Jack-O'-Lantern Pops
Submitted by bazketcase03
Jack-o-lantern cookie pops made with spiced molasses dough cut into pumpkin shapes on lollipop sticks, decorated with tinted ornamental frosting. A fun Halloween baking project for kids.
YIELD
15 servingsPREP
1 hrsCOOK
30 minREADY
1 hrsThese Halloween cookie pops are a baking project that doubles as a craft session. Spiced molasses dough rolled out and cut into pumpkin shapes, each mounted on a lollipop stick, baked golden, then decorated with tinted ornamental frosting to look like little jack-o-lanterns. Kids love making them, and they love eating them even more.
The dough uses molasses with ginger and cinnamon for a warm, gingerbread-like flavor that fits the autumn vibe. Butter-flavored shortening keeps the cookies firm and sturdy enough to hold up on a stick without snapping, something butter-based cookies can’t do as reliably.
Chilling the dough for at least an hour (or 30 minutes in the freezer) is essential. Warm dough sticks to the wax paper, tears when you cut shapes, and spreads during baking. Cold dough gives you clean pumpkin outlines that keep their shape in the oven.
The lollipop stick technique is simple but important: press 2 inches of stick into each cookie, then place a teaspoon of dough on top and press gently. This extra dough patch locks the stick in place so it doesn’t pull out once baked.
The ornamental frosting uses meringue powder instead of raw egg whites, making it shelf-stable and safe for decorating ahead of time.
Kitchen Tips
- Roll dough between two sheets of wax paper to prevent sticking without adding extra flour that toughens the cookies
- Bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Overbaking makes them too crispy and prone to cracking on the stick
- Let the frosting dry completely (at least 1 hour) before stacking or storing. Wet frosting smudges and sticks to everything
- Keep frosting bowls tightly covered with plastic wrap at all times. It dries and crusts over within minutes
Variations
- Use leaf, bat, or ghost cutters alongside the pumpkins for a full Halloween cookie pop collection
- Add a few drops of orange extract to the dough for a citrus twist on the spice flavor
- Pipe faces with black frosting and fill the rest with orange for classic jack-o-lantern designs
Ingredients
Directions
Early in day or day ahead:
- 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℉ (190℃). 3. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, with rolling pin, roll half of dough. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. With 3½ 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. 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, trimmings, and lollipop sticks to make about 15 cookies in all. 7. Prepare Ornamental 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. 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.
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