Recipe: Peanut Butter Oreo Birthday Pops

Here's a recipe I came up with for an super easy -- yet fun and special-- birthday treat. I'd love to say they were made for my 5-year-old's kindergarten class, but alas they were made for my very-much-adult husband. (And I have no 5-year-old child.)

There really is no age limit to those who love colorful sugar on a stick.

Time: ~ 2 hours

Yields: 12 Oreo Pops

What you'll need:

-1 package Oreo cookies

-12 popsicle sticks (or 6 wooden coffee stirrers-- I just stole a handful from Starbucks and cut them in half)

-1 jar peanut butter

-1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

-sprinkles (I used multi-colored nonpareils which stuck to the chocolate nicely, but rolled all around my kitchen floor. I'm still finding them in various nooks and crannies of the place 3 weeks later)

-parchment paper

Directions:

1.) Line a cookie sheet in parchment paper

2.) Gently twist to open 12 oreo cookies

3.) Slather each non-creamed side with approx. one teaspoon peanut butter (I'd suggest the sugary jiffy-type variety over a healthier variety of peanut butter as it will spread and stick better)

3.) Press a popsicle stick (or halved coffee stirrer) onto each peanut-buttered oreo half

4.) Place a cream-covered oreo half on top of each peanut butter-and-stick-covered oreo half and press gently so the halves are securely stuck together

They should look like this: 

5.) Place pops on the cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 1 hour

6.) After 1 hour of freezing the pops, the halves should be securely affixed to the sticks. You will then need to melt your chocolate chips. (I used a make-shift double boiler, but you can also melt them in the microwave. If you go the microwave route, make sure to stop and stir them every 15 seconds to check on progress and make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.)

7.) Dunk each Oreo pop into the melted chocolate so that chocolate covers a about half of the Oreo. You may need to use a butter knife to skim off excess globs of chocolate.

8.) Place uglier-side down on the cookie sheet

9.) Shake sprinkles over the chocolate before it hardens

10.) Place the sheet of pops back into the freezer until chocolate hardens (approx. 30-60 minutes)

 Woo! You're done!

Put the pops in a parchment paper-lined decorative tin to give to the birthday boy or girl.

Or, I suppose you could fashion them into some sort of cookie bouquet. But then you're just showing off.