As per an earlier promise, I took up the challenge of making my own Oreo Truffles from scratch for my friend’s wedding shower. The shower was on Sunday and due to being sick earlier that week, I settled for doing the entire process on Saturday.
Tip 1: Know that trying to make chocolates in one day is never a stress-free option.
Of course, I like to consider myself superwoman on occasion and so, it was with confidence that I pushed back my culinary duties.
Making Oreo Truffles is does not take many ingredients at all. The tools are much more important:
Ingredients and Tools for Oreo Truffles
- 1 large packet of Oreos
- 8 ounces of Philadelphia cream cheese
- 2 containers of dipping chocolate. It is CRUCIAL you buy dipping chocolate and not baking chocolate (you’ll learn why as the post progresses).
- 2–3 baking sheets
- wax paper or foil paper
- electric beater
- small scooper spoon- much smaller than an ice cream scooper, but not necessary to have
First, crush the oreos into pieces as small as possible. That was surprisingly easy, they crumble very well. I think next time I might use mini Oreos to make the process even simpler. Once crushed up, add the cream cheese. I recommend adding the cream cheese a little at a time. I dumped quite a bit of it in at once and went to town with my mixer/beater. Unfortunately, the thickness of the cheese tends to get the beaters stuck. If your mixer is on while your beaters are jammed in a quagmire of cream, it will start to smoke. This is precisely what happened to me.
Not only did my mixer emit a rather alarming amount of smoke; an acrid smell accompanied it. This smell chose not to leave the house for a good three hours. So I firmly reiterate— add the cream cheese in small dollops. This also allows for a smoother, creamier mixture. The trick is to completely beat down the Oreos until the entire mixture is smooth.
The combination of cream cheese and Oreos after being beaten into a chocolate-y submission, should yield the texture of a thick, creamy mixture.
Once this is complete, freeze the mixture for about an hour and a half. You can put it in the fridge but it will take over several hours to achieve the hardness desired to proceed to the next steps. For this, I had to empty out my section of the freezer (yes, college kids split the freezer area) for the entire day.
When you remove the mixture from the freezer, it should be hard, but not so hard that you cannot scrape it with a spoon. Using a small scooper (like the one peeking into the above picture from the right) or a teaspoon and scrape a decent scoop size up. Grab the scooped mixture off the utensil and begin to ball it with your hands. *Please* wash your hands before this process.
This is time consuming and ends up being a little on the annoying side. Make sure the balls are as circular and smooth as possible. Once you’ve made these balls, place them on your baking sheets and put them back in the freezer.
Oreo-mix balls.
Try to refrain from sampling too many. It’s hard- as you can see, an entire row mysteriously disappeared. Oopsies.
The oreo-mix balls are essentially the filling of your truffles. After they have frozen into their circular shapes, it’s time for the final touch- the chocolate exterior.
I proudly bought 4 bars of Ghirardelli baking chocolate to melt and use to dip the truffle mix in. I broke the bars into small pieces and placed it in the microwave, diligently heating it at 30 second intervals and stirring. While it melted well, it did not melt to the point of being completely liquified. In fact, by the fourth round in the microwave, it started to reharden. Don’t ask me how.
I then decided to fashion my own candy steamer sort of contraption. Essentially it is the heating of chocolate through steam and hot water instead of direct heat. So I transfered the half solid, half liquid mixture of chocolate into a small pan and immersed it in a larger pan of boiling water.
Creative I know, but it didn’t work
I even added a dab of oil to the chocolate which worked for about a minute before hardening again. Finally I had to give up my hopes and dreams of using the baking chocolate that I lovingly broke and melted for an hour. It was back to the store for me, to purchase dipping chocolate. That, of course, worked like a charm.
When I had my melted chocolate, I got to immediate work on coating my hardened Oreo-mix balls (try to get past the sexual innuendoes). Here’s the trickiest part of making these truffles because you have to work fast and neatly. Expect to get chocolate all over your hands, perhaps even up to your elbows. Wear an apron.
Using a fork, gently drop the truffle mix into the dipping chocolate. Make sure it gets coated VERY lightly. Lift it out with the fork and using a spoon, scrape off all the excess chocolate. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the fork against the side of the container, so that there is no excess chocolate on the bottom, creating unsightly flat bottoms. Flip the truffle over onto the wax/foil paper. Repeat until they’re all done and then place them in the freezer to harden.
Before the truffles were in the freezer. Notice the little lines? Those are from scraping the bottom of the fork, but it creates a chocolate-y pattern.
The perfect, rounded truffle. Post-freezing. Success was mine.
When I allowed the boyfriend and the roommate to sample the truffles, there was a moment of reverent silence as a maniacal look of delight spread across both their faces. Happily, I was told I made more than I should have. Thus began the feast of truffles.
Happy Wedding Shower Mallory!!!
Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup!
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Tags: baking, chocolate, cream cheese, desserts, oreo, recipes, truffles
