Peanut butter truffles!

This winter break, I am spending a couple of weeks back in West Texas with my sister and her family! She is expecting her second baby girl December 24th. So I planned my trip to hopefully catch the big event :)

awesome cake someone made for the shower!

Today was her baby shower so we decided to make truffles for the occasion. I have made truffles numerous times in the past, but always the same kind with the same ingredients, strictly following the recipe. However, the way I handle food preparation and the way my sister handles food preparation are very different. On one hand, I am more by the book and like to follow the recipe's every last detail. My sister, on the other hand, being more "free-spirited" is known to make up recipes as she goes. But to my surprise, in spite of her haphazard methods, she can deliver some very tasty dishes. I always look forward to visiting her with the anticipation of eating her yummy food. :)

Although I was weary of how the truffles would turn out, they ended up coming out different from what I expected, yet wonderfully delicious. Of course, this is thanks to my sister's improvisation skills which were handy when unexpected things came up.

Here's what you need:


1) A package of Oreos

2) 1 1/2 packages of cream cheese

3) some type of chocolate that can be melted down (we used mini Reeses cups)

4) roasted peanuts

What we did:

First, using a food processor (or a large ziplock bag and something hard to pound it with) crush all of the Oreo cookies.

Then mix the cookie crumbs in with the cream cheese. Once mixed thoroughly, form about 1 inch balls and set on parchment paper on a baking sheet. (This part can be done the night before or even days in advanced) If done in advanced, store balls in Tupperware in the refrigerator.

If done the day of, place baking sheet in refrigerator to allow the balls to cool and harden and begin melting chocolate. We used the double boiler method because the condition of the chocolate we used wasn't too great, but if you use melting friendly chocolate, a microwave is much quicker.

Then dip the balls in the melted chocolate using two forks, letting the chocolate drip through the spaces and then place the chocolate covered balls back on the parchment paper. This is where it can get tricky. If you use Reeses cups, like us, the consistency of the chocolate might not be the best. We ended up having to use some elbow grease and actually manually spread the semi-solid chocolate around the balls by hand. This, of course, is not ideal, but we had to make it work.

Then, originally we intended to grind up the roasted peanuts in the food processor to use as a garnish on the top of the truffles. However, after seeing the not so pleasant appearance of the rubbed on chocolate spread, we decided to just roll the entire ball in peanut bits to just cover up any unevenness.

the finished product!

And that's about it. Although, they didn't turn out how I pictured them, they were still a hit and very yummy. They kind of looked like those Ferrero Rocher candies, but a chocolate peanut version. The cool thing about truffles is that you can really change up the filling and outside to meet your fancy. As long as it's sweet and dipped in some sort of chocolate, they will still turn out delicious.

kind of similar...