Colorful brownie pop bouquet

My niece just celebrated her 21st birthday and I wanted to give her a little homemade treat along with her gift, so I made her this festive bouquet of brownie pops.

This fun bouquet is a little different because the whole thing is edible except for the container and sticks. And I was able to make it for around $20, much less than it would have cost from a bakery.

How to make a brownie pop bouquet

This is what I bought/gathered together for the project:

• Brownie mix
• Ingredients for chocolate buttercream frosting (butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla)
• White chocolate candy melts
• Assorted candy sprinkles
• Paper straws (they were colorful and solid, and cheaper than cake pop sticks)
• Large 42 oz bag of M&Ms (instead of styrofoam) for the bouquet part
• Large recycled glass jar to hold the M&Ms
• Ribbon for decoration
• Cardboard, paint, glitter and bamboo skewer for “21” decorative pick

And here’s what I did.

I made fudge brownies from the brownie mix. I prefer coconut oil over vegetable oil, but you can use what you like.

Fudge brownie ingredients

Then I made my own chocolate buttercream frosting using very little liquid so that the brownie pops would hold together really well.

Ingredients for chocolate buttercream frosting

Chocolate buttercream frosting recipe
2 sticks butter
1 lb powdered sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
Milk to slightly thin out frosting

I don’t like store bought frosting and this is easy to make. You just cream the butter with the sugar, then add the other ingredients a little at a time until you get the right consistency.

Stiff chocolate buttercream frosting to mix with brownies

I mushed up the brownies leaving the hard outside edges behind. I used my mini chopper but I could have just used my hands. The end result was a very sticky and gooey ball of chocolate goodness.

I added the frosting to the mixture, one part frosting to two parts brownie dough, again using the mini chopper to blend them together. (This is when I wish I had a food processor!)

To form the pops I took a large spoonful of dough and rolled it around in my hands until it was nice and smooth and roundish.

The goal was to make them all the size of a golf ball. There was enough dough to make 20 pops but I only used 12 for the bouquet.

The pops were placed on a tray lined with wax paper and stuck it in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.

Brownie pops before sticks are added

When the pops came out of the refrigerator, I made holes in them using one of the paper straws. I tried to make the holes about ¾ of the way through. At this point chilled pops were very solid.

Brownie pops with holes for the sticks

I melted the white chocolate candy melts in a teeny tiny crock pot. They could also be microwaved or heated in a double boiler. The crock pot got very hot after a while and I had to keep turning it off and then back on to regulate the temperature.

Candy melts in mini crock pot

I dipped one end of the paper straw into the melted chocolate and pushed it into a brownie pop. 

Putting frosting “glue” on the end of a paper straw

I left the pops on the tray until all the sticks were inserted. I put them back in the refrigerator again for just a few minutes for the candy to set up.

“Gluing” sticks into brownie pops

Before decorating I made this stand from a clean cardboard box to hold the pops while they were drying. I taped the box together then punched holes in it for the sticks.

Makeshift brownie pops stand

Then came the best part—decorating!

Before I dipped each one, I did a little reshaping with my fingers. They had gotten a little flat on top plus they weren’t exactly round to begin with.

I rolled each pop around in the melted chocolate until it was completely covered. Then I twirled and tapped to remove excess chocolate before sprinkling the top with assorted cake sprinkles.

Swirling brownie pops in melted chocolate

This is kind of tricky and after a while you get the feel for it. If you don’t remove enough excess coating, it will slide off when you put it in the holder, along with the sprinkles. If you wait too long and try to remove too much, the coating hardens and the sprinkles won’t stick to it.

Here’s a tip for adding the sprinkles. Put a little dish underneath the brownie pop to catch the sprinkles that fall off and also to keep them from rolling all over your counter.

Assorted colorful brownie pops

I noticed that as these were drying, some of them developed cracks. All I did was smear a little melted chocolate over them with a spoon and topped with more sprinkles.

Finally it was time to arrange these babies in a bouquet. I filled the jar with M&Ms. Fortunately there were some leftover for the chef!

Edible base for brownie pops

Then I just stuck 12 of them in, inserted the “21” pick and tied a ribbon around the jar.

“21” decorative pick for brownie bouquet

If you want to know how I made the pick, please ask me in the comments.

And here is the finished colorful brownie pop bouquet. I recommend keeping it refrigerated.

Brownie pop bouquet for 21st birthday

So cute and delicious. I had a couple leftover for myself. I liked biting through the hard candy shell into the smooth and creamy center. Mmmm…tasted like chocolate truffles.

And my niece loved her bouquet, I think even more than the actual gift!