Cookie Dough Truffle Pops

Cookie Dough Truffle Pops...

Now I'll be honest with you, the idea of these instantly appealed to my sense of 'Cook's Perks'...you know that moment when you have the bowl you've mixed up your cake batter or biscuit/cookie dough in?  You are faced with the choice (difficult sometimes!) of either using your bowl scraper to remove every last remnant of batter/dough to boost up your baking quantities; or getting the remnants out and just eating them, raw so to speak!

For those of you who worry about the raw egg in the unbaked batter/dough, you can have total peace of mind with these delectable treats...no eggs were used in the making of them!  These cookie dough pops are HUGE in the USA, and they even have a National Cake Pop Day (1st February)  - whilst these are not cakes, they are a variation on the theme of, and cookie dough is almost a national delicacy in America anyway!

They are very easy to make, but a little time consuming to 'construct' into pops.  They can quite easily be made into a truffle (minus the lolly stick, as simply as that!), For those with nut allergies, or worried that your guests may have allergies, then omit the peanut butter from the recipe, it will make little difference to the consistency as so little is used, you could maybe add a little more butter if the mixture needs a bit more binding together at the creaming together of butter and sugar stage.  So here's the recipe, do let me know how you get on, and what variations you come up with!

Depending on the occasion you can decide on dark chocolate (for a more sophisticated petit four after a nice meal); or milk or white chocolate with colourful decoration in the shape of 100's and 1000's, or anything that takes your fancy, for parties and younger cake pop fans!

There are several recipes online currently, and mostly they share the same ingredients, some add bicarbonate of soda to the mix (not sure why, as they are not baked so no need for a rising agent), some add different coverings and decorations, some add flavourings.  I would say that you are limited by your own imagination with these, but do start off with the basic dough and work from there before adding your own touches to the pops.

Makes 24-30 depending on the size of your pops

110g unsalted butter  at room temperature and softened (not melted)
175g soft light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter (optional)
200g  plain flour
125g chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate)
50ml milk
200g melted chocolate (use either dark, milk or white)
12-15 lolly sticks cut in half to make 24-30 shorter lolly sticks (you can even write a little message on each lolly stick depending on the occasion!)


1.  Put sugar and butter into bowl, beat until light and fluffy
2.  Beat in vanilla extract, peanut butter if using, and when well beaten, stir in flour and milk. Stir until the dough is smooth.
3.  Stir in chocolate chips until well distributed in dough
4.  If the dough is very sticky (you will need to gather up a small amount and try to roll in your hands), add more flour, mix in until well combined.  The mixture needs to be firm, not sticky.
5.  When you are happy with the consistency of the dough, spoon small amounts of the dough onto a prepared tray (lined with greaseproof paper), try to get each amount roughly the same size, you could use some sort of measure for this to get uniform amounts.  I used a 1 tablespoon measure and made the amount slightly heaped.  At this stage it does not matter that you have very roughly shaped mounds.  Once all cookie dough is on the tray in small mounds, put in freezer to chill for about 30 minutes.  Any longer and they will begin to freeze and rolling into balls will quite painful on your hands!
6.  While the dough is chilling, break the chocolate into pieces into a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water, and melt the chocolate.  Remove from pan of water once melted, and leave to cool slightly.
7.  As soon as 30 minutes has elapsed, remove the chilled cookie dough mounds from freezer, and roll each mound into a ball between the palms of your hands.  Dip the cut end of the lolly stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the cookie dough ball (this should secure the stick into the cookie dough ball).  At this stage, you can just sit the cookie dough ball plus stick back onto the tray, awaiting its final chocolate coating
8.  Using a teaspoon, spoon the melted chocolate over the cookie dough ball, holding it by the stick, turn it round so that it runs all over the ball, and excess drips back into the bowl.  Then either lightly dip into a saucer of 100's and 1000's or other decoration, or sprinkle them on to the still liquid chocolate.  In a couple of minutes the chocolate will set (this will largely depend on the heat of the kitchen, the heat of the chocolate, and the coldness of the cookie dough ball).  As soon as the chocolate looks dry, put the lolly stick into holder (see instructions to make a simple one, as the acrylic holders which are purpose made are very expensive!), and leave to set completely (about half an hour or so).

These should keep nice and fresh in the fridge for 1 week, in an airtight container.  You can also put 3-4 of them into a nice cellophane bag tied with ribbon/raffia for a gift to someone special!