Aish Cooks

Oreo Truffles ~ Cookies and Cream Cheese balls dipped in melted chocolate

I had never heard of these until I tasted them at a friend’s holiday party last December. Mind-blowing! And I really couldn’t believe these gourmet-looking, gourmet-tasting, home-made chocolates were made out of just 3 ingredients?! Turns out these are all the rage on the internet as well.. I just took wayyy too long getting to know them.

Soon after, I brought home a batch of the chocolate Oreos, cream cheese, chocolate chips, sprinkles and everything else I thought I’d need to get started on a batch right away. But life got in the way and these never turned into reality until the next excuse we had to celebrate – Super Bowl 49! I had to try these out.. and was especially looking forward to making them in those cute little football shapes for the party. D was super-skeptical about getting all excited with the game day prep – after all, it was a game and anyone could win. Not that he was prepared for that anyway! But… the Pats won and the rest is history!!!!

Home-made chocolates dolled-up beautifully and packed in gorgeous boxes make perfect gifts for any occasion. So if you’re still wondering about what to make this Valentine’s.. look no further, these are the perfect way to indulge. You could try out fun decorations specific for the occasional – brown chocolate with pink drizzle or white chocolate with red drizzle for V-day, green for St. Patrick’s, tons of other ideas out there for every occasion there is. Just remember, if this is the first time you’re making them – prepare for a mess. Sure, it gets easier the next time, but not until you’ve tried it at least once. Oh and by the way – try not to have little helpers around, at least not at the beginning or you’d have way fewer cookies to work with!

A couple of things I might try changing for the next batch. First, to try and use a little less cream cheese, for a more decadent and firmer filling. Second – most definitely NOT use chocolate chips – use baking or dipping chocolate bark instead. Life would have been much easier without having to deal with the thick and sticky melted chocolate that the chips give. Adding some vegetable oil or shortening would help but it is not ideal. Turns out, chocolate chips melt differently (have wax or something?) and are not suited for truffle-making. Lesson learned the hard way! So yeah – definitely grab the bar instead of the chips for this recipe.

Oreo Truffles

Makes: Approx. 45 medium truffles | Time: Set aside about 2 hours (10 minutes prep + 1 hour resting time + dipping and decorating time,varies based on skill-level)

Ingredients:

1. 14.3 oz pack of Original Oreos (Chocolate Sandwich Cookies)
2. 8 oz cream cheese, slightly softened
3. 12 – 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate bark (dipping chocolate), chopped into small pieces

Decoration and serving suggestions:

1. 4-6 oz white chocolate
2. Gel colors
3. Sprinkles
4. Small baking cups for serving
5. Optional tin foil boxes or gift boxes for packaging and storing

Method:

Step 1: Prepare the cookie dough

1. Add the oreo cookies to a blender or food processor and grind to a fine powder.
2. Add the softened cream cheese to the cookie powder and combine with clean hands until no more white color is seen and everything is combined well together.
3. Let it rest in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before forming into balls, else the dough will begin to soften and get sticky.

Step 2: Make into cookie balls

1. Scoop out small portions of the cookie dough, of desired size, and form into a smooth ball (or other shape) by rolling between palms.
2. Note: If you’re working with a large batch, take out only a portion of the dough to work with first and let the rest in the fridge until needed. This keeps them cold and easy to handle. 
3. Place the rolled balls onto a sheet pan lined with parchment and put it back in the fridge for another 30 minutes (can also freeze for 15 minutes).

Step 3: Melting chocolate for dipping

1. Place the chopped chocolate bark into a bowl (use a narrow and deep bowl instead of a shallow/wide one, to help get more depth for dipping).
2. Melt the chocolate:
   1. Stove-top method (recommended): Heat some water on medium-high in a sauce pan. Place the bowl with the chocolate pieces inside the sauce pan (typically the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water, but I usually have my bowl sitting in the water with the water coming up to half the height of the bowl). Keep stirring until the chocolate has fully melted. Turn off the heat. The bowl can stay in the warm water bath while you proceed with the dipping.
   2. Microwave method: Place in the microwave in intervals of 30-20 seconds, checking every time and stirring, until most of the chocolate has melted. When a few more bots of chocolate remain intact, stop microwaving and just keep stirring until the heat of the melted chocolate melts the remaining bits. Although this works, microwave heating can cause hot pockets which can cause some of the chocolate pieces to get too hot/scorched and that affects the overall flavor.
3. Note: The trick is to make sure your chocolate is not over-heated, but also does not get cool very soon. So if needed, return the melted chocolate to a warm (NOT HOT) water-bath by placing the bowl in a sauce pan filled halfway to the bowl with warm water. Bring it to the stove-top and turn the heat to low if needed to keep the chocolate at dipping consistency until you are done.

Step 4: Dip the cookie balls in the chocolate

1. Carefully place the cookie balls in the melted chocolate, dunk and swirl until fully coated with chocolate.
2. Pick it up with a fork and gently tap on the edge of the bowl to let the excess chocolate drip off.
3. Remove onto the parchment lined sheet pan or tray using another fork or the tip of a sharp knife. Make as little contact as possible to avoid messing with the chocolate coating.
4. Note: This does not have to be perfect and it gets better with practice. The decor can mask most imperfections.
5. Note: Work with the balls in batches, without getting them all out of the fridge or freezer to keep them cold and easy to dip.

Step 4: Decorations (totally optional)

Note: The chocolate dipped truffles can be refrigerated before proceeding to drizzle-type decorations. Only sprinkles have to be done right away when still wet.

Sprinkles: Add sprinkles of choice to wet truffles.

Drizzles:

1. Fill a piping bag or zip-lock bag with white or colored melted chocolate.
2. Make a tiny snip at the bottom of the bag to allow a drizzle of the chocolate to come through.
3. Move your hand in quick swipes to make the drizzle pattern on the truffles.

Refrigerate the decorated truffles until they are fully set and then carefully clean up some of the extra chocolate puddles at the bottom before placing in baking cups of other decorative packaging options.

These can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.. if they last that long, that is!