What a great way to say THANK YOU to our REALTORS! Oreo Cookie Pops!

When Gail and Mike opened their home inspection business, Gail got tasked with handling Marketing for the business.  “I am not a big fan of marketing and wanted to give him back that job after my first tour of cold calls at realtors’ offices.  Some were nice, but most just wanted me to go away, which I was glad to do,” she says.

Gail loved to bake and knew this skill would elicit smiles as soon as she walked into the offices.  Now her treats have become baked Thank You’s for the referrals received and friendships fostered.   Now in their sixth year in business, colleagues always ask for the secret recipe.  Hopefully it will foster the same level of success Gail has had with it.

This recipe has a “Back to School” theme, but feel free to get creative, depending on the time of year and the people receiving these delicious and fun treats!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Double Stuff Oreos
• 2 packages of chocolate melts. This recipe calls for 1 red and 1 green. You can usually pick these up at any craft store or bakers shop.
• 1 Package of stick pretzels, small
• 1 Package of 6” lollipop sticks. Again, you can pick these up at a craft store
• 1 Aluminum bucket. The one pictured above was $1.00 at Target
• 1 Small can of chalkboard paint
• 1 large piece of foam cardboard. You need something that the sticks can stand upright in to dry.
• 1 piece of foam for inside the bucket
• 1 spool of ribbon
• 1 package of cellophane wrappers, check art supply store

From around the house:

• 2 microwaveable bowls
• Several spoons
• Several butter knives
• 2 small sharp knives

Instructions:

1. Put the red chocolate in a bowl (1/2 full) and put in microwave. Set the microwave for 50% strength and then set for 1 minute. Once it is done, take bowl out and stir with spoon. Return to microwave and again put on 50% heat and set for about 20 to 30 seconds, depending on how much is melted. Stir gently so you won’t stir in too many air bubbles.
2. Take out the cookies and insert one of the lollipop sticks into the melted chocolate. Immediately place it into the creamy part of the cookie. Allow to dry. This will help to cement the cookie to the stick.
3. When dry, you can either pour the chocolate on top of the cookie, or spoon some on and spread with a butter knife. Note: The chocolate is very warm and may make the cookie soft, which can cause the cookie to fall off the stick. Cooler chocolate may be better.
4. Once the cookie is covered, put a small piece of the pretzel on top for the stem.
5. Let this dry a bit. Then, with the tip of a sharp knife, scoop up some of the green melted chocolate and gently put next to the pretzel, pulling down to make the leaf.
6. Scrape any dripped chocolate off the lollipop stick with a sharp knife
7. Let pops dry fully. This usually takes about an hour.
8. While the cookie pops are drying, cut foam down to fit into the bucket.
9. Paint some chalkboard paint onto the front of the bucket. Allow to dry 12-24 hours. Then, with a piece of chalk, write your message or greeting.
10. After an hour, wrap the cookie pops in cellophane wrappers, securing with curling ribbon . Insert pops into Styrofoam in bucket and deliver!