Valentine's Day Oreo Truffles

Make some yummy truffles for your loved ones this Valentine's Day. It's quick, easy, and definitely will score you major points. All you need is 3 ingredients and you'll have some scrumptious truffles. This is perfect for those that are culinarily challenged ;-)

NOTE: I made these for Valentine's Day so I'm going for the red/pink/white color palettes. You can use regular Oreo and add some red food coloring to achieve the dark red hue that you'll get from crushing Red Velvet Oreo (pictured).

Red velvet Oreo. I think these are only available during Valentine's Day

You can use regular Oreo and any types of chocolate (milk or dark), as well as coloring the white chocolate to suit your color palettes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 package Oreo (18 oz) [any flavor, I used Red Velvet]

1 box cream cheese (8 oz)
1 bag white chocolate (to be melted to coat truffles)
Truffle decorations : nonpareils, chocolate sprinkles, sanding sugar, etc.


In a food processor, process the Oreo into crumbs. Add in cream cheese and mix well.

Oreo crumbs

Add cream cheese into the crumbs and mix well

Leave the mixture inside your fridge for at least 2 hours. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls. Return them to the fridge until you are ready to dipped them in chocolate.

Refrigerate mixture for at least 2 hours

Roll mixture into balls

Line another cookie sheet with wax paper. In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Dip truffles into chocolate and let them set on the lined cookie sheet. Decorate with nonpareils, sprinkles, sanding sugar, etc. Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Enjoy!

Dip in melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles on top

Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane Blossoms

I followed the recipe straight from a bag of Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane Mint. This cookie is not only easy to make but also seem to be a hit with a lot of people! I love making these for Christmas because they are so festive and colorful.

10 oz bag of Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane Mint (48 pieces of candy)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

Coarse sugar, rainbow nonpareils, and confetti sprinkles for decoration.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies and leave inside fridge until needed.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended. 

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in coarse sugar, rainbow nonpareils, and confetti sprinkles. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Fruitcake Balls

I forgot to line my pans with parchment paper when making fruitcakes this year. Needless to say, the whole cake was stuck into the pan and I had to scrape the whole cake out. Not wanting to waste it, I turned the now giant pile of crumbs into delicious balls that looks like sugar plums. Follow my fruitcake recipe (which makes 2 cakes) and crumble 1 cake into pieces. Recipe as follows:

1 fruitcake, crumbled into pieces
1/2 cup speculoos or smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup brandy or rum (you can add more if you want)
1 cup coarse sugar, for rolling

In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, add fruitcake crumbs, speculoos and brandy. Mix the ingredients on low speed until crumbs start to stick together.

Shape into 1 inch balls. I used a measuring spoon (1 tablespoon) to make the amount and shape even. Roll balls in coarse sugar. Let chill inside refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Serve cold, or room temperature.

Butter Spritz Cookies With Jam

This is the same as the Butter Spritz Cookies except you put jam in the middle of the cookie. Any jam of your choice is fine. Two tips on making successful spritz cookies: NEVER greased the cookie sheet. Run the cookie sheet in cold water after every batch to make the sheet cool again so the cookie sticks to the sheet.

1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Jam of your choice.

Combine everything except flour to a mixing bowl. Beat at a medium speed for 3 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Add flour. Beat at a low speed for 3 more minutes, scraping the sides often.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place dough inside a cookie gun. Using your desired template (flower shaped ones work best), press cookie onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Using a piping bag or a ziploc bag, pipe some jam on the center of the cookies.

My partner and contributing author, Praetorblue, is proud of his cookie gun creations.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool cookies before storing them away. Makes about 5 dozens.

Gingerbread Spritz Cookies

This recipe is for those who can't be bothered with rolling on cookies dough and then pressing them with a cookie cutter (me!). A classic recipe done in the style of "spritz". I used the pine tree template and decorated them with sugar confetti to make it look like Christmas trees. Two tips on making successful spritz cookies: NEVER greased the cookie sheet. Run the cookie sheet in cold water after every batch to make the sheet cool again so the cookie sticks to the sheet.

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

In a mixing bowl, beat butter, molasses and brown sugar for 1 minute. Add in egg and vanilla essence. Beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Add to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed.

Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Add cookie dough into the cookie gun and press them on ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Let it cool before storing in a container. Makes about 5 dozens.

Butter Spritz Cookies

These cookies are colored with green food coloring and sprinkled with pastel confetti sprinkles. 

Looks like Christmas trees, don' they?

Spritz cookies are cookies that come out of a cookie gun. The word "spritz" comes from the German word "spritzen" meaning to spray. I've recently bought a cookie gun from Wilton's (Cookie Pro™ Ultra II) and it's a pretty good product. I remember making these cookies when I was in Malaysia with my aunts in preparation for Chinese New Year. These cookies are fun to make and are relatively easy. The cookie gun comes with a wide variety of templates so your cookies can be a different every time you make them! You can decorate them with colored sugar, candy confetti, candied cherries, etc. Two tips on making successful spritz cookies: NEVER greased the cookie sheet. Run the cookie sheet in cold water after every batch to make the sheet cool again so the cookie sticks to the sheet. Here's a basic butter spritz cookie recipe.
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine everything except flour to a mixing bowl. Beat at a medium speed for 3 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Add flour. Beat at a low speed for 3 more minutes, scraping the sides often.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place dough inside a cookie gun. Using your desired template, press cookie onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool cookies before storing them away. Makes about 5 dozens.

Peanut Cookies

This is my aunt's famous peanut cookie recipe. All my aunts have a famous cookie recipe and this one is from Auntie Pauline Yam. I've made these before for Chinese New Year when I was in Malaysia. Thanks Amy for forwarding me the recipe, took me awhile to convert the measurements to the US measuring system. I'm making these for Chinese New Year this year. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I know Vance would ...

350 gm (2 ¾ cups) all purpose flour
350 gm (2 ½ cups) peanuts, toasted
270 gm (1 ¼ cup) granulated sugar
250 ml (1 cup and a tablespoon) peanut oil
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg and some water, for egg wash
Some peanuts for decoration

Preheat oven to 325 ºF. Finely chop peanuts in a food processor. Mix flour, peanuts, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

Add in peanut oil and mix until the dough just holds together.

Shape dough into small 1 inch balls. Arrange balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush a layer of egg wash on top of the balls. Decorate with a peanut. Bake until cookie is browned, about 35 minutes.

Let cool and then keep in air tight container.

Pignoli Amaretti (Pine Nut Cookies)

I had this cookie for the first time in an Italian cafe and had since tried to find the perfect recipe for it. Vance was highly amazed that this cookie recipe does not require flour. Make sure that you get "Almond paste" not "Marzipan" because they are not the same. Also, make sure you get the canned almond paste instead of the tube ones.

2 cans (8 oz.) almond paste
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoon honey
1 cup pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (I ran out of parchment paper and used non stick aluminum foil, which was a bad idea because it browns the bottom of the cookies faster so try only using parchment paper to line the cookie sheet).

In a food processor, pulse almond paste into small pieces. Add in confectioners sugar and salt. Pulse until it turns into small crumbles. Add in honey and egg white and pulse until well combined.

With a bowl of water next to you, wet your fingers. This is to prevent the sticky batter from sticking to you. Spoon a teaspoon full of batter and with your wet fingers loosen the batter into the cookie sheet. Place cookies about 2-inch apart. Sprinkle some pine nuts on top of the cookie and flattened it a little bit.

Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of cookie sheets halfway through baking until golden. Bake for approximately 15 minutes until lightly browned and soft and springy. Remove from oven and and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Hazelnut Tea Cookies

I haven't been cooking lately especially since December is finals week. I just don't have any time! However, finals are over and now it's time to cook (or bake) again. I was going to bake this for Christmas but I was just too overwhelmed by final exams and papers. I'm making this today to de-stress myself from writing my research proposal the whole day.

I got this Hazelnut Tea Cookie recipe (by Aida Mollencamp) from Food Network's 12 Days Of Cookies 2008. It is also known as Mexican Wedding Cake or Cuban Wedding Cake. Once you have a piece of these light, buttery and nutty cookie you will not stop eating them!


2 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups hazelnut, toasted and finely chopped
Additional confectioners sugar for rolling cookies in

Preheat oven to 325 °F. Sieve flour and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter in a mixer for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add in confectioners sugar, vanilla essence and half of the nuts. Beat for another 2 minute, until whipped and light. Add in remaining nuts and flour combination into the mixture. Mix well.

Shape dough into 1 teaspoon balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the underside of cookie is brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Place some confectioners sugar in a medium bowl. Roll cookie in confectioners sugar and tap off excess. Let cool completely about 20 minutes. Coat again with confectioners sugar. Tap off excess sugar before serving.