No Bake Oreo Truffles

Stop what you are doing! Go buy cream cheese, a box of Oreo cookies, and melting chocolates.  You need to make these.  Like right now.

These are one of the simplest recipes, yet they taste like you slaved away and became a master chocolatier.

Empty a whole box of Oreo cookies into a food processor.  Process the shit out of them.  You will end up with an almost powdery substance.  DO NOT USE DOUBLE STUFFED OREOS.  I thought this would be a good idea, more icing how could you go wrong? I was wrong.  They were much too soft and would not keep their shape. Just don't do it.

Oreo crumble!

Cube an 8 ounce block of cream cheese and mix it into the Oreo crumble (still in your food processor).  You want to make sure this gets blended up really well.  No big cream cheese chunks.  None.

Eat a little of this. It's Mandatory.

The next step is really messy.  Not a really fun messy.  Just messy.  Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper, or tin foil if that is all you have and set aside.  Take a spoon and scoop enough of the mixture for about a bite and a half and roll it into a ball.  These are fairly rich so you don't want them to be too big.  Roll them all out and put them on your cookie sheet.  When the mixture is all rolled out, pop it in to the fridge to cool for an hour or so.

These were too big.  I split each one in half after this. 

Once they are sufficiently chilled (in the sense that they are firm and holding their shape when you pick them up), you will need to melt your chocolate.  You can melt it in a couple different ways.  If you have a double boiler than you are doing better than me and should probably take over my blog.  I will assume you know how to use your double boiler to melt chocolate.  If you don't have a double boiler you can pop some melting chocolate or just milk chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and warm up for 30 seconds at a time until smooth.  Another trick, if you don't have a double boiler, or if you have a weird microwave, is to bring a pot of water to a boil and put a heat safe bowl on top of the pot so just the bottom of the bowl is in the water, and stir you chocolate up.  This is the way I do it.  I hope to get a double boiler soon though! **hint hint**

You are going to need some patience, maybe wine as well, for the next step.  Your chocolate needs to stay nice and smooth for dipping, so if it starts to get too cool just warm it up again.  You may find a different way that works best for you, but I drop a ball in to the melted chocolate, scoop it up with a fork, shake off the excess, and then slide it off the fork on to the covered cookie sheet using a skewer.  You want the side that was on the fork to end up on the cookie sheet.  

Also a messy, messy step

Instead of just cooling my truffles, I froze mine.  Not an awesome idea when you are dipping them in warm chocolate.  They expanded a little and some of the chocolate shell cracked.  They also did this weird thing where the filling started to squeeze out of the bottom and it looked like they were moving on their own.  Just cool.  Don't freeze.  Lesson learned.

Perfect Enough right?

To make them Christmas-y and adorable, I also bought some red and green melting chocolate from Bulk Barn.  I got real crafty with this and just popped a few in a zip lock bag and then put that bag in a pot of hot water.  They melted up perfect and made no mess!  How did it take me this long to figure it out?  Not sure.  Now I know.  You can get as creative as you want here, but I will tell you... less ended up looking like more.  Don't go overboard if you are also going for looks.  It also turns out that taking a picture of yourself carefully decorating truffles while trying to carefully decorate truffles is pretty hard.  My apologies for the terrible picture.  

Nice nail polish, Jen.  Jeez.

But wait! Those ones are white?!  Yes.  Yes they are.  I also made a batch of Golden Oreo and white chocolate truffles!  Same recipe applies, just swap out the Oreos.  These would also be really great dipped in milk chocolate.  I find white chocolate pretty damn sweet. 

Cool and enjoy!  Make sure to keep these in the fridge before serving.  Cream cheese and all.

Ready for the rules?

Ingredients

- One box regular stuffed Oreo cookies

- 8 ounces cream cheese

- 2 cups of melting chocolate or chocolate chips

- 1/4 cup colored melting chocolate (optional)

Directions

In a food processor, completely process the entire box of Oreo cookies.  Add 8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed.  Mix until completely combined.  

Cover cookie sheet in wax paper or aluminum foil.  Roll the mixture in about bite and a half size balls and place on cookie sheet.  Cool completely.  

Melt chocolate until completely smooth.  Dip Oreo and cream cheese balls into melted chocolate and set on cookie sheet to cool.  

Optional: Once cool, melt colored chocolate and pipe onto truffles.

Store in airtight container in fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

Puppy Chow

No this is not dog food.  In fact, please do not feed it to your pets.  Puppy Chow, Muddy Buddies, Christmas Crack, this is a sweet treat that goes by many names.  To me, it has always been Puppy Chow.  Since the cookies were a difficult recipe, this one is super easy instead!  Easy to make, easy to eat, hard to share.  Let's get "cooking"!

Start with a large microwave safe bowl.  Yes, microwave.  This is that kind of recipe.  Toss your chocolate chips and peanut butter in the bowl and melt in 30 second increments until smooth.  I have always wanted to try this with Nutella.  I think it would be delicious.

Make sure to like the spatula when all is said and done.

Once your mixture is all melted, dump in 9 cups of original Chex!  One of the regular boxes, not the family size, will work just fine.  You have to be pretty gentle in your mixing.  No one wants crushed Puppy Chow.  No one.

Messy and absolutely delicious.

Once your cereal is coated fairly well you can do the next step in one of two ways.  Take your biggest baking sheet and sprinkle a coating of icing sugar down.  Pour the chocolate peanut butter coated Chex out on top.  Sprinkle more icing sugar on top and then gently toss and mix until fully coated.

The easier way involves having a large, sort of heavy, plastic bag.  Pour the mixture into the bag, add icing sugar, and shake that shit up!  Second way is much easier, quicker, and results in a more even coating.  The reason you need a thicker bag is because at this point the chocolate covered Chex is still warm and using a thin plastic bag has the potential of melting! No one wants that mess all over their kitchen, especially if you might have been doing a little dance while shaking.  No judgement here.

Not enough icing sugar.  

Once your Puppy Chow is all coated and no longer sticky, put it in an air tight container and store until it is all gone!  Oh wait, I forgot a step. Test. Test. Test.  And then maybe test one more time... to be safe.

*drool*

Easiest Christmas recipe for sure!  Here are the rules, just in case you need them.

Ingredients:

- 9 cups Chex cereal
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Directions:

In a large microwave safe bowl add your chocolate chips and peanut butter.  Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it is a smooth consistency.  Add the Chex and gently mix until all pieces are coated.

Pour mixture in a large bag and add icing sugar.  Shake until fully coated.  If you do not have a bag, you can use a large baking sheet to gently coat with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Love,

Jen

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

A few Christmases ago me and my girlfriends decided that instead of giving each other gifts we would do a cookie exchange.  It was a great way to try new things, and to not have to do all the work yourself.  Well this recipe was NOT one of the ones I made.  My long time best friend Ellen brought these and they were divine.  Super soft but not too sweet.  She made them with a glaze as opposed to the regular hard icing that always makes its way on top of sugar cookies.  I immediately demanded the recipe and have made them every year since. I shall be forever in her debt.

Sugar cookies take some time, and actually allowing the dough to cool is pretty important.  Start by mixing your flour (by dumping cups of flour INTO your measuring cup and levelling, NEVER SCOOP), salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.  Using room temperature butter is also important.  In an electric mixer, cream together your butter and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla.

Doctors recommend you do not eat at this step...

Slowly add the dry mixture to the sugar and butter allowing it to combine with each addition.  Slow and steady will ensure complete mixture.

Just a little messy

This is why it is important to properly measure out your flour.  One time I scooped instead of filled and ended up with terrible doughy sugar cookies.  Just don't do it.  

When you are finished adding your dry, you may think that you don't need all of it and you may be right, you will have a malleable dough that sticks together and holds its shape.  Split it in two, wrap each half in plastic, and pop in the fridge for an hour or so.  

Once you are ready to roll out your dough preheat your oven and roll out one half at a time.  Mine crumbled a bit when I rolled it out, but if you go very slowly it sticks together better.  Roll out about a quarter of an inch thick and cut into all the little shapes you would like!  Since I like to go simple, I always just go round.  More sophisticated.  Or something.  If you are a first timer at cookies then you just keep cutting shapes and rolling up the extra pieces until you are all out! 

A quarter of an inch or so

Bake for 9 minutes on parchment paper at 325 and then take out of the oven and move immediately to a cooling rack.  They will look a little underdone in the centre, and that is the reason why they are so good.  They will puff up a little bit in the oven, but sink back nice and flat once they cool.  

See the derpy one in the corner? I call him "Leftovers"

For the glaze, you just use egg whites and icing sugar.  You can color it if you want, but I just used some pearl dust for mine.  Went for an icicle look.  No, I was not making Frozen themed cookies, though I admit they do look that way.  I also make a small batch of regular icing sugar, with corn syrup, icing sugar, and a little bit of milk to pipe on some snowflake designs.  Brush on a coat of two of the glaze and let dry.  Once the glaze is mostly dry then pipe on some designs and let completely set.  I like to store mine in the fridge and they also freeze very well!  

Pretty and delicious!

Ready for the rules?

Ingredients:

- 4 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup unsalted butter (if salted then cut the salt in half)

- 2 cups sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until fully combined.

Split mixture into two round, flat discs and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Chilling the dough will help your cookies keep their shape while baking! 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Once chilled, roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick and cut your shapes out.  Place on parchment paper and bake for 9 minutes.  Do NOT over bake.  Cookies will be soft and appear uncooked in the centre. Carefully remove from oven and place on cooling rack until completely cool.

Icing:

For glaze, mix one or two egg whites with enough icing sugar to create a thin paste.  Brush glaze over cookies.  Allow to partially dry and brush with a second coat of glaze.  

For snowflake designs, mix 1/2 cup of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon milk, 1 teaspoon corn syrup, and a drop of lemon juice.  You want a fairly sturdy consistency so the designs hold their shape.  Mix different amounts of those ingredients until you get a texture that can be piped from an icing bag, while also hold its shape.

Allow cookies to completely set and then they can be stacked.

Done!

I hope these become your new favourites too!

Love,

Jen