My Favorite Post of the Year!! Christmas Cake Pops!!!

I am calling this my favorite post of the year, and I really have to think that its true. I thought the burlap owls may have been close, but one bite of these tasty decorated treasures and a bunch of glue and fabric means nothing to me.

So: Cake Pops. Alternatively titled: How to make something that takes way longer than you planned, but is still way, way, awesome.

If you're gonna make cake pops of any kind, google for info. There are like a billion ideas, most of the professional ones very cute, and lots of amateur pictures out there too.  I think ours turned out somewhere in the middle.

First picture is some prep work while our cake is baking in the oven.

 More messes in the kitchen.

 Once the cake had cooled, we dumped it into the mixer with a generous portion (maybe 1/3 of a can) of frosting.  Don't hate me for using a box cake and canned frosting. I'm telling you it tasted like heaven.

 Add enough frosting to get a consistency you can shape with your hands.

 One box of cake mix made 24 decent sized balls.

 Get really into what you are doing and forget to take pictures until you are almost done. (This step is crucial.)
Side note at this point: Do not be cheap about the melting chocolate you choose to use. We lost 2 cups of chocolate chips, which I have a love/hate relationship when melting, and ultimately ended up making emergency frosting with unsweetened baking squares. It worked out well, but, was stressful. I had white chocolate squares specifically for baking (or you can use candy melts) for the snowmen, and like I said we made a chocolate frosting for the rest. (1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted. Add 1 TBSP milk and 1 cup powdered sugar. Add more of each if its too runny. Thank you again, allrecipes.com)

Get creative with what you can decorate with in your kitchen. We dyed white chocolate and piped these noses. Mini chocolate chips for the eyes, oreo crumbles for the mouth.

 Beth is one of those amazing crafty friends who always turns out beautiful creations. I like having her around because she gives me good ideas about how to improve what I am making. Here she is displaying her ornament, snowman, and one reindeer.

 Here's my favorite reindeer - this frosting was a little thicker, so his head has a bit of texture.

 Here's my motley crew - 3 reindeer and a tree. I love little reindeer personalities. (Are you making fun of me for personalizing cake?)

 Here is Jen's snowman. She wanted to do a double decker one and we weren't sure if it would hold up on a stick, so he just sits (later in a cupcake liner.)  Notice the mess-up behind him. That's code word for "we can eat this one as a taste test. For breakfast. No joke.

 I had quite the refrigerator of creations, between 3 gals and 24 cake balls. The egg cartons weren't really up to snuff for holding the cake pops, so we had to improvise with cardboard, straws, etc...this might have been one of my favorite parts, if not for all the other wonderful parts of this day!

 Another close up of Beth's treats, with a better view of the hat. (Those were mind oreos, we used the cream inside (trimmed down) to attach a rolo (upside down) to make the hat.

 These are Jen's treats getting a rest in the fridge.

 The next day I found some foam and we displayed Beth's again with a little more formality.

 Here is one of the most important bits: These cake pops hold up well during consumption! Here you can see the cake pop stayed on the stick.

 Even more importantly, it was delicious.

So please, I am begging you, come over to my house so I can make these again. Any excuse works. HURRY!