Sprinkle Sticks

Sprinkle Sticks! Don’t these look so naughty! Well, let me tell you a little secret. They’re actually not as bad as they look. And the kids go wild for them!

Why are they healthy-ish?

Well, firstly they are egg-free, making these a great party food option for those who are allergic to egg (like the eight year old girl whose birthday these were made for).

They have none of the artificial colours that send kids berko. (The no artificial color sprinkles are in more pastel hues than the artificial colour variety. I think they are no less beautiful and the kids certainly don’t notice the difference).

Actually, these sprinkle sticks are completely free of all of these nasty additives, with the exception of palm oil. My issue with palm oil is not so much for health reasons, but rather that the unsustainable harvesting causes havoc for wild orang-utans and tigers in Sumatra. (If you know of a good palm-oil free dark chocolate, please let me know in comments.)

Dark chocolate has all sorts of health benefits. It is much lower in sugar than it’s milkier cousin, and contains loads of soluble fibre, minerals and antioxidants, just to name a few.

And whilst these sprinkle sticks are certainly not sugar-free, they do have enough of the good stuff to make these (in my opinion) a healthier ‘party food’ than what is normally available.

To make them, you’ll need:

• Good quality plain grissini (also called breadsticks)
• Good quality dark chocolate
• Sprinkles (also called ‘hundreds and thousands’) with no artificial colours or flavours
• Empty egg cartons

Step 1: Turn your egg cartons upside down, and make little holes along the bottom, like this.

Step 2: Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Once melted, scoop the chocolate over the grissini, leaving the bottom 5cm (2 inches) or so clean. Scrape off the chocolate so that you can see the grissini showing through and only just a small amount remains (as per the photo).

Step 3: WAIT. You need to wait for around a minute so that the chocolate can cool enough so that it doesn’t melt the sprinkles. Non-pro tip: don’t wave the stick around trying to get it to cool faster. It won’t, and you’ll end up with tiny drops of chocolate all over your kitchen.

Step 4: Once you’ve waited for the chocolate to cool slightly, you can add the sprinkles by (you guessed it) sprinkling them over the chocolate stick. Have a bowl underneath to catch the sprinkles that don’t stick – you’ll be using these ones again for the next stick. Trouble shooting tip: Are your sprinkles melting into the chocolate? Then you didn’t wait long enough. See Step 3.

Step 5: Stick the fresh sprinkle stick into one of the egg carton holes to set.

They can set at room temperature, or if you live in a very hot & humid climate, or if you are just in a rush, they can also be set in the fridge for a short period of time.

If you have any left over chocolate and sprinkles, for extra points add a rim to the container that you’ll be displaying them in too. (I got this tip from One Perfect Day’s Chocolate Spoons – which might I add are totally drool-worthy.)

Yum! The ‘handle’ at the bottom makes for less mess (although having a wet cloth handy to wipe faces afterwards is highly recommended.)

xx

Danya