A few posts back I alluded to some Oreo balls I made for my nephew’s birthday.  Because of that cooking frenzy I have a bag of mini marshmallows sitting on my counter.  In case you do too here are two things you can do with them!  By the way I suggest not thinking too hard about what marshmallows are made of or you will not want to eat them.

LEGO OREO POPS – I have made my fair share of Oreo and cake balls (if you want to see someone do these right head on over to Bakerella’s site).  Balls are easy.  You tap into your inner kindergartner to make balls out of food and then dip them in chocolate.  If you want to get fancy you can add sprinkles or chocolate drips over them.  Making cake balls is a pain in the bum.  Oreo balls allow you to skip 4 or 5 steps and end up with something similar.  Within my set of friends some prefer cake balls, some prefer Oreo balls, and some can’t tell the difference.  When I asked my sister what kind of cake her and my nephew wanted for their birthday she said that Logan had requested cake balls.  I negotiated that down to Oreo balls and a cake.  To make the “balls” extra special I decided to make them into Lego heads.  Logan’s love for Legos knows no bounds.  After a quick search on Pinterest I figured out how I wanted to make them (if you want to see Lego pops that turned out better than mine search on Pinterest and you will find a ton).

To make Oreo balls take a package of Oreos (I’ve used Trader Joe version when I knew kids allergic to something in normal Oreos would be eating them) and stick them all in the food processor.  Zap them until the are just crumbs.  Then add a brick of cream cheese and zap that together until it looks like play dough.  Brown, yummy, play dough.  I wrap up the sugar blob in wax paper and stick it in the refrigerator for a while.  This is a good step for both cake and Oreo balls.  The “play dough” can get really gooey really fast.  Chilling it helps make rolling balls easier.  After a bit I took the blob out and rolled out some barrel shapes until I got annoyed with them and changed over to just making balls.  Now for the marshmallows!  Take a mini marshmallow and cut it in half.  Glue (using chocolate) one 1/2 to the top of each barrel.  If you want any pops put the sticks in now using more “glue” to help keep them stable.  Stick all those in the freezer.  Once they get hard it is easier to move on to the next step.

The “covering in chocolate” step is always where I run into trouble.  This is what holds me back from making super fancy shapes.  That and a complete lack of patience.  Grab some candy melts (I used yellow because Lego heads are yellow) and melt them down to a liquid form.  This is my fail point.  I can not get the right consistency.  This time I think I was screwed up by some water that was left in the bowl I grabbed to melt in.  Water is chocolates enemy.  I had to ditch that batch and start over.  Once you get something that is liquid enough dip in your Lego heads and/or balls to coat them.  I place them in the freezer one more time to help set them up.

At this point the balls are done!  Ta Da!  If you went crazy and decided on making Lego heads then grab an edible pen and draw on some faces.  If you are me the edible pen you bought is crap and won’t work.  As a last-ditch effort I grabbed some yellow scrapbooking paper, drew some faces, cut them out, and “glued” them to the pops (using chocolate).

Oreo balls or Lego heads or whatever shape you want to make are always a hit!

PRETZEL S’MORE BITES – I had seen a recipe for these on Pinterest and they looked yummy.  I had a dinner party to go to earlier this week so I decided to give them a try.  I didn’t actually follow the recipe (shocker).  If you want really chocolaty treats use the Pinterest recipe.  Here is what I did.

Place a layer of pretzels on a covered cookie sheet.  Place 4 mini marshmallows on top of each one.  I got bored and started just putting 3, one in each pretzel hole.  4 is better.  It gives the top pretzel more to stick to.  Place the sheet in an oven (350 is what I did) until the marshmallows get all puffy and sticky.  It won’t take long.  Grab some more pretzels and smash one onto each marshmallow pretzel pillow.  Melt some chocolate melts and then grab each pretzel sandwich and dip it in.  For fun and color add sprinkles before the chocolate sets up.  Stick in the fridge before packing to take to your party.

These were a big hit!  I’m told that I’m allowed to name them “kid approved.”  Adults love them too although one friend said she would do without the sprinkles because they just fell off and rolled all over the place.  Another friend said I had improved on the already delicious s’more treat.  I give credit to the salt on the pretzels.  Salt just makes everything better despite what my heart doctor says.  These are also Wendy approved since they are quick and easy to make.

There you go!  Next time you have some mini marshmallows handy think of this post!