Still finding leftover jelly beans from Easter? It seems that these little candies stick around the longest and have the lengthiest shelf life. Sick of eating them plain? Here are some fun things to do with your extra beans! Note – you are in for a sugar overload!
ParentDish.com recommends sticking those sickly sweet jelly beans into ice cube trays. Just freeze into juice or water to make as a snack on their own, or add to a mocktail. This not suggested for very young imbibers due to the small pieces that will melt into their drink.
FrugalVillage.com suggests putting jelly beans on top of frosted cakes, cupcakes, brownies or sugar cookies, or mixing them into Rice Krispies treats.
SeriousEats.com has a sweet recipe for Jelly Bean pop tarts! Here are the instructions. Eat as dessert!
HOMEMADE JELLY BEAN POP TARTS
Makes 8 tarts, active time 10 minutes, total time 30 minutes (includes cooling time)
Ingredients
Jelly Bean Pop Tarts make a sweet dessert
For the Pastry:
– 1 1/2 cups (about 7 1/2 ounces) flour
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into cubes
– 3 tablespoons cream
For the Filling:
– 1 cup jelly beans
For the Icing:
– 1 cup (about 6 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
– 2 tablespoons heavy cream
– Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Procedures
1) Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set to the side.
2) Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with a fork, pastry cutter, or your hands. Blend until the mixture is fairly coarse. Add the cream, bit by bit, gently mixing the dough after each addition, until the dough is cohesive enough to form a ball.
3) Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out rectangles approximately the size of 3”x5” index cards, or smaller if you prefer a more modest portion. Make sure you have an even number of cutouts.
4) Place jelly beans in neat rows along half of the rectangles, forming color patterns if you’d like. How many beans fit on your pastry rectangles will vary depending on the brand; I was able to get four rows of four jelly beans on each rectangle. Be sure to leave about half an inch empty on all sides of the pastry.
5) Place the remaining rectangles of dough on top of the ones with jelly beans. Crimp all four edges by hand or with a fork to ensure that your filling won’t ooze out. Poke a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape.
6) Place the tarts on your prepared baking sheet, and bake until light golden on the edges, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
7) While the tarts cool, prepare your icing; combine the confectioners sugar with the cream. After the tarts have cooled, drizzle icing on top. Garnish with sprinkles if desired.
ENJOY!
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SOURCES:
https://www.parentdish.com/2008/03/26/what-to-do-with-that-leftover-easter-candy/
https://sweets.seriouseats.com/2012/04/cakespy-leftover-jelly-bean-pop-tarts.html
