Meg Goes Nom Nom

For the past few years, it has been my holiday tradition to make THESE truffles (consisting of simply cream cheese mixed with melted dark chocolate, dipped in more dark chocolate) using this recipe from Kraft. This year, I made a slight variation on the original and tried Kraft’s Oreo Truffles Recipe.

The truffle filling was a combination of softened cream cheese massaged into finely crushed Oreo crumbs. To achieve “finely crushed” Oreo crumbs, I first started with a freezer bag full of Oreos that I tried to smush with a rolling pin. Ineffective. Next I grabbed my hammer, but after deeming the potential for disaster too high, I instead sought out another mashing device – a meat tenderizer! I used the smooth side of a heavy meat tenderizer to break up the cookies in a plastic bag, and from there, I transferred the broken cookie bits into my mini food processor to achieve smaller crumbs. My tip: leave a few chunks – they are fun to chomp into.

After forming the Oreo and cream cheese filling into about four dozen balls, I set up a station with melted Baker’s dark chocolate squares (the microwave works well for this – just stir every 30 seconds), festive sprinkles, and a few reserved Oreo crumbs, for topping.

As you might have guessed, the next step involves dunking the Oreo balls into melted chocolate. After making these for several years, I’ve found a fork seems to be the best utensil for getting the job done. Prepare to make a mess of your kitchen!

After coating a dozen or so of the truffles in melted chocolate, I decorated with sprinkles and Oreo crumbs while the chocolate was still melted, allowing the embellishments to stick.

After an hour in the fridge, the truffles will set, and look like this. They are just TOO DANG CUTE.

Aww.

Place in festive storage containers (I found these 4-packs of Ziploc containers for $2.48) and you have yourself an easy, homemade, delicious gift.

Of course the huz and I kept a few truffles for ourselves. These Oreo Truffles are amazing! Though they are a bit labor intensive (but fun!), I highly recommend the recipe if you have the patience.

The original recipe for Simply Sensational Truffles – which uses simply cream cheese and dark chocolate – is amazing too. This serves as a great, customizable base recipe as well. Ideas:

• Add peppermint extract for Chocolate Mint Truffles
• Top with a whole coffee bean or two for your java-guzzling pals
• Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top for Dark Chocolate-Sea Salt Truffles
• Add BACON crumbles on top for the adventurous foodie/bacon-worshipper in your life
• Use different colored sprinkles to coordinate with different occasions for a festive, bite-sized dessert treat

 Currently listening to: Psychotic Girl – The Black Keys.