Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, Randoms, and a Quickie

In the interest of full disclosure, I am feeling very random today. Consider yourself warned.

This has been a very odd week. Nothing that I have planned to do has come to fruition because so much other stuff has been getting in the way. Wait a minute–that’s kind of  like every other week.  Let me start over.

This has been a very normal week.

My internet service was down for over 24 hours. An entire day! I’m kind of disturbed at how much that fact bothers me.  Being a former computer geek, of course I took matters into my own hands. We have an extensively daisy-chained network in our house from the phone-cable box, to the cable modem, to the cell phone signal booster, to the wireless router. In a nutshell, we have many points of failure, and a whole lot of cross-over cables strewn about.

If you understood any of that, then you win a Gold Star.  Whenever I get a little network-geeky, my BFF Julie says “Oh my GOSH! I can’t believe all the stuff is coming out of YOUR mouth!”

I’m pretty sure that she means that as a compliment.

A nice gentleman named “Maverick” at our cable company’s call center apologized for my inconvenience, and assured me that my internet service would be restored today, if I would just mind holding for another 6 or 7 transfers on the line. After I was transferred to “Madonna,” I hung up.

Then I fixed the problem myself.  I’ll spare you the gory details, but rest assured that the problem was in the house, and I didn’t have to dig up the cable line outside.  Although, at several points, I seriously contemplated the idea. I figured that if nothing else, it would make me feel better.

So here we are…

I am really ready for the weather to be consistently warm, and for the school to be out for the summer. I’m seriously thinking about selling petoskey stones or cupcakes to tourists at the beach all summer. OK, not really.  But I am ready to spend the summer at the beach.  Let me re-phrase that: I am ready to spend the summer at the beach once the water gets warmer than 50 degrees (F).

I just realized that all I ever show y’all of the 45th parallel is pictures of the rolling countryside, and the beaches. That’s cool and all, but I live in the woods. The woods are equally beautiful, so “woods”  has just been added to my list of things to show you at some point.

After starring at the leftover chocolate chip cookie dough filling from my earlier cupcake romp, I thought it would be fun to make truffles out of it. You can only eat so much cookie dough with a spoon, eh?

And guess what?! Cookie dough truffles totally Rock! Son #1 was so inspired by the truffles that he styled this plate for me as a surprise. He said that I just had to post the recipe on my blog. He took the picture, too. I told him that his slave labor job this summer was to be my personal food stylist and assistant.

And seriously, of all the times I’ve made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, I have no idea why I didn’t think to make truffles out of the leftover filling. Duh!

You really need to make cookie dough truffles–it’s a nice quickie recipe.

Grab the leftover cookie dough filling from the refrigerator.  Grab a small cookie scoop while you are at it. OR! You could make just the filling portion of the cupcake recipe, turn that into cookie dough truffles, and skip the cupcake and frosting parts. You decide.

Roll the chilled dough into a ball.

Place the dough balls onto a plate lined with waxed paper. Do as I say, not as I do. I forgot the waxed paper & those little things were firmly adhered to the plate.  Freeze the dough balls for 45-60 minutes, or until very firm.

In addition to the leftover cookie dough filling, you’ll need about 1 cup of miniature chocolate chips, and 1 teaspoon of shortening.  The shortening will give the chocolate a slight glossy sheen when it dries. Pretty. Heat chips & shortening in the microwave on 70% power for 1 minute. Stir. If the chips still haven’t melted, then continue heating on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.

Plop a frozen cookie dough ball into the melted chocolate. Gently roll the dough ball around until it has been fully coated.

Lift the coated dough ball out of the chocolate with a fork. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl to shake off the excess melted chocolate.

Place the truffle onto a different plate that has been lined with waxed paper. As you can see, I forgot the waxed paper, and the truffles stuck to the plate. Learn from my mistakes–put the truffles on a sheet of waxed paper.  As you can see, my truffles were fairly rustic looking. If you want to get all fancy-pants, then melt a little white chocolate to drizzle over top. Or sprinkle on some crushed nuts. Or a little sea salt. Or…you get the idea. Have  fun with it!

The recipe below is for cookie dough truffles, assuming that you use a full batch of the cupcake filling. Cut the chocolate/shortening portion of the recipe in half, if you are using cupcake filling from making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

http://comfortablydomestic.com

About 18-24 dozen truffles

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk (about ¾ cup)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the coating:

1 ½ C. miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ¼ tsp. shortening

To prepare the truffle filling:

1. In a small bowl, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. (About 2 minutes.)
2. Add the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated and smooth.
3. Stir in the miniature chocolate chips.
4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm. (About an hour.)
5. Use a small cookie scoop to portion dough. Roll a scoop of the dough into a ball, and place it on a plate or baking sheet that has been lined with waxed paper. Continue with the remaining dough. Freeze the dough balls until they are very firm. (About 1 ½ hours.)

To prepare the truffle coating:

1. Heat the chocolate chips & shortening in the microwave on 70% power for 1 minute. Stir. If the chips haven’t completely melted, then continue heating on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

To assemble the truffles:

1. Remove the cookie dough balls from the freezer.
2. Take the dough balls, one at a time, and gently roll them in the melted chocolate, turning to completely coat.
3. Use a fork to lift the coated truffle from the chocolate, gently tapping the fork against the side of the bowl to shake off the excess chocolate.
4. Place the coated truffle onto a plate or baking sheet that has been lined with waxed paper.
5. Repeat with the remaining truffles. Be careful to keep the coated truffles from touching, or they will stick together.
6. Let truffles dry at room temperature, until chocolate has hardened. (About an hour.)
7. Store truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator.