Jack-O'-Lantern Pops

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Jack-O'-Lantern Pops
Categories: Cookies
Yield: 1 servings

2 1/4 c Flour
2/3 c Sugar
1/2 c Butter-flavor shortening
1/4 c Light molasses
1 ts Ground ginger
3/4 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Ground cinnamon
1/4 ts Salt
1 lg Egg
15 Lollipop sticks*; (8 inches
-long)
Ornamental frosting:
16 oz Confectioner's sugar
1/3 c Warm water
3 tb Meringue powder*
=orange and green food
-colorings
=and black food colorings

Recipe by: Good Housekeeping October 1994
Early in day or day ahead:
1. Into large bowl, measure first 9 ingredients. With mixer at low
speed, beat ingredients until well mixed, occasionally scraping bowl with
rubber spatula. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a disk; wrap
each with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until dough is firm enough
to roll. (Or, place dough in freezer 30 minutes.) 2. Preheat oven to 375
degrees.
3. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, with rolling pin, roll half of dough
slightly less than 1/4 inch thick. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. With 3
1/2 inch pumpkin-shape cookie cutter, cut as many pumpkin shapes from dough
as possible. Place pumpkin cookies on ungreased large cookie sheet.
4. Place a lollipop stick on each cookie so that 2 inches of stick is in
cookie. Place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough from trimmings on top of each
stick, pressing gently to seal onto cookie.
5. Bake cookies about 12 minutes until browned around edges. With
pancake turner, carefully remove cookies to wire rack to cool.
6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 with remaining dough and trimmings, and
lollipop sticks to make about 15 cookies in all.
7. Prepare Ornamental Frosting. Spoon frosting into as many small bowls
as needed. Tint frosting with different food colorings as desired, but
reserve a portion of the frosting untinted. Keep bowls covered with plastic
wrap to prevent frosting from drying out. With small metal spatula and
artists' paintbrush, decorate cookies with frosting as desired. (For
painting frosting on cookies with a brush, you may need to thin the
frosting with a little water to a softer spreading consistency.) Set
cookies aside to allow frosting to dry completely, at least 1 hour. If not
using right away, store cookies in tightly covered containers.
Frosting: In small bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat the sugar, warm
water, and meringue powder until mixture is an easy spreading consistency.
Keep bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap to prevent frosting from drying
out.

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