Cookie Dough Truffles

The Setting: Winter. Snow. Etc.

The Soundtrack: Gilmore Girls, season 6.

Sizzlin' on the Griddle: Blueberry pancakes.

The Scenario: Chocolate plus cookie dough equals happiness. And they say math isn't my strong suit.

Every now and then I get the opportunity to lead a cooking workshop (which I love, even though I'm always afraid I come off a little spazzy).

I've got a "cooking with kids" class coming up soon, so I've been furiously and excitedly brainstorming for the perfect kid-friendly recipes.

I thought it would be fun to make cookie-dough pops, little chocolate-enrobed balls of egg-less cookie dough on sticks.

Testing my recipe, I realized that while the kids would probably relish the chance to dunk balls of dough in melted chocolate, it was sure to turn into a much bigger mess than either I or the other parents would care to deal with (or, more importantly, clean up after), especially since most of the kids would be under the age of five.

The recipe needed some tweaking along the way as well. My first run produced a dough with a texture a tad bit too granular from the sugar, so I swapped out half the brown sugar for powdered sugar and used dark brown sugar instead of light to help maintain the characteristic chocolate-chip-cookie-dough flavor.

By the end of the day, I had ditched the sticks, come up with another idea for my kids class (more on that later), and ended up with cookie dough truffles pretty enough for company and tasty enough for midnight snacking.

These truffles would be a fun and easy project for older kids and patient parents to tackle together. For the little-kid version, stay tuned!

Cookie Dough Truffles
1/2 stick butter, softened slightly at room temperature (leave it out for about 30 minutes)
1/8 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semisweet mini-chips
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or choped chocolate
3 T chopped unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp coconut oil
1 T milk chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (optional)

In a small-to-medium-sized bowl, use a fork to combine the butter, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, and powdered sugar, raking the tines through the butter to break it down and distribute it evenly. You should have a very sandy-looking mixture.

Add the flour and use the fork to work it into the mixture.

Add 1/2 cup mini-chips, mixing with the fork just until distributed.

Pinch off tablespoon-sized nubs of the dough mixture and roll each one into a ball between your hands. You should have about 10 balls. Place the balls on a parchment-paper lined baking pan and place in the refrigerator while you prepare the chocolate.

Place 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, making sure to redistribute the hotter chips from the bottom of the bowl. Microwave 30 seconds and stir again, this time trying to stir until smooth. If needed, microwave an additional 20 seconds.
Add the 3 T unsweetened chocolate and the coconut oil and stir until smooth, microwaving an additional 10 seconds if necessary.

Drop a dough ball into the chocolate and use a clean fork to coat it in the chocolate.

With the dough ball cradled on the tines of the fork, hold it over the melted chocolate and gently shake the fork from side to side so that the excess chocolate cascades off, forming a sleeker coating on the ball.

Lightly run the bottom of the tines over the edge of the bowl so that the excess chocolate on the fork stays in the bowl. Gently slide the ball off the fork and back onto the parchment. Repeat with remaining balls. Do not wash out the bowl with the melted chocolate.

Allow the balls to set at cool room temperature (60-70 degrees). Once set, add the milk chocolate or white chocolate chips to the bowl with the remaining melted chocolate (if desired). Microwave the chocolate for 30 seconds and stir until smooth. Use a fork to drizzle the lighter-colored melted chocolate over the truffles to create a design. Allow to set completely at room temperature before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

Makes about 10 truffles.

Thanks for reading! Here's to Being the Secret Ingredient in your life.