It’s March, which means basketball, basketball and more basketball … the NCAA, March Madness, the Final Four and so on!   The NBA is still playing, too!  In honor of all this basketball craziness … finally made some Basketball Pops … something I never really thought that I would do.

Do you ever feel annoyed by something and don’t really know why?  Basketball annoyed me … would avoid watching it all season long.  My hubby is a basketball fan and would tolerate my complaints about it … until recently.  Finally, I figured out the thing that bugged me … it was hearing the squeaking of the shoes on the basketball court … on TV.  (Maybe the microphones pick up sounds that we don’t hear while sitting in the stands.)  A season or two ago, the hubby drug took me to a Los Angeles Clipper game … lo and behold, I enjoyed it.  It was then that I remembered how I liked going to basketball games!

I have a lesson for you after the recipe.  Please do as I say … I’ll explain later 😉

Basketball Pops

• 12 graham cracker squares (6 whole)
• 2 pounds white/vanilla candy coating (you will have leftovers) – melted according to directions on package or here  (put about 4 ounces or 1/2 cup melted candy in a squeeze bottle with a small tip or decorating bag)
• 12 square pretzels with a woven design (such as Snyder’s Butter Snaps)
• 12 orange candy melt discs (such as Wilton)
• Edible/food-safe markers … red and black
• 12 paper straws or sticks
• Tray lined with parchment or wax paper

1. Make the balls – Sometimes the orange discs don’t look very smooth when they come out of the bag.  Simply, rub your (clean) thumb over the domed side of the disc a few times.  The warmth of your thumb with smooth the surface and brighten the color.  Use the black marker to draw lines to resemble a basketball.  Note:  I deliberately avoided drawing over the “peak” of the candy, because I sometimes made a “wonky” line. 
2. Use a serrated knife (a steak knife works for me) to cut the graham crackers into squares (half).
3. Dip the straw/stick into melted white candy and place on “lumpy” side of the cracker.  Let candy harden. 
4. Dip entire cracker in melted white candy, tap off excess and lay (straw side down) on prepared tray.  Refrigerate a few minutes to harden candy.  Note:  DO NOT use the freezer, I did and the candy cracked … several times.
5. Use the red marker to outline the cookie “backboard” and draw the “shooters square”.  Use the white candy in the squeeze bottle to attach the pretzel “basket”.
6. Use the squeeze bottle and draw on the lines of the pretzel to resemble the “net”.  Let harden.
7. Use the red marker to draw the “rim” of the basket.  Attach the orange ball to the backboard with a dot of melted white candy.

Lesson for the day – Do you ever have one of those days … when you are in a hurry, decide to take some shortcuts and they backfire on you?  I had one of those days … my stove has five gas burners, including a center oval-shaped burner that has a cast iron griddle on it.  I admit that I was lazy … didn’t want to pull out the electric griddle (that I always use) and used the griddle on the stove.  What could go wrong?  The answer is everything!!!  I thought that I would turn the griddle on “low” for a few minutes to keep the candy melted, turn it off and it would stay warm for a while.

This is what really happened … turned the gas griddle on, put the candy on it, went into the living room, opened up the iPad, got side tracked on Facebook, checked my stats and an item on Ebay that I was watching, probably was watching HGTV, too.  Shortly (or at least I thought), realized that I’d forgotten the candy, ran to the kitchen and found this …

Well, as you can see … squeeze bottles are on my shopping list … another one bit the dust!  The good news is that I was able to scrape it all off of the griddle 😉  Learn from my mistakes … melt candy the right way (according to package directions or here) … shortcuts don’t always work!!!

You’ve heard of the site “Cake Wrecks” … maybe I should start a new site … how about Candy Wrecks … better yet Candy Catastrophes!