Oreo Truffles

Originally I had planned elaborate treat baskets for all my friends for Valentine's Day, but I decided to make them into favor bags for Charlie's upcoming birthday party.

I've already made regular chocolate truffles for the favor bags, but I thought it would be nice to try out a new recipe too. Just about every food blog I read as made Oreo Truffles, and being so simple I just couldn't resist them. After having tried one I know I'll be making them again.

These Oreo Truffles are SO good. The centers are crunchy and creamy. They're so rich and decadent that I really only needed to eat one.

From what I've read you can use any kind of Oreos to make the truffles, so whatever flavor you feel like. I wouldn't recommend using Double Stuffed, people have said they fall apart and I think they would be too sweet. But feel free to experiment with golden, mint or chocolate filled Oreos. (I used generic Wegmans Sandwich Cookies and they worked perfectly.)

Use chocolate or white chocolate candy melts, it doesn't matter. I like the contrast between the centers and the white chocolate, but regular chocolate would be very delicious.

Oreo Truffles
(as seen on the internet everywhere)
1 package of Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 lb(ish) white chocolate candy melts

Crush the Oreos as fine as you can get them, either with a food processor or a large ziplock bag and a lot determination. (I smashed them in a ziplock bag and it worked out great.)

In a large bowl, mix the crushed cookies and cream cheese. You can use a spoon, but it's much easier to mix by hand.

Scoop and roll out small balls of the cookie mixture. You want to get about 35-40 truffles, so use a teaspoon as a scooper. They should be one bite.

Chill for about an hour in the fridge (or half an hour in the freezer if you're impatient).

Melt white chocolate wafers in a double boiler or in the microwave. It took about 2 minutes in the microwave. You don't want it too hot, so pull it out before it's completely melted and stir it the rest of the way.

Dip each truffle into the melted chocolate and drop onto a parchment paper/wax paper lined tray. Once you've dipped them all, use a fork to shake any remaining chocolate over the top of the truffles.

Refrigerate until set.

Lazy Valentines Day

At this point I'm sure it's pretty clear to everyone that I love to bake and cook from scratch. It would probably be no surprise that I don't care for the 'semi-homemade' way of doing things. Yesterday I sat a friend down and made them watch Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee, to show them exactly what I didn't want for a mass media project I'm doing (and for a cooking video I'll be shooting soon).

So knowing all this, you'd probably think my semi-homemade Valentine's Day plans were a little strange. (I had Valentine's Day with my boyfriend last week because of scheduling conflicts.) Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for you, but I thought I'd just share my ideas.

I love baking A LOT, but sometimes it's nice to go out to a bakery (I recommend Sweet Tooth on Elmwood.) and pick out a couple little treats to share. For Valentine's Day we just picked up a couple cannolis, a slice of red velvet and a slice of cheesecake and shared the dessert feast. Of course, if you're going to have so much dessert, you can't have a very big dinner so I decided to finally break out my fondue pot.

I used the Pioneer Woman's cheese sauce from her "Welsh Rarebit" recipe and it was crazy delicious. For dipping I just toasted up some chunks of bread and chopped some raw broccoli. It took 10 minutes tops but having the fondue pot made it feel like a special occasion.

I'm sure I'll be repeating this formula since it worked so well and then I will take pictures. But for now I just wanted to remind you that you can have a nice easy Valentine's Day without going to an expensive restaurant.


(Note: If you don't have a fondue pot you can pick one up and all the fixings for fondue for considerably less than the cost of dinner at The Melting Pot.)