Oreo Balls

Recently a coworker introduced me to these delicious little balls of goodness and now I'm introducing them to you! If you're like me and enjoy giving edible treats at Christmastime, or need something quick and easy to bring to the holiday party, look no further.  These delectable little bon bons are creamy and chocolatey on the inside and crunchy sweet on the outside.  Oreo balls are not only yummy and pretty looking, but they are ridiculously easy to make too!

Oreo Balls
Makes 3-4 dozen balls, depending on size

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
Package of Oreo cookies
Package of almond bark or candy coating, like Wilton's Candy Melts

1. Crush the Oreo cookies until they are nothing but crumbs. The fastest way to do this is in the food processor but you can do it by hand as well.

2. Cream the crumbs with the cream cheese until you get a thick dough-like mixture.

3. Roll the dough into small balls. The best size is about the size of a large marble. Pop them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

4. When you're ready to dip them, melt the almond bark in the microwave in 30 second bursts on high, stirring in between each round.

5. Pull the balls out of the freezer and stick toothpicks gently into the top of them. This will make it easier to dip them in the candy coating. Dip each ball, coating it thoroughly and then gently shake off the excess. Set the ball on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to dry for about 10-15 minutes.

6. Once they are hardened, carefully remove the toothpick. To hide the hole, you can either put a dollop of candy coating on top, or you can drizzle it across, being sure to cover the hole. Enjoy!

Some food for thought...

• Be sure to refrigerate these once you're done until you're ready to serve. Remember that there is a dairy product inside that can spoil if left out too long. As a result, these are probably not ok to ship long distances unless you're taking the necessary precautions.

• The gal who gave me the recipe for this told me not to use reduced fat or fat free anything for the recipe. I tried using Neufchatel cream cheese, which is a reduced fat cream cheese, and while I didn't notice any change in consistency with the balls, I observed a strange ooze weeping from the balls and they had a tendency to crack. It was a little off putting appearance wise, but it didn't taste weird. I think it may have been from the cream cheese because it didn't happen when I used full fat versions of everything. If you choose to use reduced fat or low fat versions of the ingredients, you may experience the same thing, and the consistency may come out different.

• Experiment with using different flavors of cream filled sandwich cookies. If you aren't a traditional Oreo fan, you could try using vanilla versions. Or you could the mint Oreos that come out at Christmastime. You need to make sure to smash up the entire cookie, cream center and all!

• Try using different candy coatings and flavoring those as well. I like the traditional juxtaposition of white on black, but you could drizzle different colors of candy coating on the outside, or even sprinkles. The possibilities for presentation are endless!

• When heating up the candy coating, be very careful. It can get hot ASAP! Also, don't overheat it as it'll burn and that stuff is hard to clean, not to mention the smell is awful.

Happy Holidays,
Kelly