It could only happen on TikTok. Pop Its – the sensory fidget toys that sparked a craze among toddlers, tweens, teens and adults alike earlier this summer – are once again trending on social media, thanks to a clever dessert hack.
If you have children, you’re no doubt already familiar with Pop Its and are probably in possession of your own collection. For the uninitiated, we refer to the hand-held silicone trays sold in a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes and sizes, and marketed as dexterity-boosting therapeutic stress relievers and concentration aids. Imagine the soothing, tactile sensation that comes from bursting bubble wrap, and the simple genius of this idea will reveal itself.
See it
Whether the fidget toys in your home are still part of daily play or have been consigned to the toy basket of neglect, you can thank TikTokers for finding a way to have them do double duty in the entertainment stakes.
TikTok user @GraceMaryWillaims is largely credited with being one of the early instigators of the now-viral trend: her initial 49-second how-to video has picked up 1.2 million likes so far and her page features an ever-growing array of experimental riffs on the idea (bookmark the Pop It spooky gummies for Halloween).
For now, though, the original home-made Pop It chocolate bars are a fun project for the coming half-term holidays and are guaranteed to spark interest among children of all ages. Little ones will be enticed by the chocolate element and older ones intrigued by how good the end results look.
Try it
This original M&M-based idea is super simple: once the fidget toys have been given a good wash, get your little helpers to deposit an M&M into each individual pocket, then cover generously with melted chocolate. All that’s then left to do is shake the tray to release air bubbles and slide it into the freezer to firm up. Once set hard, it’s time to pop the chocolates out, a sensory delight in itself.
Of course, as with any truly great food fad, this idea is open to endless customisation, from swapping the M&Ms for Maltesers and switching the milk chocolate to white, to trying the slightly more adventurous Skittles doused in melted Starburst sweets approach that’s particularly popular on Instagram.
If you like the idea, but would prefer to keep sugar levels on a more even keel, fill the little holes with suitable-sized pieces of chopped fruit and nuts, and douse with thick Greek yoghurt instead. Once frozen, the little yoghurt balls make a great addition to a smoothie or acai bowl and might just bring you three trends in one, for the breakfast win.
Other on-trend, child-friendly cooking ideas
Pull-apart pizza bread: This idea makes the most of the near-universal love children seem to feel for pizza, while also tapping into one of the hottest baking trends around.
It’s brilliantly versatile, and the scale of the undertaking can be adapted according to the age of your bakers: use ready-made pizza dough if you want to keep things simple or go into full project mode and make your own.
The dipping sauce served alongside the warm-from-the-oven, cheese-stuffed rolls could quite easily be shop-bought marinara, but equally, you can serve up a home-made version with extra veggies thrown into the mix.
Without veering into the realms of homeschooling (again) or wanting to ruin the fun, the opportunity this throws up for fraction/numeracy/general maths practice is pretty parent-pleasing, too: “If we have 16 dough balls and we cut each slice of cheese into four, how many cheese slices do we need?”
We made our pull-apart pizza bread by dividing a 400-gram ready-rolled pizza dough into 16 squares (a 4-year-old helped, so they weren’t all entirely even). The surfaces were then smeared lightly with pizza sauce and fillings added, in this case, shredded mozzarella, corn and slithers of black olive.
The pieces were rolled into balls, brushed with melted butter, scattered with more cheese and arranged in two circle shapes, with the pieces touching each other. You could absolutely be more adventurous with the shapes you form.
Carrot bacon: Prepare to impress slightly older children who are vegan, vegetarian or have expressed an interest in plant-based eating with this brilliant hack, which should earn you some serious finger-on-the-foodie-pulse cred at the same time.
In this idea, the humble carrot undergoes a Cinderella-like makeover, morphing from a not especially interesting root vegetable to a salty, crunchy, superb-tasting snack. The fairy godmother in this tale is social media sensation and savvy vegan chef Tabitha Brown, who is known for her out-the-box recipes (and mesmerising voice).
In her original recipe video for carrot bacon, which has been liked 3.7 million times, slithers of the vegetable are marinated in a mix made from liquid smoke (readily available in UAE supermarkets), maple syrup, black pepper and powdered garlic, before being cooked in an air fryer or oven at 380°F (193°C) for five minutes. At this point, the carrot strips emerge transformed into sensational-tasting, crispy bacon-like rashers.
007-style scrambled eggs: Suggest that your children might like to make scrambled eggs for breakfast or lunch and chances are the idea isn’t going to be met with much excitement. Bill the dish as one adored by James Bond (and following the exact same recipe, no less), though, and you could have yourself an altogether more receptive crowd, particularly given No Time to Die’s current movie-of-the-moment status.
As aficionados may already know, 007 has something of a proclivity for eating eggs; instances of Bond tucking into various versions – boiled, Benedict, fried, etc – feature in all of Ian Fleming’s original Bond books, with scrambled being a clear favourite.
In a short story titled 007 In New York, Fleming even went as far as to include instructions for preparing Scrambled Eggs "James Bond", and it’s this three-ingredient recipe that you and your young helpers should follow for authentic-tasting results.
The method for doing so is readily available online; do note the rather indulgent, teetering-on-excessive amount of butter and the delicate sprinkling of chives or fines herbs added at the end. While ideally neither of these elements should be omitted, as they elevate the meal into one sophisticated enough for a secret agent after all, young Bond fans can anoint their dish with tomato ketchup if they so desire.
