocolate hardens. To decorate: a) Sprinkle lightly with choclate sprinkles. b) Stick donut pops into a block of styrofoam and allow time to cool & hardened.

TO MAKE THE TURKEY DONUT POPS:

Follow the basic directions, coating the donut holes one at a time, and decorating them immediately, before the chocolate hardens. To decorate: a) press one candy corn into the center of the donut hole to make a 'beak,' b) gently place two mini white chocolate chips tip-side down for the eyes. c) Dip the tip of a jelly bean into the melted chocolate coating, then press it gently into place below the candy corns. Stick donut pop into a block of styrofoam until hardened. d) Once hardened, melt a tablespoon of white chocolate chips in a ziploc bag, snip off a very tiny part of the corner, and pipe a bit of melted chocolate onto the 'eyes' then quickly press a sprinkle atop to make the colored part of the eye. Allow chocolate to harden before serving.

TO MAKE THE ACORN POPS:

Follow the basic directions, coating the donut holes one at a time, and decorating them immediately, before the chocolate hardens. To decorate: a) press a wooden popscicle stick into the center of the donut holes. b) dip only the top half of each donut, immediately coating them with chopped nuts and pressing a pretzel stick into the stop part of the donut. c) Stand donut pops upright on a piece of styrofoam. Allow chocolate coating to harden before serving.