more complicated than it looks (lyn)

M calls after midnight last night.  She’s just come from a Christmas party where homemade Oreo truffles were served.  “You wouldn’t believe how amazing these things are,” she tells me.  I ask for the recipe and she sends it. 

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/easy-oreo-truffles-95085.aspx

I’m having people over today to watch a couple of movies, and I decide to make the recipe.  It looks easy.    Plus, prep time is only 30 minutes.

I miraculously find a grocery store that is open, and buy all three of the required ingredients:  cream cheese, package of Oreos, and Baker’s chocolate squares.

First, crumbling a 15.5-ounce package of Oreos is not as simple as it looks.  I first try a rolling pin, but that’s too much work.  I then get the brilliant idea of using my emulsifier—the one I’ve only used thus far for soup.  It does a pretty decent job, but Oreo dust flies everywhere and covers my kitchen counters, floor, and me.

Next, I heat up the chocolate.  It looks good.  I ask Alexander to taste it.  He does, and responds, “It tastes pasty.”  I don’t know what that means so I try it and it’s bitter and disgusting.  I check the recipe and see I’ve bought two boxes of unsweetened chocolate while the recipe calls for semi-sweetened.  I leave the house and go back to the grocery store where I’m successful in returning both the unopened and open/ empty box of unsweetened chocolate.  Must be because it’s Christmas and the manager doesn’t feel like arguing.

I come back home and reheat the new chocolate.  The recipe calls for dipping the cream cheese/cookie crumb batter into the melted chocolate. This turns out to be an even bigger mess than the oreo dust.  The batter is too soft and dissolves when it comes in contact with the warm melted chocolate.

By the time I’m done, it’s taken an hour of prep time, my kitchen is a disaster, my manicure is ruined, and my little truffle balls look nothing like the pretty picture.

        
I just hope they taste better than they look.