After a tease of a beautiful weekend, we’re back to plummeting temperatures and the threat of snow. But it’s almost March and with our first wedding of the season this coming weekend, I still have hope that spring is on its way. Around New Year’s I posted these engagement ring rice krispie treats as an ode to the onslaught of engagements, and although those treats were celebrating Marissa & Jeff, I also alluded to another special couple, Sara & Ryan. Sara was my maid of honor and I get to return the favor for her next August and I couldn’t be more excited. Her parents threw an engagement party for them in our hometown in Connecticut, and I knew I wanted to make something special for the party. Cake pops and cookie dough are always a crowd-pleaser and since stripey straws and kraft paper flags are never too far away from a wedding-related event, these Cookie Dough Cake Pops were perfect for the party.
I bought a cake pop pan on a whim a few months ago since I was curious to see how this method compared to the way I’m used to making them rolling by hand. Traditionally I bake a cake, crumble it into a bowl, mix in some frosting, and roll it into balls to be dipped. Pans like this one allow you to skip the crumbling, mixing, and rolling steps since the cake itself is baked as ball-shaped and ready for dipping. Sounds great and all, and it worked, even with mini cookie dough bite baked inside each ball, but I much prefer the “old-fashioned” way. I like the consistency and taste when the frosting is mixed into the crumbs, and I was frustrated that the pan didn’t yield perfectly round balls like I can achieve by hand. Of course it’s more work, but I think it’s worth it for the taste, texture, and appearance. But regardless, I used the pan for this batch to make vanilla cake filled with cookie dough and dipped them in semisweet chocolate. There was no real color scheme for the party, so I kept things neutral and made them personal with the little S&R flags. They were a huge hit!
These may not be the prettiest cake pops I’ve ever made (there is a lot of competition from these Oreo Cake Pops and Striped Cake Pops), but the flavor combination was spot-on. Plus the fancy straws and flags helped make up for the imperfections in the chocolate and the wonky shapes from the cake pan. Sara is so special to me (read all about her in this post) and with her living on the West Coast now, I have to treasure every time we see each other. Basically every reunion is a celebration, which means there will always be treats from me! Her engagement party was no exception, and if you think these cake pops are cute, just wait until her shower and bachelorette party – I’m going to go all out!! Having a wedding-obsessed, crafty, baker of a MOH may be great, but also dangerous :) Love you Sara and Ryan, can’t wait for August 2015!
Cookie Dough Filled Cake Pops
Cookie dough filling recipe adapted from Recipe Girl
Yield: About 50 cake pops
Ingredients:
for the cookie dough:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
for the cake pops:
1 box vanilla cake mix (plus ingredients called for on box)
12 oz semisweet chocolate baking melts
Lollipop sticks
Directions:
for the cookie dough:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugars, milk, and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips. Make mini balls of cookie dough that are about 1/3" wide and place on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Freeze cookie dough balls for at least 30 minutes.
for the cake pops*:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cake mix batter according to the package's directions, then fill the bottom half of a special cake pop pan about 3/4 of the way full. Press in a mini cookie dough ball into the well of each cake pop and spoon a little extra batter over each ball so they appear submerged and the well of the cake pop pan is filled. Secure the top of the cake pop pan and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cake balls to a wire rack to cool completely.
Melt the chocolate candy melts in 30 second intervals in the microwave until smooth, stirring vigorously between each interval. I found it best to dip the cake balls with a spoon, tapping the spoon on the edge of the cup to remove excess chocolate, transferring to a wax paper-lined cookie sheet, and then sticking the straws in at that point. I think it's because the cake mix I used was very light in texture so the balls would fall apart if I tried to dip them with the sticks already on. Drizzle prepared cake pops with extra melted chocolate for some flair, or use some sprinkles.
*As I said in the body of the post, I really don't prefer this method of using a cake pop pan, but I thought I'd share with you the process I used just in case you're in a time crunch and want to use a pan instead of doing them by hand. If you wanted to do cookie dough pops the hand-rolled way, prepare the cookie dough as described above and a batch of traditional cake ball mixture (1 crumbled up cake + 1/3 cup of canned frosting). Then as you're rolling the cake balls, place a mini ball of cookie dough in the center of each one before dipping. I imagine these would taste divine!
If you’re looking for an easy way to make flags for cake pops or straws, the polka dot ones above were so simple! I just folded over a piece of washi tape and cut the ends with a scissor once they were in place. Much easier that using glue or tape like I did for the kraft paper ones, and really cute!
Agreed! your hand rolled cake pops look so much prettier! I really don’t like the idea of the baked one :(
I’ll take a dozen please! YUM!