Peanut Butter Oreo Truffles

Happy Friday everyone!  Here’s a Friday present for you:

4 ingredients.

4 steps.

1 of the most delicious tasting and easy desserts ever.  EVER.

Peanut Butter Oreo Truffles

INGREDIENTS
*yields about 20 truffles

 6oz of cream cheese (3/4 of an 8oz block)

1 regular sized package of Oreo cookies

1/2 cup of your favorite creamy peanut butter

12 oz. Milk Chocolate
(You could use a bag of Milk Chocolate chips, or, as I do most times when I use melted chocolate, about 3/4 of a  Trader Joe’s 1lb Belgian Chocolate Bars)

*Peanut Butter Drizzle
(an optional step that can be achieved with either Wilton’s Peanut Butter Flavored Candy Melts or by melting about 1/2 cup of peanut butter over low heat in a saucepan)

1) In a food processor, pulse your Oreo cookies until they become a fine crumb texture.

2) In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese and peanut butter on low speed until fully combined and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Slowly add in the Oreo crumbs until a dough like mixture forms.

3) Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  Take about 2-3 tablespoons of the dough and roll between the palms of your hands to form a ball and place on the waxed paper.  Once all the dough has been shaped into balls, chill them in the freezer for 1/2 hr – 1 hr.  Cream cheese based dough can soften very quickly so this step is important!

4) While the dough is chilling, melt your chocolate in a double boiler.  After the balls have chilled, dip each one in the melted chocolate and place on the waxed paper to allow the chocolate to dry.

5)*Optional Step: If you’re feeling adventurous and want to add some peanut butter drizzle, you can either melt about 1/2 of a 12oz bag of Peanut Butter flavored candy melts or you can simply melt 1/2 cup of Peanut Butter over low heat in a saucepan, stirring constantly.  Then just dip the fork in the melted peanut butter and drizzle it over the truffles (these chocolate squeeze bottles also create a really nice drizzle effect – you can find them at any Michaels or A.C. Moore in the Cake decorating/candy making section).

Happy 1st Friday of 2013 everyone!