Candy Mortarboards

Remember “The Cook in the Kitchen with a Bag of Peanut Butter Cups” post? Well, here is what I made with those seemingly disparate ingredients. How adorable are these? I saw the original inspiration in the May/June edition of “Semi-Homemade” and I improvised a bit. The button M&M’s and the shoestring licorice were my idea, but I cannot take credit for the peanut butter cups and chocolate squares.

Very easy to assemble...place a small peanut butter cup, wide side down, on a prepared cupcake, put a dab of icing in the center, and place the chocolate square on top. Add a dab of icing in the center of the chocolate square and add two pieces of 2" cut licorice for the tassle. Top with a button M&M - and there you have it...an edible graduation cap! These were a big hit at the graduation party I hosted this weekend…especially with the kids! I did not make the lovely cake but it was absolutely delicious!

The traditional graduation cap is called a mortarboard because it looks like the hawk tool used by bricklayers to hold the mortar while they're laying bricks. I don't exactly get the connection, but was curious about the name of this strange little hat.

Congratulations to all graduates...what an accomplishment!

Mortar hawk image from Google images.