Cookie Pops & Truffles From Leftover Cookies

Have you ever made cookies and ended up with more than you can finish, but hate the idea of letting them go to waste? I recently ran into this issue and knew my cookies were getting a bit old but wanted to find a way to put them to good use instead of just freezing then. I decided to turn those leftovers into cookie pops or cookie truffles!

This is a super easy recipe with very flexible ingredients. You can use homemade or store-bought cookies, and even mix different leftover cookies together (as long as the flavors work well together).

The best part is how customizable these treats are. There are endless options for mix-ins and coatings, so you can create all kinds of fun flavor combinations. If you give this a try, I’d love to see what combinations you come up with!

Supplies

The amount you need of each will vary based on how many cookies you start with and how many truffles/pops you make but I will share in each step how much I had of each so you can use it as a guide.

Ingredients:

Leftover cookies - Anything that goes together will work, both homemade and store-bought
Something to bind them with - I used a combination of chocolate frosting and cream cheese, cream cheese is a pretty safe option and you shouldn't need a lot of whatever you use.
Frosting
Cream Cheese
Peanut butter or other cookie butter - may be a bit stickier
Caramel - I did this with my brownie pops and while they were sticky, they were delicious!
Nutella
Coating - I'm using milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chocolate chips - milk, semi sweet, white, dark, etc.
Candy coating
Almond Bark
Peanut butter chips
Coconut oil or Paramount Crystals can help with melting your coating and make it easier to dip.
Decorations/Mix Ins (optional)
Chocolate chips
Sprinkles
M&Ms or other similar candies
Yummallo Mini Rainbow Baking Chips - this is what I used if you are curious

Supplies:

Food Processor - or something to grind the cookies up with, you can even put them in a zip lock and mash them up, I only had a small processor but I just ground up the cookies in batches
Microwave safe Bowls - always helpful
Scoop - 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop - This can hep for getting equal sized balls - I put off getting one for so long but they are so helpful to have.
Wax Paper or Silicone baking mat to let them dry on.
Baking Sheet - I just find it helpful to put them on the paper on the baking sheet while they harden, easy to move them around.

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Blend Cookies

This all started because I wanted to make some special cookies a bit ago, but I just wasn't happy with how thin my cookies ended up being. They still tasted good, but I didn't proceed with my original plan as it didn't seem worth it at the time.

The only trouble was, I had about 30+ plain cookies and that is just too much to get through in a reasonable time. So, I took my leftovers and ground them up for this dessert. You can grind this pretty fine but I didn't want to get them too fine that it seemed kind of cake pop like, so mine are in bigger grains, but feel free to really grind them down.

I used 16 cookies and it made me 3 cups of crumbs.

Make Truffles or Pops

Next you need to mix your crumbs with something that will give it structure. Since my cookies were pretty plain, I decided to use a combination of chocolate frosting and cream cheese. I used about 3 large spoonfuls of frosting and a couple ounces of cream cheese. I find it best to add less and mix rather than over add. You really just want to be able to form balls.

Use your scoop or hands and form them into truffle sized balls. I was able to make about 23 balls using the 1.5 TBSP cookie ball scoop.

I put the balls in the fridge to firm up a bit more for when I dunked them in my coating.

Coating

Get your wax paper or silicone mats ready.

Start by melting whatever coating you are using. I'm using Chocolate Chips with some Paramount Crystals to help with melting (coconut oil works just as well).

I ended up using 2 cups total of chocolate chips (1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup milk chocolate chips) and I had a bit leftover.

If you are going to make cookie pops, stick the sticks in the chocolate and then into the balls. Do it to all of them to give them a chance to cool and harden.

Dip your pops or truffles into the chocolate. Make sure to tap off any excess otherwise it will drip off anyway.

If you are going to add any toppings (like candies or sprinkles) do it while they are still wet/melted. If you are going to drizzle any decorations on, you can do it now if you want it to blend into the base or wait until they finish hardening.

Enjoy

Enjoy your truffles!

As I mentioned in the grinding step, I didn't grind mine finely as you can see here. I still like it because it is more cookie like, but feel free to grind it down more so you can get more of a cake dense middle.

Extra Chocolate? Make Bark!

As you know, you shouldn't pour extra melted chocolate down the drain as it will cool and harden in your pipes. You can pour it out on a piece of wax paper and save it to use another time, but I like to use this to either coat random things (like marshmallows or strawberries) or make some chocolate bark. This time I spread it out in a thin layer and added marshmallows and graham crackers.

I find for chocolate bark that more topping is better and a thinner layer of the chocolate base works well.

Other Bark Ideas: