Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake Pops Recipes

Steps:

• 1. You can either make your own vanilla or devil's food cake from scratch or if time is short you can make a store bought mix. Follow box directions and add 1/2-3/4 of a cup of creamy peanut butter. You can add more or less depending on how strong you like it. Allow to cool completely.
• 2. Once cooled, crumble the cake with a fork into small pieces. Melt 3 regular size or 6 small Reese's peanut butter cups in the microwave in 30 second increments. Do not substitute any other type of peanut butter cup. The flavor will not be the same!
• 3. Add the slightly cooled peanut butter cups to 3/4 of a cup of your own home made cream cheese frosting and gently incorporate into the cake crumbs. Mix with a spoon until frosting is completely combined with cake. You can use 3/4 of a cup of store bought cream cheese frosting. Either will work.
• 4. Roll mixture into half dollar size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 20-24).
• 5. Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up (at least a few hours). Ideally you will want to plan ahead and leave them in the freezer overnight. They are so much easier to deal with then.
• 6. Before you take the cake pops out of the freezer, melt chocolate (you will need 2 packages for this many cake pops) in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between). I like to use the dark chocolate, but you can also use the peanut butter flavored melts. Merckens makes the best, but Wilton's will work too. You can buy them online at:http://www.streichs.com/Chocolates/Merckens-Candy-Melts-1lb.html
• 7. Once you are ready to begin,remove cake pops from freezer. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert about half way.)
• 8. Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and (using a spoon) pour the melted chocolate over the cake pop until covered. Coat them twice and make sure to make a complete seal around the entire cake pop. Especially the base when the stick was inserted. Once covered, rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don't tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off as well!
• 9. When the chocolate is almost set, sprinkle the top half of the cake pop with ground up butter finger candy bars, finely chopped peanut butter cups, or orange and brown decorative sprinkles.
• 10. Using a styrofoam block set in a box or flip a large size box over and punch holes in it with a screw driver, set them in the block or box to dry. Do not place them in the block until they are almost set, otherwise you will get a big chocolate mess!
• 11. Once completely set, you can use the smaller lollipop bags and decorative ribbon to cover them. I like to coordinate the ribbon with the type of cake pop. I used brown and orange striped ribbon for my peanut butter cake pops. Enjoy!

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray one 13 x 9 x 2 in. sheet pan or two 8 in. or 9 in. round pans with vegetable pan spray.
• 2. In large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil; beat at medium speed with electric mixer 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan.
• 3. Bake 30-35 minutes for round pans; 35-40 minutes for sheet pan, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling grid and cool completely. Divide cake in half; freeze one half for future use.
• 4. In large bowl, use hands to crumble cake until no large chunks remain. Add peanut butter and chopped candies; mix with fingers until well combined. Form mixture into cake balls. Chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours.
• 5. Melt Candy Melts according to package directions. Dip sticks into melted Candy Melts and insert into cake balls; let set. Wait until candy is completely firm before dipping the pops completely in melted Candy Melts. Before candy sets, sprinkle with peanuts; let set.
• 6. Makes 48 - 1 tablespoon sized cake ball pops (each about 1-1/4 in. diameter) Makes 24 - 2 tablespoon sized cake ball pops (each about 1-1/2 in. diameter) Makes 16 - 3 tablespoon sized cake ball pops (each about 1-3/4 in. diameter)

Steps:

• Put 4 ounces chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan; pour over the chocolate and let sit 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt and whisk until smooth; set aside to cool to room temperature.
• Combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream, the confectioners' sugar and peanut butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold the peanut butter whipped cream into the cooled chocolate mixture in three batches until just incorporated but still airy. Freeze until the mixture is firm enough to scoop, about 30 minutes.
• Lightly coat a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or tablespoon with cooking spray. Scoop balls of the frozen mousse onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (about 1 heaping tablespoon per ball). Gently press a lollipop stick halfway into each ball. Freeze until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, combine the remaining 8 ounces chocolate and the coconut oil in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until the chocolate is melted and smooth; set aside to cool.
• Put the peanuts in a small bowl. Loosen the mousse balls from the baking sheet with a small offset spatula. One at a time, dip the balls into the melted chocolate, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Return to the baking sheet and sprinkle with the peanuts while the chocolate is still wet. Return to the freezer until ready to serve.