Raise your hands if you haven’t been able to stop at one Oreo. How can you? I love Oreo. Pulling it apart, trying minimum crumb-falling tactics, feasting on the cream. You get the picture. I haven’t had it with milk. Never been a cookies and milk sort of person. Say cookies and cream and you have my attention.
It so happened that I was writing this post when I came across this one at Nashiras’ Plateful. Her Oreo blizzard would be a relief to gulp down when the temperature rises. Abu Dhabi is being temperamental right now and it won’t be weeks before this lovely spell of cool mornings and whistling winds comes to an end. It was in this post that I read about the Oreo cookie turning 100 years on March 6, 2012. My post will celebrate the cookie that turns a glorious century.
Couple of weekends ago, it was Family Friday Lunch at my folks place. Nothing grand. Three families devouring into Ummas’ Dum Biriyani, after our Friday prayers. I made my first Double Layer Chocolate Cake too. Fooderati Arabia had planned a picnic in Safa Park the same Friday. I had planned on taking these cookies and cream truffles. Sadly, I couldn’t make it for the picnic. Lunch carried onto late afternoon and before I could think of leaving, tea plans were made. The truth is Ummas’ biriyani has this soothing sedative effect on a Friday afternoon and I couldn’t move.
Dessert was my chocolate cake. I wrongly assumed that the truffles would not be touched after two layers of the moistest cake (ever!) wrapped in clouds of buttercream Nutella frosting. I love chocolate. However, having the truffles would have been a sinful overdose. Once again, the men in my family proved me wrong as I watched , in horror, Vappa, the husband and cousins popping one truffle after another. Why the surprise? The second ingredient, of the three, in these truffles was cream cheese.
My darling nieces would have enjoyed making these truffles. Really, they are that easy and fuss-free.
My truffles did not live up to my aesthetic expectations. This was because I made a horrible mistake while making the chocolate sauce with an accidental addition of heavy cream. While melting the chocolate I thought adding a tablespoon of milk would make it smoother. Before I knew it my sauce started seizing into a giant cocoa glob. This was followed by frantic whipping hoping to salvage my sauce. One, I did not have any more stock of dark chocolate chips and two, I hate trashing any kind of food unnecessarily.
So here is the recipe for these terrific cookies and cream truffles. Hopefully, your truffles will turn out more polished than my rustic ones. I’m sure they’ll still taste as good as these.
Here is the original recipe that can be found on the Kraft Foods website. And here is the link.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened 1 pkg. (15.5 oz.)
- OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided
- 2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted
METHOD
- Mix cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
- Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls.
- Place unwrapped chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl.
- Microwave on HIGH 2-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.
- To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate.
- Use 2 forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove truffles with forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl.
- Place truffles on prepared baking sheet; let stand until firm.
- Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
- Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
- Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.
My Notes
- I found it much easier combining the Oreo cookie crumbs and cream cheese in food processor. I blitzed my cookies into crumbs and gradually added the cream cheese till it kneaded itself into a soft ball. Make sure not to overwork the mixture unless you want black cookie puree. It helps to freeze the mixture for half an hour before you make it into truffle sized balls.
- I’m not a fan of microwave cooking. Yes, it was very hard to wean myself off the quick 5 minute mug cake. I used a 120z. Hersheys’ semi-sweet chocolate chips and melted them using the double boiling method. The sauce was silky TILL I added the heavy cream. A lesson well learnt for improvising.
- After making the truffles I put them in the freezer for half an hour before dipping into the chocolate.
For fans of white chocolate, Bakeralla has a fabulous recipe.
Have a good food day.