Oreo Truffles

For some reason, I can't get organized enough to post Christmas photos on time, yet, I'm a few weeks early for Valentine's day...



But, I've had a little more free time lately, so it's allowed me to try out a few new recipes, and scrounge up some ideas for Valentine's Day. I found this recipe from one of my favorite sites, Bakerella. She's so creative, I love it! These are called Oreo Truffles!! And way too irresistible for my own good. These are seriously amazing.


I sized the recipe down, since a lot of her measurements are done by "one package of..." and of course, not every country has the same size packaging for food items.


I used an Australian sleeve of Oreos, which is about 12 or 13 (I think Hubby ate a few before I was finished, so I don't know exactly how many cookies I used, but it's such a simple recipe, just feel it out as you go...)


Ingredients:
10 or so Oreo cookies, separated
Icing from the separated Oreos
Cream Cheese, about a 1/4 of a 250g block (so, about 1/4cup, or 62g, or 2 oz)
White, Milk, or Dark chocolate

Method:
1. Allow cream cheese to soften to room temperature.
2. Separate cookies into two bowls. Make sure cookies are room temperature; they separate a lot easier.
3. Mash cookie halves with a rolling pin or process with a food processor.
4. Mash cream cheese together with oreo icing.
5. Mash both mixtures together to form a consistent paste.
6. Roll into small, bite size balls. These are quite rich, so the smaller the better, really.
7. Freeze, or cool in the fridge.
8. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, or heatproof bowl, by sitting in water just off the boil. Stir constantly until the chocolate has melted. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate or get any water in it, or it will become lumpy. To coat rolled balls in chocolate, I drop one ball in at a time, and lift it out against the edge of the bowl to try and limit excess chocolate. Place coated balls on a wax paper lined tray. White chocolate seems to not stick as easily, or get as runny as milk or dark chocolate, so try and work quickly. But you can always re-melt.
9. Sprinkle with crushed oreos, or whatever else you can think of. I used score bits, regular sanding sugars, and other sprinkles. Cool in the fridge or freezer when you're done. This recipe makes about 24 balls.

To cover the balls in chocolate takes a bit of practice, but it's not a huge undertaking. I drop the balls into my melted chocolate and either use small spoons or forks to lift out the balls, tilting the spoon at an angle against the edge of the bowl to allow as much excess chocolate to drip off as possible. This time around I used fondue forks, since they have a small wide base to allow the excess chocolate to drip off, and are small enough not to leave marks. That worked really well. Except when I would lose balance, and drop the balls. I suppose you could just stab the balls (why didn't I think of that?).