Gingerbread Cheesecake Truffles
This year is coming to a close and it’s time to reflect upon all that has happened. I must say, 2013 was a crazy year, but overall a very satisfying one. The hubby and I decided to move to a warmer state. That meant selling our home first. It took quite a few months, but we finally accomplished it. Then I stopped working and became a stay-at-home mom. While it drives me nutty a good amount of the time, it’s nice to be more available for the kids and have more quality time together. Next was the packing of the house and the big move to a new home, new state, and new life. It was exciting, yet scary. In the end, it was exactly what we needed. I feel that as a family, we have been rejuvenated and it feels good. Hopefully 2014 will treat us just as well.
Meanwhile, I am still emptying out the pantry. I had some Gingerbread Oreos hiding in there, so I rustled up a quick treat for a party. Last year I made Gingerbread Rice Krispie Treats with them.
This time I chose to make truffles. Oreo truffles are just so easy, I couldn’t resist. Just grind up some Oreos and mix with some cream cheese.
Roll the mixture up into small balls and dip them in candy melt. I had some gingerbread candy melt and eggnog candy melt left, so I used that along with some dark chocolate candy melt.
I love making these easy treats. There is no baking involving, but it’s still fun. And not much mess.
I decorated them with some shimmery sprinkles, perfect for a New Year’s Eve party. Don’t they look pretty all dressed up?
I hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve. We are having a party at out neighbors house to celebrate. See you in the new year!
Gingerbread Cheesecake Truffles
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Keywords: no bake dessert snack cream cheese gingerbread oreos gingerbread candy melt egg nog candy melt truffles American winter
Ingredients (26 truffles)
For the truffles
- 1 package (15.25 oz.) Gingerbread Oreos
- 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
For the topping
- 1/2 cup Wilton’s Gingerbread Candy Melt wafers
- 1/2 cup Wilton’s Eggnog Candy Melt wafers
- 1/2 cup Wilton’s Dark Cocoa Candy Melt wafers
optional
- vegetable shortening (for thinning out candy melt)
- sprinkles
Instructions
For the truffles
Grind the Oreo cookies in a food processor and hand mix or use stand mixer to combine with cream cheese until it becomes a dough like consistency.
Roll Oreo mixture into quarter size balls (about 1 tablespoon’s worth) and place in airtight container lined with wax paper.
Place the container in the refrigerator overnight to set or in the freezer for at least an hour.
For the topping
After the balls are set, melt candy candy melt (1 flavor at a time) in the microwave as per directions on package. (If the candy melt is too thick, add vegetable shortening, 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach a desirable consistency for dipping.)
Remove Oreo balls from the refrigerator or freezer.
Dip the Oreo balls into candy coating mixture until all covered. (I use a fork.) Once covered, remove and softly tap until excess candy melt falls off. Then place the balls on wax paper until the candy melt hardens.
Carefully add the sprinkles to the top of the balls before the candy melt hardens.
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Bacon Fat Gingersnaps
We’re going back to California tomorrow (or today rather, as I write these posts the night before) for the holidays and we’ll be gone an entire two-and-a-half weeks! There’s still so much to do, so I’m keeping this post short. And then I must return to packing and meeting last-minute work deadlines and cleaning out the fridge (urgh).
After that, I foresee freeeeedom and warm-ish weather and long drives down the 1. We’re putting up the tree with my family, seeing friends, and hitting up all our old haunts. One of these days, I will write a long ode to California, but for now, I’m leaving you with a recipe for bacon fat gingersnaps.
I’m guessing you can tell why these cookies are special. Yup! They’re made with bacon fat. While the idea is that you’ve been collecting bacon drippings all along, saving it in a little bowl so you can re-use it for other recipes (something I vividly remember my mom doing when I was younger), I had to go out and buy a pound-and-a-half of bacon especially for this recipe, and then spent the better part of an hour frying it up. Later that night, and for days after, we reheated the strips and used them for sandwiches and omelettes and other such delights. These foods all benefit from bacon, I’m sure you would agree, so it wasn’t too much trouble for me.
The cookies themselves taste smoky and exotic, hardly like bacon, although you can tell there’s something in there that contributes an inexplicable… savoriness? Huskiness? I’m definitely not a slap-bacon-on-it-and-call-it-a-day kind of gal, by the way. But I do like my ginger-flavored sweets, and I love the softness of these cookies. (which begs the question: are they technically gingersnaps then? Aren’t gingersnaps supposed to be, I dunno, snappy?)
I also love the origin of this recipe, which comes from Cathy Horyn, the renowned New York Times FASHION editor who got the recipe from her mother. Yes! So I suppose this recipe is an old-new take on a classic gingersnap recipe that is perfect for the holidays.
BACON FAT GINGERSNAPS
Adapted from Leite’s Culinaria
Makes 3 dozen or so
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup bacon drippings (from 1 1/2 to 2 pounds bacon), at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for the work surface
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap) or cane syrup
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together until a smooth, stiff dough forms. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a few hours and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking with parchment paper. In a small bowl, pour about 1/4 cup sugar. Break off 1-Tbsp chunks of the cookie dough and roll them into balls. Then roll them around in the sugar to coat and place them on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes, until dark brown. Let cool.
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