Christmas Candies Part Three: Peppermint Oreo White Chocolate Truffles

Friends,

I stumbled upon a recipe that called for Oreos and cream cheese. I decided to put my own twist on it and add peppermint to it! (I had some leftover from my peppermint bark).

I didn't follow the recipe AT ALL. I just threw in some cream cheese and Oreos and went to town on it. Big mistake.

To begin with, I used two reams of Oreos and two packages of cream cheese. I ended up using a third ream of Oreo's (although it could have used a fourth for texture!) and still had a sticky paste of a mixture. It looked more like icing than anything. Here's proof!

I added another package of blended Oreos. I attempted to add a bit of powdered sugar to it to thicken it up. No luck. On the bright side, it tasted like Thin Mints!

I ended up chilling the "icing" in the freezer for about an hour. I pulled it out and rolled it into small balls and froze them again. It was quite messy!

I pulled the balls out (I froze them overnight but they were still very mushy, but still worked!) and rolled them around in some white chocolate almond bark.

I popped them in the freezer again and they are DIVINE! My husband and father in law keep sneaking some!

The white chocolate was an afterthought, but it was the only way the balls would be even CLOSE to edible at room temperature.

Here's the "recipe" if you want to try them out!

Peppermint Oreo White Chocolate Truffles

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese (room temperature)
2 reams (about 30 cookies) of Oreos
1/2 cup Peppermint (candy canes) blended into a powder (optional)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (added for texture and thickness, also optional)
White chocolate almond bark

1. In a blender, crush and mix cookies into a powder.
2. In a bowl, mix Oreo powder with peppermint powder and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar if necessary.
3. Chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
4. Roll into small balls.
5. Chill for 1 hour.
6. Melt white chocolate almond bark gradually in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.
7. With two spoons, roll truffles around in white chocolate.
8. Lay on wax paper and chill.

Christmas Candies Part Two: Peppermint Bark

I have an entire LIST my mom and I created of all the yummy sweets and naughty treats we can make this Christmas! This is going to be a short (haha...not) series of sweets and recipes I will post! There's just something about Christmas and candies that makes me squeal with excitement!

Peppermint Bark! 

There are two versions of this bark made with white and dark chocolates. This is definitely the simplest candy recipe I have! Two ingredients can't be beat!

I used chocolate chips for the dark and almond bark (baker's chocolate) for the white. Any harder chocolate will work with this recipe.

All you need is chocolate and candy canes!

You'll notice there aren't any measurements for this recipe, but I'll give you a rough estimate of what I used:

12 candy canes

4-6 blocks of chocolate

Depending on how you like your bark, the ratio of peppermint to chocolate doesn't really matter. You can't mess this recipe up!

1. Blend up unwrapped candy canes to a fine powder. (I just used my blender!)

2. Melt chocolate gradually in microwave and stirring every 30 seconds.

3. Roll out wax paper.

4. Mix together peppermint powder and chocolate.

5. Spread mixture over wax paper and let cool.

6. Once solid, break into uneven pieces.

While it was cooling, I sprinkled the peppermint powder on top of the chocolate. It adds an extra garnish to the chocolate!

Christmas Candies Part One: Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! Not only is it a time of family, and reflection, and thanksgiving, but also time for...

SWEETS!

I'll show you the step by step guide to Buckeyes!

Recipes yields approximately 50 balls.

1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter

½ cup butter (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups crisp rice cereal [optional]

2 ½ cups sifted* powdered sugar

6 ounces chocolate chips

Toothpicks (for assembly, not to eat! ;) )

*I doubled this recipe. After sifting half of the powdered sugar, I gave up! They turned out fine, so don't worry about sifting! Also, some use 4 cups of sugar, but I used about 2-2.5. I would recommend starting with 2 and adding more to get the crumbling texture you'd like!

Directions:

1. Crush crisp rice cereal into a powder.

2. Beat together butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.

3. Mix in powdered sugar and rice cereal a little at a time. (You may have to use your hands at this point. It gets rather thick!)
4. Mix until a fine crumble starts to form.
5. Roll up into bite size balls. Balls should be firm. If not, chill for 30 minutes.
6. Melt chocolate in microwave. I used chocolate chips. Melt 30 seconds at a time and stir so you don't burn or overheat the chocolate.
7. Roll out wax paper.
8. Poke the ball with a toothpick and roll in chocolate halfway, like in the pictures.
9. Chill and enjoy!

These bad boys are always a hit! For prepping, chilling them may be necessary, but I think they taste better at room temperature. I serve them in little paper wrappers.

Enjoy!