Oreo Truffles

I had heard about these a while back, but tried them myself for the first time to share at Easter.  They were a hit and soooo easy to make.  I decided to make another batch, in honor of teacher appreciation week, so that I could send some homemade thanks to the wonderful teachers who shape and mold my children into the overachievers that they are.  And besides, who wouldn't love getting a box of these little goodies!  I decided to take pics this time so that I could share my recipe with my devoted followers (all 25 of you). 

Here's what you'll need to get started.  Just three measly ingredients, hardly enough to classify as a "recipe", but items that will soon become "staples" at our house.  One package of oreos, 8 oz. of cream cheese, and one block of vanilla almond bark (to be pictured later because I'm new to this food blogging thing and forgot to get that out of the pantry for this photo shoot).  Anyway, use a food processor to grind up the oreos.  Of course, I have a big giant food processor buried in the back of my pantry, but I was too lazy to dig it out so I decided to use the small one to grind up the oreos in three different rounds.  After you crush the oreos, set a small dish of crumbs aside to use as garnish, and soften a brick of cream cheese in the microwave for one minute.  Then use a spoon to "smoosh" the oreos together with the softened cream cheese.  Keep smooshing until all of the cream cheese is incorporated and you can no longer see any of the white.

Then wash your hands and start rolling, rolling, rolling...get those oreos rolling.... you get the idea. The first time I made them, they were a little too big and didn't make enough, so this time I made the balls about 1" and managed to get over four dozen of these little buggers.

Use every ounce of willpower you have and resist eating one of these little gems right away.  You'll want to wait until the next step when they are covered in chocolate.  Trust me, it's worth the wait.  Pop the tray into the freezer for 15 minutes so that the balls harden up and hold up for the next step.

Here's the aforementioned almond bark.  I choose vanilla, but have seen recipes where they use chocolate.  Whatever suits your fancy.   Break this into chunks and put it in a microwave safe container to melt or use a double boiler and do it the old fashioned way.  Caution, if using the microwave, only melt for 30-45 seconds at a time and stir between each round to make sure you don't burn it.  Nothing would ruin a delectable oreo truffle faster than scorched chocolate.  Once the bark is melted, bring your frozen oreo balls out of the freezer and get ready to dip.

I purchased these fancy dippin' tools in hopes that they would make my oreo truffles look more professionally done.  But in all actuality, they worked no better than my homemade dipping tools that I utilized for my first batch:

 In case you want to make your own set of dippin' tools, just break off the two middle tines of a plastic fork and use a plastic spoon to scoop chocolate over the balls while the chocolate drips thru the fork.  Or for your own set of custom made dippers, send me $9.99 plus shipping and handling and I'll send you your very own set.

After the excess chocolate has dripped away, use the fork to transfer the ball to a tray lined with wax paper and immediately sprinkle on some oreo crumbs.  If you wait too long to add the crumbs, the chocolate starts to harden and your crumbs won't stick.

  You could skip the crumbs and add sprinkles or drizzle them with another flavor of melted chocolate, or just leave them naked.  Whatever floats your boat.  Do this about 48-50 more times, remelting your chocolate if it cools too much along the way.  In just a matter of minutes, you'll have a whole tray of wonderful truffles that will have people oooohhhing and aaaahhhing like you make some type of fancy schmancy delicacy.

Pop these wonderful creations in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to let the chocolate set up.  Then sample one, just to make sure they are worthy of sharing with others.

You can break off any stray chocolate that puddles at the bottom of the truffle, or use a knife to cut away the chocolate if you were a super messy dipper.  I put the truffles in cute little mini cups that I found at the craft store.

Then I decorated some cute little treat boxes for each of our teachers and loaded them up for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I  promptly boxed up the rest of these to send them to work with my hubby before I was tempted to eat any more.   

I would like to try experimenting with different flavors of oreos and different flavors of chocolate.  Perhaps the mint oreos coated with milk chocolate.  Or the vanilla oreos covered with milk chocolate.  Seriously, how can you go wrong with oreos of any flavor covered with any kind of chocolate?!?  Make some of these easy peasy treats and let people believe you have some secret recipe, or just tell them which three things to buy to make their own.  Enjoy!