Oreo Christmas Tree Pops

During the recent school holidays, I came home from work one day to find Sylvia had put sticks into Oreos and was about to dip them in chocolate.  She had seen it in a Youtube video.  As I am always up for some fun with food, I said these could be a test run for a batch for Christmas in July.

Sylvia choose some chocolate vanilla splits Oreos and when Christmas in July came around she put the sticks into the Oreos without any help.

It would seem easy enough to just poke a stick between the biscuits but chocolate holds much firmer than cream filling.  Sylvia split the Oreo, melted white chocolate to glue the stick on, and then put the lid on.

Covering the Oreos with white chocolate was much harder.  Sylvia had read about melting the chocolate over simmering water.  Like a lot of kids she doesn't like working over the hot stove, so she had poured some boiling water into a larger bowl and sat her melting chocolate bowl in it.  This was the best way to melt chocolate - half melted in the microwave and then fully melted over the boiling water,

I found some old polystyrene foam to keep the Oreo pops upright while the white chocolate set.  This was best done in the fridge.  We dipped only the bottom half of a few Oreos so they had a dark naked top.  I found that these were more likely to go stale quicker - for these it was more important to keep them in an airtight container.

The next day, we decorated the Oreos.  For Christmas in July we had decided to make Christmas trees.  How hard could it be to pipe a tree out of green chocolate?  Definitely not as easy as it looked.  We tried colouring the white chocolate with green chocolate colouring powder but found the green gel food dye better.  Then we cut a tiny hole in a ziplock bag and before we knew it there were three holes in the bag.  We practiced on the baking paper, as you can see below, before piping onto Oreos.  I tried again and was a little more successful but it was still hard to make that perfect Christmas tree.  I think it would need quite a bit of practice. 

Once we had done all the cake pops, Sylvia made a few chocolate Christmas trees for snacking.  We put hundreds and thousands (sprinkles) which made fine baubles but had to be used sparingly.  As you can see in the picture above, the little balls go everywhere.  The floor has been swept so many times since we made these and I swear more appear every time!  Next time I must remember to do it over a large roasting tin to catch the sprinkles.

My attempts at the stars was pitiful.  I tried to melt the white chocolate in the microwave and it seized.  I should have listened to Sylvia's tips for melting chocolate over the bowl of boiling water.  So the stars were blobs but maybe a packet of star sprinkles would be easier.  Sylvia also tried some edible pens, which seemed to work too but were not quite as striking as the coloured chocolate.  The kids loved the Oreo pops at the Christmas in July dinner and Sylvia had a few leftover for school lunches this week.

More festive chocolate treats:
Chocolate panforte
Christmas pudding bites
Christmas royals
Fruitcake with chocolate chunks
Reindeer cake pops
White Christmas

How to make Oreo Christmas Tree Pops

You will need
2 x 137g packets of Oreos
Lollypop sticks
White chocolate for melting (300-400g)
Green and yellow food gel colouring
Hundred and thousands sprinkles

Separate the two biscuits in the Oreos and place a stick into the buttercream.  Melt about 100g of white chocolate (over a double boiler or half melted in the microwave and then finished melting over  bowl of boiling water) and dab a small teaspoonful on the buttercream inside of the Oreo, press the top biscuit onto it.  Leave for an hour of so to let dry.

Melt about 200g white chocolate, dip the Oreos into the melted chocolate and let set.  I like to stick them into  polystrene foam or some playdough,  We let ours set in the fridge over night but a couple of hours is probably enough.

Melt 70g of white chocolate and dye green with a drop or two of food gel.  Pipe very thin zigzags getting gradually wider (We used a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in the corner) on the Oreo to make it looks like a Christmas tree.  Sprinkle sparingly with hundreds and thousands.  Melt remaining white chocolate and colour yellow with food gel.  Pipe on top of the tree as the star.  Let it set.  Store in an airtight container.

NOTE: I have estimated the chocolate used as it depends how thick or thin the chocolate coats the Oreos.  If you have melted chocolate leftover, leave in the bowl and pour next lot of white chocolate over it so leftovers can also melt again. 

On the Stereo:
Dr Demento presents The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of all Time: various artists