More Truffles than I can Handle!

To date, my Oreo truffle post has been my most popular blog post. I wanted to make some for the holidays. My mother in law takes a cookie tray to the family Christmas every year. She said I could add some truffles to the tray this year.

I got a little over-ambitious (as I tend to do) and wanted to try 3 different recipes. The first is the Oreo truffle recipe, except using Trader Joe’s candy cane Joe Joe’s and peppermint Schnapps, dipped in white chocolate, and topped with crushed candy canes. The second is this peanut butter crisp balls dipped in milk chocolate. And lastly, cake balls. For the cake balls, I really wanted to do red velvet cake mix, but I looked at 3 grocery stores near us and couldn’t find it. I had some strawberry cake mix and a can of cream cheese frosting in the pantry, so we went with that, dipped in dark chocolate.

My good friend D decided to come help in the truffle making. We ended up splitting it over two days. The first day we made all the balls and the second day we dipped and dipped and dipped until we didn’t want to every dip another ball of anything in chocolate again!

I had some Wilton’s chocolate that I got at Michaels a couple weeks ago. When we melted it, we found that it hardened almost immediately. Even after adding a decent amount of vegetable oil, it still hardened very quickly. We didn’t really like that property of the chocolate, but we made do…

These three recipes made about 300 truffles. D took 1/2 and I put 1/2 in the freezer. 1/2 of mine went to my mother in law for her to put on her Christmas cookie tray and the other 1/2 went to my mom’s family Christmas. My favorites were the PB crisp balls, but I really like peanut butter…

Chocolate covered Peanut Butter surprise balls (from Cookie Madness)
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar (1 pound)
3 cups rice krispies, crushed or ground
1 18-oz. jar creamy peanut butter
4 regular size Butterfinger bars, crushed
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
Plenty of chocolate for melting and dipping
Some melted white chocolate for accent

Combine all ingredients and roll into balls.

Dip into chocolate of choice, then drizzle with white chocolate as an accent.

Makes anywhere from 70 to 80 depending on how big you make the balls.

Cake Balls (from Allrecipes.com)
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (16 ounce) container prepared chocolate frosting
1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored confectioners coating

Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. Immediately after cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended. (I just threw the hot cake and frosting into my KitchenAid mixer and put on low for a few minutes. Then I put the batter into the fridge for a while.)

Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

Oreo Truffles
1 package Oreos – I used these
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
melted chocolate of your choice

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Crush oreos using a food processor. I put about 12 cookies in at a time.

Add vanilla and milk. Stir until ingredients come together. Work quickly to form the mixture into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Put into refrigerator to chill (for easy dipping).

Melt the chocolate using your favorite method. I like to use the microwave. I also added some vegetable oil to the chocolate to thin it out.

Dip chocolate balls into melted chocolate and put back on cookie sheet.