Running Out of Time?

In the eighth grade, a girl brought this platter of chocolate-dipped blobs to a school Christmas party and everyone was sort of apprehensive. Eventually, I tried one and discovered that they taste like awesome in your mouth. When I asked her for the recipe (a strange thing for a 13-year-old to do?), she wrote three ingredients down on a small piece of paper and explained the simple process.



Since then, Oreo Truffles have been my throwdown for parties, meetings, and other get-togethers around Christmas time. I'm sure they could be made year-round and still be good, but I just associate them with Christmas.



Oreo Truffles
Makes about 3 dozen truffles

1 (18 ounce) package of Oreos (Double-Stuf tends to affect the consistency in a weird way)
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
24 ounces of melting chocolate (18 ounces semisweet and 6 ounces milk chocolate)

Slowly melt the chocolate over low heat in a heavy pan.

Put five or six Oreos at a time into a food processor until they turn to crumbs. Pour Oreo crumbs into a large bowl. Mix in softened cream cheese. Roll this mixture into small balls.

Dip balls in melted chocolate, turning until completely coated. Place on wax paper and leave at room temperature or refrigerate until cooled. Store loosely-covered at room temperature.

Cookie Crisp with Caffeine

These first caught my eye in Cookies by Jill Snider because they were called Mocha Java Shortbread logs, and I thought that sounded...well, entirely unappetizing. The idea kind of grew on me, though, and I ended up making them for my cookie boxes.



I feel as though I can't give an honest review on these because I didn't actually try one. Before I got a chance, I had them all packed up to give away. I did get some pictures of them and responses from other people, though. One person told me that they reminded them of Cookie Crisp. When I realized that I hadn't had Cookie Crisp since I was seven or eight years old, I knew I couldn't honestly explain the relevance of this comment. I was also told that without the chocolate drizzle to add to the "mocha"
flavor, the coffee was overpowering. All I could recommend is to add the chocolate drizzle. Or, if you're stuck for time like I was, maybe try dipping half of the cookie in chocolate.



Mocha Java Shortbread Logs
Makes 3 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Semisweet chocolate, melted for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cornstarch, coffee powder, and chocolate in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture, mixing until thoroughly blended. Using your hands, knead to form a smooth dough.

Shape into small logs, each about 2- by 1/2-inch; place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Cool for 5 minutes on a sheet, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

If drizzling or dipping in chocolate, do so after completely cooled.

Cake Pops

As far as I can tell, Cupcake Pops originated with Bakerella, and are adorable and somewhat trying and require much more patience than I have available. However, I decided to make a variation of them that I've seen in multiple spots on the blogosphere, which are a simplified version. Basically, they are Cake Pops, just balls of cake and frosting on a lollipop stick that have been dipped in melting chocolate. It sounds like a sugar overload, but eating just one is quite delicious. As some of my friends found out, eating three very quickly can make you very sick(ly).



The recipe is, by far, one of the most basic I've ever seen. On top of that, the flavor combinations are endless. You can pair any cake flavor with any icing flavor with any color for the outside. I decided to make two different choices: White cake with strawberry frosting and pink melting discs and brownies with milk chocolate frosting and regular semisweet melting chocolate. Both were equally delicious, although I found that the flavor really fully saturated and tasted better after about a day in the refrigerator.



The only issues I had with these occurred with the white cake mix. The original posts and recipes I read on Cupcake pops and such recommended mixing the cake and frosting while the cake was still warm. I waited until mine was mostly cooled and I still had a very hard time trying to get it to stick together when I rolled it into a ball. I figured out eventually that if I wiped my hands completely and kept them a little damp after each ball I formed, the next ball would not stick as much.



The dipping was also a little trying, as I almost ran out of the pink melting discs; I had fewer pops than I orinally started out with too because my brother had found them in the outside refrigerator and decided to help himself. So I guess I would suggest...buying an extra bag? Or just leaving a few lightly-dipped. The brownies were much easier to coat because I just added chocolate chips to my melting chocolate to produce more to dip.



Because I wasn't able to take homemade cupcakes into the bowling alley for my birthday party, I made these and packed them in goody bags to hand out when everyone left. Each person received two brownie pops and two strawberry pops. gb's sister liked them so much that she offered to pay me to make a whole other batch for her. I think I will probably take her up on it.



Cake Pops
Makes 30 to 45 cake pops, depending on size

1 (18.25 ounce) package cake or brownie mix
Eggs, water, and oil called for on cake mix box
16 ounces of store-bought or homemade frosting
1 (1 pound) package of melting chocolate or colored vanilla melts

Combine cake ingredients according to directions on box. Bake the cake in a 13x9-inch pan at the temperature and time noted on box. NOTE: A homemade sheet cake can also be used, if you'd like. Remove the cake from the oven when cooked and cool for about half an hour.

Scrape the entirety of the cake out of the pan and into a very large bowl. Then, add the frosting and stir vigorously until all the cake is in fine crumbs and the mixture is completely stuck together. Roll the mixture into one- to two-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. If using lollipop sticks, poke them into the balls. Refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.

At this point, the cake balls should be quite stiff. Heat the melting chocolate/vanilla/whatever in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly so as not to burn any of it (like I did). Turn the burner off and begin to dip the cake balls, making sure to cover each one completely and thoroughly in the melted substance. Place the pops back on the baking sheet and, after all of them are dipped, back in the refrigerator for at least two to three more hours.