Rainbow Fruit Tart - Perfect for St. Patricks Day

i always use a different fruit combination each time I make a fruit tart. This is the first time that I have used mandarin oranges.

To find the recipe for the fruit tart - click on the fruit tart under labels and it will take you to the recipe .

I think this would be a perfect rainbow themed dessert to serve for St. Patrick's Day. And I always end my St. Patrick's Day posts with an Irish Blessing. Sooo....

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

Rainbow Treats

This is a really easy treat to make - especially on the last minute!

This is so easy - you just need a few store bought items.

I bought the pretzel bags and ribbon at Michael's and the rainbow colored Airhead Extremes and gold chocolate coins at Walgreens. However, you could use Rainbow Twizzlers or individually packaged Rolo's. Be creative!

These make cute  Saint Patrick's Day party favors, treats for the team or neighbors. And I must end this post with another Irish Blessing. Because who doesn't love an Irish Blessing?

May God be with you and bless you. May you see your children's children. May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.  - Irish Wedding Blessing

Rainbow Oreo Lollipops

I made some rainbow Oreo lollipops because Saturday is my day to bring treats for the baseball team and that is Saint Patrick's Day! I made the treats even though they predict rain.

Melt some white chocolate and dip the very top of your lollipop stick in the melted chocolate and carefully wedge it into a Double-Stuff Oreo.

Once the lollipop sticks have set (about five minutes) you can dip the Oreo's into melted white chocolate and lay them on parchment paper to dry.

Once the white chocolate  is completely dry - start piping the rainbow lines. 

I started with some red lines. You can use red icing, or melted chocolate tinted red. I used red chocolate - I melted a few tablespoons in the microwave and put it in a plastic zipper bag and twisted the chocolate to the bottom and cut a small hole. This is how I piped each color.

I wish I had a steadier hand when piping small and intricate designs.

Once I piped all of my rainbow colors - I put a small glob of white chocolate at the end of the rainbow so that I could add the gold sprinkles.  Once everything was dry I packaged in a plastic bag and tied with a green ribbon.

Now comes the fun part! The display! I put a piece of Styrofoam at the bottom of my green basket and covered it with green Easter grass and placed my lollipops in the grass.

I use this green basket every year for St. Patrick's Day!

Although I am making these for St. Patrick's Day - they could also be made for a Religion class to reinforce a Noah's Ark lesson.

Rainbow Treats

I am making rainbow treats for Christian's class.  I used some rainbow Airhead Extremes.

And some gourmet licorice from Henry's.

And then gold coins - for under the candy rainbow.

Then I placed the Airhead Extremes, and two pieces of gourmet licorice and a few gold coins in a pretzel bag and tied the bags with different colored ribbons.

Then I put all of the rainbow candy bags in my green basket.

I use this basket every year for St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Treats.

I hope the leprechaun grants you three wishes. You will find him under the rainbow - next to the pot of gold.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Today I made rainbow cupcakes. First you make a white cake mix - from scratch or a box it doesn't matter.

Use white cupcake liners in your cupcake pan. Then divide your cake mix into five small bowls - about a cup in each bowl.

The colors will be much more vibrant if you use gel food coloring. You can buy gel food coloring at any cake supply store, Michael's or Williams Sonoma. So that being said tint each bowl with gel food coloring in your favorite rainbow colors.

Can you tell that these colors are super bright? It just takes a dot or two of gel food coloring to make the cake mix into a bright color.

Now start layering the colors. Fill the bottom of the cupcake liners with a few tablespoons of one color.

Then add a few tablespoons of another color - and so on!

Then you bake the cupcakes as directed in your recipe.

Aren't these colorful?

This is what it looks like inside the cupcake.

The side of the cupcake shows the colorful layers.

Since the cupcakes are so colorful - I decided to frost them in plain white frosting without sprinkles (and I do love sprinkles).

The kids I made these cupcakes for LOVED them!

I bought this cupcake carrier a long time ago at Crate and Barrel - it holds 24 cupcakes. Since then I have seen them everywhere - even Bed Bath and Beyond.  However, I use this cupcake carrier at least once a month. If you make a lot of cupcakes you should buy one - it will be a great investment!

To make these cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day - you could add a chocolate coin or two on the top of each cupcake.

Rainbow Candy Canes

I dipped rainbow candy canes in white chocolate.

I used different colored sprinkles on the rainbow candy canes and I think it looks really sweet!

Don't these look festive? And you can buy candy canes in so many different colors.

Tip: It takes a long time to remove the cellophane wrapper from each candy cane and you will inevitably break some candy canes. Put the broken candy canes in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Then you can use the crushed candies to decorate cupcakes or brownies.