Sunny by Design: Mint Oreo Truffles "Oh my!"

With St. Patrick's Day coming up I had to give these a try. I love mint and chocolate anything so the idea of putting them into truffle form was genius. If you don't like mint then these are not for you, but you might like my original Oreo truffle recipe. However if you do like mint then please indulge a little with me.

You will need...

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Mint Oreo cookies
1 pkg. 8oz. Cream cheese (room temp)
2 pkg. 12 oz white chocolate chips or white melting chocolate
3-4 Tablespoons Crisco

(This makes about 35-40 truffles)

I got the idea for these when I was trying to think of something fun and easy to make for St. Patrick's Day. When I think of St. Patrick's Day I think of green of course and mint(Shamrock shakes yum). Then I saw mint Oreo's in the store and knew I had to use them for something. Cupcakes would be great a shake even better but why not truffles. I did a quick search to see if these are even a common thing. I of course found these on Bakerella way back in 2008. I love her dearly and if she says they rock then they must be good. I didn't use her recipe for this but did check for any good tips or tricks.

One tip I did get from her is that if you have double stuff Oreo's remove the filling from 10 of the cookies before grinding them in the food processor. I didn't have doublestuff so I just did it as is and boy howdy they are minty but good. I think that I probably could have even removed some of the fillings and it would have been even better.

Now lets make some mint Oreo truffles.

First place the cookies in a food processor. Place the processor on the first setting until the cookies are a fine crumb consistency. Then add the cream cheese and mix in the food processor until it is fully incorporated. This part taxes my food processor a bit so sometimes I take the dough out halfway through and continue to mix it by hand. Now is a great time to sample the dough.

Next use a small ice cream scoop or spoon and form the dough into 1 inch balls. This part is a bit messy. My hands alway get totally coated in the dough. It's perfectly fine to wash your hands and continue on. I find that the cleaner my hands are the easier it is to roll out the balls. You can also place the dough in the fridge for an hour or so before forming. Sometimes to save time I make the dough a couple days to a week before I need it and then roll it out the day I'm going to dip it.

Place the balls on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and freeze for about 20 to 30 minutes until they are firm. Don't leave them in too long or they will freeze. If the balls freeze then they will cause the chocolate to crack when you try to coat them. If you do leave them in too long just let them sit out a bit before dipping them in the chocolate. I usually reroll them too before dipping, since they tend to settle and get a flat side while sitting in the freezer.

After the balls have been in the freezer for about 15 minutes it's time to melt the white chocolate chips. Place the white chocolate chips and Crisco into a microwave safe bowl. Recently I have been adding a little bit more Crisco to my chocolate. It makes the chocolate coating thinner. As long as you use at least 2 to 4 tablespoons you should be fine.

To melt the chips it's important to leave them for short intervals and stir, stir, stir. Start out with one minute in the microwave, taking them out to stir every 30 seconds. When they start to melt leave them in for about another minute, taking them out to stir every 10-15 seconds or until melted and smooth. If you are seeing lumpy bits then the chocolate is not fully melted. If it is difficult to stir and you see hard dry pieces then the chocolate has seized up and you'll have to start over. Chocolate melting can be a tricky business. The key is to watch it like a hawk and stir, stir, stir oh and don't leave it in the microwave for too long. Once you get used to this process though it will be a piece of cake and you'll want to dip everything in chocolate. I've even dipped tangerine segments in white chocolate (which I highly recommend).

Once the chocolate is melted place waxed paper onto the counter top and use two forks to dip the balls into the chocolate. The best way to dip them is to drop the ball into the chocolate, then kind of fold the chocolate around the ball with both forks, being careful not to touch the dough with the forks. This prevents the ball from breaking off little black cookie bits into the chocolate. Then lift the ball out with one fork and scrap the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl, to remove any excess chocolate. Lastly place the ball onto the waxed paper by scooting it off the fork using the other fork. There will be little trails of chocolate all over the place but they can be easily broken off once the truffles dry.

When they are completely cool, if you can wait that long, they can be eaten or stored in a cool place. They will keep for a couple weeks in the refrigerator. I don't recommend storing them outside the fridge since they have cream cheese in them. I have left them out for a couple days without spoiling but it was winter and it's pretty cool in our house.

To decorate the truffles I colored some of my leftover white chocolate with green food coloring. This does not turn out as nicely as the precolored chocolate melts but I couldn't find green so I had improvise. After coloring the chocolate just place it in a plastic baggy and snip off the corner.

Then you can drizzle the green melted chocolate over the tops of those bare little truffles sitting pretty on the waxed paper. Mine are not nearly as pretty as Bakerella's but I did my best and they tasted awesome.

Thanks to Bakerella for always being such an inspiration and joy to follow. If you have never visited her blog you really must.