Oreo Mint Truffle Cake Pops

If we are friends on facebook than you saw that yesterday I attempted to make cake pops. I had never tried cake pops before, mostly because I am a cupcake snob and well... the thought of simple cake on a stick just didn't cut it for me. This past Sunday at church cake pops were served at a reception our family and friends attended, and well... who am I to pass up cake?

I had NO IDEA that cake pops were more than just cake. That they were actually moist tidbits of heaven covered in chocolate. At this point I was hooked... if you are anything like me than you can understand how this simple encounter now became an obsession. If there is ever a time that I find something that interests me... I have to figure out not only how it works, how it is made, what are my options and just how much I can customize it to my liking. So with this in mind, we stopped by the store on the way home from church picked up some simple ingredients and I challenged myself to come up with a recipe I liked in time for a neighborhood cookie exchange I was attending Monday night.


So between this all, I posted on facebook for any pointers on making cake pops. Here is the recipe I came up with along with some pointers that really helped me with my prepping. I adapted this from a truffle recipe I have used for some years now.

Oreo Mint Truffle Cake Pops

ingredients:
1 package of oreos (I used mint oreos, you could use whatever you like) crushed and separated (for fill and topping)
2 blocks of Cream Cheese
1 13x9 fresh baked devils food cake
2 bags of nestle dark chocolate mint chocolate chips
Andes mint (garnish if desired)

supplies:
wax paper for drying
candy/lollipop sticks

Bake cake according to directions. When done, take cake while warm and place in large mixing bowl. Add in two blocks of cream cheese as well as Oreo cookie crumbles (all but 10 cookies, leave 10 cookies crushed for topping if desired). Once fully mixed, take mixture and create bite-sized balls and lay on baking sheet covered with wax paper. Recipe should yield about 50 bite sized pops. Let chill in refrigerator for an hour. One suggestion that was given to me by my facebook friend Marjorie was that if my hands started to melt my mixture, I could use ice cubes in paper towels to cool my hands down. I didn't have this problem like I thought I would, but if you do... this is great advice.

Coating:
For outer coating shell. Take your chocolate chips and melt starting with first bag (leave second for when needed). Start by placing entire contents of first bag in a pyrex measuring cup and melt for 1 minute. Chips will still be a little lumpy when done, mix with a sturdy plastic spoon and microwave in 10 second increments, mixing well in between. You should only have to microwave for 10 seconds beyond the minute, but if you do microwave more... just make sure your chocolate consistency is that of pancake batter, not to thick nor thin.

Once you have your chocolate ready take your cake balls out five at a time and begin topping them with chocolate. To top the with chocolate, I used a great recommendation from my friend Michelle on facebook and dipped my lollipop stick into the chocolate before plunging it into my cake ball.

Once your lollipop stick is in your cake ball you can begin to cover your cake pop with chocolate. For this I found it easiest to use a plastic spoon to cover my cake pop with chocolate. I also started from the base of my pop, making sure that my stick was covered and worked my way to the top. The nice thing about making these Cake Pops is that your chocolate doesn't have to be perfect, nor does your cake Pop have to be perfectly round. When you garnish it... it all just kind of comes together :)

Once you have your chocolate as you desire, quickly garnish with remaining Oreo crumbles and chopped Andes Chocolate Mints. Place finished pop on a Styrofoam base to dry. When you have all of your pops done, place Cake Pops in refrigerator until you are ready to serve. You can keep your pops on the Styrofoam to server or take them off and platter them.

So this is it!

A really fun and easy recipe, perfect for making with the kids or for a fun dish to share at parties. As I said before, I made these for our neighborhood cookie exchange and I have to say... they turned out very nice.

Here is my take from the Cookie Exchange... This is one of my favorite things about the holidays, and I am so grateful that we moved onto a street that shares this same sentiment. I love our neighborhood. I am always excited when we get together, so spending the time to experiment and make these fun Cake Pops is truly worth it for these special friends.

I hope this inspires you to experiment and take a chance on learning something new. I for one am really happy I took this chance to experiment... I look forward to coming up with some other fun recipes on a stick :)

Enjoy!

~Liz ♥