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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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How-to: Fireworks Cookies & Edible Sparklers

July 4, 2011 2 Comments

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Pop Rocks (you know, the candy from your childhood) is running a recipe contest that ends at midnight tonight. From their official rules website:

Get ready for the JULY 4th POP ROCKS® RECIPE CONTEST. Send us your favourite food or beverage recipe featuring Pop Rocks® as an ingredient for your chance to win a 24 pack box of the NEWLY rereleased grape Pop Rocks. For added fun, although not necessary to win, include a picture of the recipe or you and your friends enjoying it. 5 winners will be selected on July 5th by Pop Rocks’ own Chef Rocko.

Even though I’ve never been the biggest fan of grape, I thought this was a great excuse to experiment with some baking. My initial idea was to use Pop Rocks as sprinkles on my family’s generations-old sugar cookie recipe.

Fireworks Cookies

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c shortening
  • 1/2 c butter, softened
  • 1 ½ c sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 3 ½ c sifted flour
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 1 ¼ t salt

How to make it

  • Mix shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla
  • Stir in – sifted dry ingredients, mixing well.
  • Chill dough several hours.
  • Preheat oven to 375.
  • Roll out small portions on dough on lightly floured board to 1/8” thickness. Cut with floured 3” cutter.
  • Place on ungreased baking sheet.
  • Sprinkle with colored sugars, nuts etc or frost after baking.
  • Bake in 375 oven 10-12 min or until delicately browned. Cool on racks
  • 5-6 dozen

Butterfrosting Recipe

Ingredients

  • 6 T soft butter
  • 1/3 t salt
  • 1# powdered sugar
  • 4 T milk
  • 1 t vanilla

How to make it

  • Cream butter in mixing bowl
  • Add sugar, salt, milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency.
  • If necessary, thin with additional milk.

The cookies were really cute, but I ran in to some trouble when serving them at a 4th of July picnic. As my cookies warmed in their tupperware container, the frosting got liquidy enough that the Pop Rocks got all popped out. Just a heads up.

Edible Sparklers

Ingredients

  • white almond bark
  • pretzel rods
  • red & blue Pop Rocks candy (Dollar Tree is where I found the candy)
  • waxed paper

Directions

Melt your almond bark in the microwave or in a saucepan. Pour melted almond bark in a heat-safe cup. Dip a pretzel rod in your cup, twisting it around to coat half of it. Set on waxed paper. sprinkle with red & blue pop rocks, rotating to cover all sides. Let set up.

If very sweet desserts aren’t your thing, I recommend this TasteSpotting page featuring a whole bunch of really interesting-looking Pop Rocks recipes.

Filed Under: Fourth of July, How-to, Recipes Tagged With: baking, butterfrosting, family recipe, independence day, pop rocks, sugar cookies

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
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Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
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This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
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#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
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Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
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#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
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Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
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#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
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I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
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Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
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#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
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The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
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Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
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#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
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