A few years back, I had dinner with some friends, and one of them made these sugary, scrumptious, little bundles of happiness. She called them “cake balls”. I call them truffles, because “cake balls” sounds funny to me. Despite the deliciousness of the truffles, they only required three ingredients, which makes them even more fantastic, and can also be made in about an hour, if you need a dessert quickly.
Recipe:
-One 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened
-One box/container/slab of Oreo-type cookies
-One bag of white chocolate chips
Using a food processor, crush the cookies until they are a fine crumb. Reserve ¼ cup. Mix in the cream cheese until well-blended. Roll small pieces of the dough into golf ball-sized balls, place them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet, and either freeze for 15 minutes, or refrigerate for an hour. After they are set, melt the chocolate chips (using a microwave, double boiler, or whatever your preference may be), and dip the truffles into the melted chocolate. Shake off the excess, and place on another sheet of waxed paper on a cookie sheet. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the truffles, and place in the freezer for 30 minutes, or the refrigerator for two hours. Serve and enjoy.
The beauty of these is that they can be frozen (I’ve had them in the freezer for nearly two months) and customized. I believe the original recipe uses actual cake (in place of the cookies, bake a sheet cake according to the directions on the box, let it cool, crumble, add cream cheese, etc.), so different types of cake or chips can be used. Favorites so far have been peanut butter chips coating peanut butter Oreos, white chocolate chips coating lemon cake (with a little lemon extract added), and white chocolate chips coating red velvet cake. They can even be made using reduced fat Oreos and fat free cream cheese with no noticeable taste difference. As for decorations on the top, you can melt a few dark or milk chocolate chips and drizzle over the white chocolate or peanut butter coatings. I was planning on making white chocolate-peppermint coating for the holidays, but apparently peppermint extract in Arlington is hard to come by. The world is your oyster, so be creative and enjoy!
-JDS
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