Oreo and Brownie Cupcake Pushpops

Apparently the next big thing in the cupcake craze is pushpops. Yep, just like those sweets from the early 90s but with cake and frosting. As soon as I saw these I absolutely HAD to get some so I asked for a tester pack for Christmas. As soon as I tried them out I demanded more for my birthday.

Those are the empty cases. You can wash and re-use them or you can simply discard them as they're pretty cheap. Personally, I like to re-use them because it seems a shame to throw them away. You can buy them from eBay for around £4.50 for 10 with free postage. You can buy larger quantities and the more you get, the cheaper they are. 

I wasn't expecting to do any baking this week but Rich sprung the request on me yesterday as he wants to take some of these on his holiday to give to his friends. The only problem with the short notice is that I'd spent £10 on bacon and halloumi already and brownies are expensive to make. I'm not even remotely ashamed to say that I used a box mix for this recipe. I'm not a baking snob who frowns upon short cuts. Sure, things taste better when made from scratch and you get a bigger sense of satisfaction but there are occasions when time or money mean you have to work to restrictions. Also, if you're baking with kids - not that I would EVER be baking with a child - it can be easier and less messy to use boxed mixes. 

I used a Betty Crocker chocolate fudge brownie mix and I had to add an egg, some water and little bit of oil. 

After mixing, I divided the batter into a 12 slot cupcake tin. You can bake it in a cake pan but you end up with a lot of off cuts and wastage. It also means that every brownie has the nice chewy edge and squishy middle and the cooling time is a lot quicker.

Baking times will depend on your oven and what mix you use but these took about 15 minutes to cook.

While they're baking, you can make the Oreo frosting. I've used 100g of unsalted butter to 200g icing sugar and 3 crushed Oreo cookies. You need to bash the Oreos so you end up with some fine crumbs and also some larger pieces.

When it's all mixed together, it should look something like this. 

Layer the brownie and frosting inside the pushpops. A good ratio is 3 pieces of brownie to 2 layers of frosting. Using a piping bag helps keep the sides of the pop clean but you could use a spoon. The end result will be something like this.

If you don't have a cupcake tin or would prefer to use a pan, you don't need to throw the offcuts away. I made some of these pushpops a while ago to send to a friend and I mixed the offcuts with leftover frosting, rolled into balls, coated in white chocolate and sprinkled with Oreo crumbs. This box of pushpops and bonbons made it all the way from Bournemouth to Manchester in perfect condition so they're great to send to people as gifts. 

You don't need to just use these for cakes. They would be great to use with ice-cream especially with summer coming up. Kids would go crazy for them.