Oreo Balls. . .

Our final craft of Monday morning was making Oreo Balls, but they weren't finished until a few minutes ago!! Since I've had several requests for this very simple recipe, I thought I'd do a little tutorial, complete with pictures. You'll need four ingredients for this project: One package Oreo Cookies (Double-Stuffed is fine, actually recommended by Mr. Schrag), One 8oz package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (HyVee cream cheese is good, too, and you can use the light stuff, but these are Oreo Balls!! There's nothing healthy about them.), Almond Bark (1/2 the package), and Time. Yes, lots of time! It's probably the most important ingredient, because these little boogers take time!!
Using a food processor (or a ZipLock freezer bag and rolling pin), crush the cookies until they become a fine powder. The food processor is an amazing appliance and I'll never make Oreo Balls again without one, but if you don't have one, make sure you mash those cookies well!!

After the cookies are powder, combine them with the cream cheese that you took out of the fridge an hour earlier so it would be softened, unless you're like me and always forget that part. This is where a KitchenAid mixer rocks! Well, the KitchenAid rocks at just about anything, but it sure blends the two ingredients together well!! Blend until you have dough.

Here's your dough, or batter (still not sure which it is). It's thick. It's yummy. But I'm trying to remember that "Direction determines destination", so I didn't eat any dough!! (Thank you to the person who sent us Extra SugarFree Polar Ice gum!! I chewed about 12 sticks during the process of making this dessert!) Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. Then, roll the dough into small balls and place them on a cookie sheet, covered in wax paper. Remember, the smaller the balls, the more you have! Always a good idea to make small balls when you're going to the Duell Thanksgiving! After you've rolled the balls, chill them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Mmm. . . Almond Bark. Here I'll be using Cobertura Premium Branca (White Chocolate). I had a friend bring me some Almond Bark, but it was frozen, so I chose to use the softened white chocolate. Heat in a double-boiler, microwave (30 seconds at a time), or (if you can be careful), a regular pot (which is what I do). Low heat is important. If you overcook this stuff, there's no going back (at least not a way that I've found!)

You want to go from blocks to liquid (about 15 minutes), and stirring frequently is a must! Remove chilled dough balls from the fridge and remove the liquid coating from the stove. Drop the balls into the liquid a few at a time and coat them by using a spoon or fork to stir. Place on wax paper. When I first made these, they were beautiful and perfectly coated and I was very careful with making them look good! Then I realized that no matter how messy they looked, they'd be eaten. . . so now I don't care about the globs of white chocolate everywhere! I didn't add any embellishments to these, but to make them look a little more truffle-like or professional, you can melt chocolate chips in a bowl and then pour the chocolate into a ZipLock baggie. Cut a tiny whole at the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the Oreo Balls. For Christmas, you could use white chocolate and add red or green food coloring for a really festive look! Super-easy, but if you don't do that final step, I'm pretty sure the Oreo Balls will be eaten anyway! I have yet to return home with leftovers!!

OREO BALLS!!

Oops, one final step! It's always fun to have a little helper in the kitchen and this time Emma helped me by pouring the powdered Oreos into the bowl, cheering me on (while repeating over and over that she really wanted to play with the balls), and licking the spatula after I scraped the cream cheese out of the packaging! Well, there you go! The Oreo Balls are finished and in the fridge. I have a surprise birthday party to go to tonight (which I just found out about 2 hours ago), and another birthday party on Thursday night!! Now I have treats to take to both!

NOTE: This recipe made about 55 balls, but I'm not sure how many were eaten beforehand by my husband. Normally, I double the recipe and make smaller balls. Then I can easily make about 150! Mmm.