I don’t bake often. It takes us a long time to go through any sweets in the house and if I bring it to work, I’ll eat the treats there. So the one time a year I do bake, I find it beyond frustrating. With many attempts and many of these balls from hell squished and thrown out, I found an easy technique that makes this whole ball thing a lot easier.

Ingredients:

• Oreo Cookies (double stuffed is best)
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Wafers (They’re new!)
• Decoration of choice

First, I de-creamed the cookies. These are much easier to do with double stuffed since they come off as a whole cream pad. If you have regular minimally stuffed, a spoon works great. No worries about breaking the cookies. They are headed to the processor.

After they’ve been de-creamed, put the cream in a bowl along with a brick of Philadelphia cream cheese.

Put the cookie parts in a food processor. I used my juicer (I have the Omega 8006) which has an attachment that makes an amazing fine grain.

Add the powder to cream and cream cheese blend and knead into dough. Rubber gloves are handy during this process. It takes some kneading!

Now roll into tiny balls. The first round, I made them way too big. The second time, I made them about the size of a quarter. Way easier to deal with and these are so rich they are overwhelming if too big. Place on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick paper. These were placed on parchment paper.

Freeze these for a bit. I read some that froze overnight but made the chocolate shell crack. So I froze for about an hour while melting the chocolate in a double boiler. You can melt in a bowl at 30 second intervals too. Paper bowls work great for this stuff!

Set up another cookie sheet with non stick paper for post dipped hell balls if you aren’t using mini paper cups.

Get your station ready and take the balls out. I tried everything to dip. Skewers, forks, toothpicks, fingers, chopsticks, everything I had. These tiny little things worked great with a sturdier toothpick that I stuck into the bottom, dipped quickly in chocolate (enough to submerge the whole ball) and stuck in a foam board covered in foil.

If you’re making a lot of balls, take them out in sections. You don’t want to get the ball too warm to dip or they will slide down the toothpick. It’s a small hole and easy to cover if this happens. My house was about 75 degrees and the last 2 balls (of 40) slid down.

The chocolate will harden quickly and you can remove to decorate or keep them on the foam to display.

Hell ball success. And it’s been requested I make more….I’ll post anything else I learn along the way! Enjoy!