Golf Ball Cake Pops for Pops

 A family friend asked me to do up some golf themed cake pops for a retirement party last week, and I got to thinking that a golf ball sitting on a tee would be fun.  I gathered all the info I could about molding golf balls for cake pops, went through some trials and errors, and came up with this combo of a no bake Oreo truffle like center and a white chocolate coating. Cookies and Cream anyone?

And..Father’s Day is right around the corner..these golf ball pops are a hole in one for any Pop!

A golf ball mold gives these cake pops that authentic look with all the teeny indents.  I swiped mine off of Amazon for under $5 (hint: if you buy two molds it is a big time saver).  Your local craft store may have something similar as well.  If you want to skip the molds, then no sweat, just dip the cookie balls in coating. They will be a hit either way!

Step one: Eat some Oreos, because this is not the kind of thing you should make on an empty stomach!

Then, proceed with counting the cookies out and tossing them in food processor.  Pulse a few times until they are nice and crumbly.  If you don’t have a processor then throw them in a zip lock and pound away with a rolling pin, mallet or your fists if you want to get crazy! Next, add the cream cheese and process until it forms a shiny chocolaty batter.

Spoon the batter out using a tablespoon, melon baller or mini ice cream scoop to get uniform cookie balls.  Roll them with you hands and place on a no stick surface that WILL fit in your fridge (I say this because I have done that thing where you put a bunch sticky tasty things neatly on a sheet, only to find that the fridge is too narrow by a freaking millimeter and you want to punch it in the face).  The day I made these it was about 100 degrees outside, and hotter than blazes in my kitchen, so they started to melting and loosing shape.  After they chilled for a few hours in the fridge, reshaping them into rounder balls was much easier!After your cookie balls are nicely shaped and chilled through, set yourself up with a double broiler for the melting of the coating.  Rather than using the micro, the double broiler set up takes some of the room for burning the chocolate out of the equation, and also keeps it warm for as long as you need.  A couple inches of water in a pot fitted with a heat safe bowl works like a charm.  However, do NOT let the bowl touch the water.  You want indirect, gentle heat for melting!

Melt you chocolate over medium heat and spoon it into the molds until they are almost filled to the top (if you wanna get fancy you can use a piping bag for this step). Dip the tip of a popsicle stick in coating and gently press it into a cookie ball about half way through.  This step insures that the ball does not slide off the stick!  Then, Carefully place the pop directly into the coated mold. Place pops in the fridge until they are completely set.  Resist the urge to wiggle them to check every five minutes!  This should take about 20 minutes.  When they are ready they should pop out easily with a gentle wiggle/pull.

Fill the next set of molds with coating and place the pops back in to get the opposite side.  It is important to make sure the edges line up and there are no dark gaps.  If you stick a pop in and there is black showing through the other side, quickly take it out and add more coating and put it right back in.   Stick them back in the fridge and wait another 20-30 minutes until that side is set.  When the pops are ready to come out don’t worry too much about have big seams.  This can be remedied by taking a sharp paring knife and shaving them down.  After,  you can use your fingers to gently rub the seams to get a smooth edge.Now for the candy tee! Microwave 4-6 Starburst for about 15 seconds until they are warm and soft. If they are too hot let them cool for a few minutes or they will melt your chocolate.  Unwrap and flatten a piece of candy and mold it around the stick to form a tee.  Use some kitchen shears to clip off the excess in the back.

If you are in need of a stand, you can make one with a scrap of cardboard, wrapping paper and a small container.  Pre-poke some holes a couple inches apart in a piece of cardboard that can be folded to stand up in the container.  Then work an un-used cake pop stick through each hole to ensure a snug fit.  Cover with wrapping paper, re-poke your holes and fold down the edges of cardboard to stand up in container .  I used a glass vase that was about 4×4 in the very first picture and the cardboard was cut to fit in the vase tightly.
 

For the party bucket of balls, I picked up foam from my local grocery store florist. It was trimmed to slip in the bucket slots and I covered it with tissue paper cut like grass.  The floral foam can get messy and you want to be very careful not to get it on food!  However, the foam method was a quicker than the cardboard set up.   
 Do you see those icky seems and dark gaps in the unfinished picture of the bucket of balls? Yeah whatev I’m human too!  They were cleaned up, by dipping a small watercolor paint brush (found in my son’s Crayola set and washed) in melted chocolate and painted away! Sorry no pics of that, it was time for delivery!

Good thing I made extras for my kitchen thief!  He said ” I need to test dum out for daddy and pops hehe.”