Oh dear… my time-perception seems to have taken a serious hit this year! It seems like I’ve just finished my Summer Chocolate Box and all of a sudden I’m covered in chocolate yet again! The Christmas markets around town have opened their gates last weekend and the wonderful aromas of roasting nuts, spiced wine and freshly baked goods wafting through the festively decorated streets are making me wonder where the last couple of months have gone.

I suppose it’s true, time flies by when you’re having fun~! Anyways, winter holidays ante portas, time for my annual yuletide sugar rush!

~Le Menu~
Oreo Truffles
Honey & Cream Truffles
Passionfruit Truffles
Orange & Rosemary Marzipan Chocolates
Spiced Apple & Roasted Almond Bites

This time around I picked a relatively easy-to-make guilty-pleasure bite as first treat from this box to share with you guys. The reason I picked these truffles is quite simple – a cookie-thing everyone I know has in common. Everybody loves an Oreo or two. And that’s just the thing, one or two are enough, and there’s at least 12 in a regular pack, going stale and gooey within a day, which is usually some time before the next crave hits. And a gooey Oreo is only half the fun, right? Unless… unless you embrace the fudgeyness! After enhancing it, that is. And whaddayaknow, ever since I’ve started making these to take care of leftover Oreos, the one-or-two-are-enough rule of thumb doesn’t apply anymore – to anyone~

The Oreo Chocolate Truffles
300g Oreo Cookies
150g Cream Cheese, at room temperature – really, give it enough time to soften up, or be prepared for a serious workout. I learned that the hard way
½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/8 Tsp Salt
200g 70%+ Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
Alt: for the ones with an even sweeter tooth: 100g Milk Chocolate and 100g Dark Chocolate
A couple of Fleur de Sel Flakes or Vanilla-scented Salt Flakes – believe me, this makes all the difference
Opt: Melted White Chocolate and/or Chocolate Drops to decorate the truffles Oreo Style

1) Line a large tray with parchment paper and set it aside but in easy reach. Make sure to pick a tray that will fit into your fridge.
2) Pop the cookies into a blender, mortar and pestle or a firm zip-lock baggie (plus the matching rolling pin) and whizz, grind or bash them into fine crumbs. In case the holiday-panic or winter-gloom in general are creeping up on you, I’d recommend using the baggie & rolling pin method~
3) Snap on a pair of CSI gloves, tip the Oreo-sand into a large mixing bowl and add the cream cheese, fine salt and vanilla extract.
4) Dig in – literally – and work the lot through with your hands until the mixture comes together in a smooth and even “dough”.
5) Place the bowl in your fridge and allow the mix to chill for about 30 mins.
6) Try to cool down your hands a bit for the next – potentially messy – part. Roll the mixture into 20-30 equally sized (depending on the size you prefer for a really sweet and fudgy bite), firm balls.
7) Set them onto the tray as you go and then chill them in the fridge for about 30-45 mins to set, firm up – all in all, making it easier to coat them afterwards.
8) Melt the chocolate chunks in a waterbath, as usual making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water to avoid the chocolate overheating, turning grainy and getting that dusty taste and look once it’s firmed back up.
9) Once the chocolate’s silky-smooth, take the bowl off of the pot and set it aside to allow it to cool down to room temperature.
10) Remove the balls from the fridge and quickly dip each truffle into the melted chocolate to coat them.
11) Use a small cake fork or pâtisserie fork (two thin prongs) to move them through the chocolate until they’re evenly coated. Carefully tap the fork onto the rim of your chocolate bowl to drip any excess chocolate oozing down the truffles and through the prongs back into the bowl.
12) Place them back onto your tray and immediately sprinkle each freshly coated truffle with a few salt flakes. Alternatively, sprinkle your baking paper with salt flakes before setting the truffles back on, so the flakes stick to the bottom, then decorate them however you’d like.
13) Repeat this with all of the remaining truffles.
14) Chill the truffles overnight, then move them to an airtight container. Keep in mind that both cream cheese and chocolate are extremely aroma friendly, meaning: they take on other aromas really quickly, so if you’re storing aroma intense products in the fridge when putting in the wet chocolate it might taste off afterwards.
15) Due to the cream cheese, these yummies have a relatively short shelf-life – the truffles keep (in theory…) up to seven days in an airtight container, stored in the fridge.

As usual, I’ll be sharing all of the recipes with you guys in the coming months, but in case one of them is really burning under your fingernails, let me know~ I’ll make sure to polish it up to shiny post-readiness before the holidays hit!

Enjoy~!

♥