Holiday Cake Pop DIY!Another creative holiday project from the GD staff!

Graphic Details is back with our Annual Holiday DIY project! Are you panicking about what dessert to bring to your holiday party this weekend? Fret not! Our thoughtful designer Megan Tracy is creative on the computer AND in the kitchen. Megan’s got your back with instructions to make these super-easy and adorable cake pops! She even gave instructions on how to make ’em vegan! Read on, crafty folks…

What you’ll need: 

• 1 Package of Oreos
• 1 8oz package of softened cream cheese (I used Daiya Dairy Free Cream cheese, but regular cream cheese works just as well)
• Lollipop sticks (optional)
• Double boiler
• Parchment paper
• (Note: this recipe makes 22 oreo balls. Each reindeer cake pop takes one ball, and each snowman takes 2. Plan accordingly!)

To Decorate:

• Marzipan or the Dough recipe below:
  • ¼ cup brown rice syrup
  • ½ tsp vanilla 
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, softened
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar 
  • ¾ cup tapioca flour 
• Orange, red, black food coloring

For the Reindeer (vegan):

• 2 10 oz bags of Enjoy Life vegan chocolate chips or your preferred chocolate chips
• 1 bag of medium pretzels (the kind shaped into a knot)

For Snowmen:

• 2 12oz bags of white candy melts or white chocolate chips
• Red vines or Twizzlers Pull and Peel
• Vanilla frosting

Instructions

To start, place all of your Oreos into a food processor and process until finely ground. Transfer them to a medium mixing bowl. Add the package of cream cheese to the Oreos and stir together until evenly mixed. 

Reindeer:

Next, use a tablespoon to scoop out the mixture and form into a 1 inch ball. 

Repeat this with all of your batter, placing them on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Once you’ve used up the batter, move the tray into the freezer for 30 minutes. 

After the Oreo balls have sat in the freezer for 30 minutes, start melting down the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Make sure to stir frequently so the chocolate doesn’t burn. While it’s melting, break your pretzels in half and get them ready to place onto the reindeer. 

Next, take an Oreo ball and dip it into the chocolate—moving it around until it is completely coated. Then quickly place it back onto the parchment paper lined tray and push the lollipop stick into it along with the two pretzel halves on opposite sides to create the antlers. Let dry.

Save the rest of the chocolate to help stick the eyes onto the reindeer! If you are only making reindeer, skip down to the Decorating section now!

Snowmen:

To make the snowmen, use a tablespoon to scoop out the oreo mixture and form into 1 inch balls. Make half of the Oreo balls slightly larger for the base of the snowmen. 

Do this with all of your batter, placing them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper as you go. Once you’ve formed them all, put them in the freezer for 30 minutes. 

After they’ve been in the freezer for 30 minutes, start to melt the white chocolate in the microwave. Heat the white chocolate in 10 second intervals and stir frequently. Repeat this until the consistency is smooth. 

Once all of the white chocolate is melted, remove the smaller Oreo balls from the freezer. Dip them into the chocolate, moving each one around until it’s completely covered. Then remove, shaking off the excess. Next, stick the lollipop stick all the way through it, leaving a half inch more to stick into the bottom half of the snowmen. Once you’ve done this with all of the snowman tops, take the larger Oreo balls out of the freezer. Repeat the same steps of dipping it into the white chocolate until covered then stick the lollipop stick with the snowman head on it into the top to assemble the bodies. 

Dip the full snowmen into the white chocolate, gently tap off excess, then place back onto the tray with parchment paper and let them dry. 

Repeat the process if the Oreo part is not completely covered.

Save the rest of the white chocolate to help stick the noses onto the snowmen! 

Decorating

WARNING: Decorating with dough is tedious and takes some patience, but it’s fun! If you don’t feel like making all of the decorations by hand with this dough, you can just use frosting or even buy candy eyes to stick on.

Base Dough:

In a medium bowl, mix together the brown rice syrup, vanilla, coconut oil, powdered sugar, and tapioca flour until you form a thick dough. 

Separate the dough into four equal sized balls. The first one can be left alone — this will be the white of the eye. For the second one, add black food coloring until evenly mixed throughout. The third, you can add orange food coloring and the fourth will have the red food coloring.

Reindeer Eyes: After all of the color is mixed in evenly, take the plain white ball of dough. Start to take out small pieces to roll into ¼” balls. Do this until you have enough sets of eyes to use on all of your reindeer or snowmen. On a flat surface, lay out the balls of dough and flatten a few at a time. To do so, I used the flat side of a jar lid, but any flat surface will do. 

Next, take the black dough and form small balls, a few centimeters in diameter. Once you’ve done this, you can place one in the center of each flattened piece of the white dough to make the pupil. 

Reindeer nose: Using some of the black dough or red dough, roll into ¼” balls. Cut the ball in half and wah-lah — reindeer nose! 

From here, you can reheat the leftover chocolate or grab some frosting. Using a toothpick, put a little bit of chocolate on the back of the eyes and noses and place them onto the reindeer heads. You may want to hold them on for a few seconds while the chocolate hardens.

Snowmen eyes: I used black frosting and piped the small dots to make the eyes and mouth.  

Take your frosting and mix in the black food coloring. Transfer the colored frosting into a ziploc bag. Push the frosting towards one corner of the bag and make a tiny cut in the corner. Use this to pipe the snowman’s features.

Snowmen’s Carrot nose: The orange dough will need to be shaped into little ¼” balls. Roll the ball into a cylinder and pinch the top end while spinning to form a cone shape for the carrot nose. 

Once you’ve made enough noses, you can reheat the leftover white chocolate or grab some frosting. Use a tooth pick to put a little bit of chocolate on the back of the noses and place them onto the snowmen. You may want to hold them on for a few seconds while the chocolate hardens.

To put on the finishing touches, take two strands of Red Vine or Twizzlers Pull N’ Peel and wrap it around the neck of your snowman. Put a dab of frosting where the two ends cross over and press down until it dries. Once you’ve gotten scarves on all of your snowmen, they’re ready to go!