Pumpkin Pops

 My friend Adrienne made cupcake pops as a thank you for a baby gift awhile back....she got the idea from bakerella.blogspot.com (such a fun site!)  They were DARLING and I had to try making them myself.  Although a bit time consuming, they are unique and delicious!  A twist for Halloween are pumpkin pops!  Here's the directions...

Items you'll need:
Cake mix
Cream cheese frosting
Orange and chocolate candy wafers (Roberts)
Green M&M's
Treat bags and lollipop sticks (Roberts and Walmart)
Flower foam or styrofoam

•   Make cake as directed and let cool completely
• Crumble cake into fine consistency and mix with cream cheese frosting (the back of a spoon helps to blend it well)
• Roll mix into 1-1.5 inch balls (for the pumpkins I did more of an oval shape...what I thought looked like a pumpkin!) and place on cookie sheet covered with wax paper.  Stick in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden

•  The cupcakes turned out great with the orange top and were a bit easier than the pumpkins...to shape them, you need a small flower shaped cookie cutter...I use the round shaped Wilton Crinkle Shapes Fondant Cut-Outs (sold at Roberts...comes in a four pack).  Take the rounded balls out of the freezer and squeeze the bottom half of the ball into the tool.  Shape the top to form a cupcake.  Once formed, place back on cookie sheet right side up and place back into freezer for about 10 minutes.
• Heat chocolate (can be heated in the microwave according to package instructions)
• For pumpkins, place stick into the bottom (sometimes it helps to put a little bit of chocolate on the tip of the stick first).  Dip pumpkin in the chocolate top first and drizzle chocolate around the cupcake.  Turn right side up and place M&M on the top while the chocolate is still soft.  
• Place in flower foam to dry.
• Once dry, wrap in treat bags and tie with bow!  They make for a fun table display at parties as well!

  The cupcake pops take a little bit longer to dip...

• Melt the brown chocolate and dip the bottom part of the cupcake.  While chocolate is still soft, place lollipop stick into the bottom.  Place upside down on wax paper for chocolate to dry.  
• Once dry, dip top part of the cupcake in orange chocolate.  Hold right side up and let chocolate form around cupcake.  Place M&M on top while chocolate is soft. 

If you want to avoid lollipop sticks you can just dip them and place in small truffle boxes (they sell them at Roberts).  They would make a great teacher thank you or party favor! 

Again, bakerella.blogspot.com deserves the credit for these...she's come out with a book called Cake Pops which looks awesome!