Oreo Truffle Cupcakes

 I feel bad for my colleagues at work, I've been pretty negligent about bring food into work.  Usually they get to try all my latest recipes and as college kids, they give me really good feedback for what's good, what's okay, and well what doesn't work.  (The latter hasn't happened for a while, but it's always a possibility, never get cocky.)  So one of my other workers, Jordan was surfing Twitter and found these cupcakes.
    At first I was a bit hesitant, I had never put a truffle in a cupcake and the last truffle I made had been years ago.  So needlessly to say, when I first looked at the recipe I held my breathe hoping it wasn't going to be awful.  Luckily for me and my colleagues, they were REALLY simple!  I also received RAVE reviews!  Everyone loved it.  In fact, my boss (who is the recipient of most of the food I bring in since I see him every morning) told me that these are possibly the best thing I've ever made before.  WHOOO HOOO!!!  You can also just make the Oreo truffles and then dip then in chocolate and just serve them as truffles, but try to resist the urge, they are sooooooo good in the cupcakes, a real winner! 
   The only thing that I could change about this recipe is to add some of the Oreo crumbs to the French Vanilla cake.  This would make the cake just a little bit more Oreo looking and tasting.  With no further ado, here is the recipe!


Ingredients: 

2 bags of regular size and flavor Oreos
1 block of room temperature cream cheese
1 French Vanilla cake (Use French Vanilla because it tastes better than regular vanilla cake)
1 container of cream cheese frosting

Oreo Truffles
Take one package of Oreos and crush them finely.  (I used my food processor)
Then combine the Oreos with the cream cheese and stir until well mixed.
Use a mini scooper and scoop out balls.  Roll these truffles to make them round and then place them in the freezer for 20 minutes so they don't melt in the oven.

Cupcakes:
Follow the directions on the box to make the cake.  However, here is where I would change the recipe a bit.  I would crush some more Oreos and add them to the cake batter.  When the cake batter is ready, line the cupcake tins with liners and put fill 1/4 of the way up, just barely covering the bottom.  Put into the pre-heated oven (just follow the temperature on the cake box)  and bake the bottoms for 4 minutes.  Take them out of the oven and then add the truffles.  Fill with the remaining cake batter and then bake for 11 minutes (for a total of 15 like the box says).  Remove from the oven, let cool.

Frosting:

Take the cream cheese frosting.  You could make homemade, but I was being lazy and used store bought.  I then ground up the second package of Oreos and added half of the cookies to the frosting and mixed it together well.  I used the left over ground up cookies to top the cupcakes. 

All I can say is please try these, they are soooooooooo good!  Enjoy!

original recipe I believe

 

Dark Chocolate Mousse

  Normally, if I have to have something sweet I want caramel.  There is nothing better than rich, buttery, silky caramel, preferably off-set with some sea salt... pardon me while I while the drool from my lips.  But when it comes to chocolate, I love dark chocolate. Plain and simple, it's the best stuff ever invented.  So why not combine, dark chocolate, heavy cream and gelatin together to create the most sinful and fluffy concoction on the plant, dark chocolate mousse. I'll admit, I was nervous; I've never made mousse before and I had this awful mental image that I might end up with dark chocolate goo, however, I followed the Hershey's recipe to a T and from it emerged a luxurious, fluffy, rich, and sinfully good dark chocolate mousse.  One spoonful and I was hooked, I would totally make this for a dinner party in a moment; putting it into cocktail glasses like the above photo and letting it chill so that it forms a beautiful smooth top layer.  I would then garnish it with raspberries or strawberries and serve.  Easy, elegant and completely mind blowing.  This will make you think twice about calling on ice cream as a comfort food, I think my new favorite might be dark chocolate mousse.  

Ingredients

• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 2 cups (1 pt.)cold whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. 1 Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl; let stand 2 minutes to soften. Add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool slightly.
   
2. 2 Combine sugar and cocoa in large bowl; add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally, until mixture is stiff. Pour in gelatin mixture; beat until well blended. Spoon into dessert dishes.
   
3. 3 Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Garnish as desired. Store covered in refrigerator. 8 servings.

Link to the Hershey's recipe website