Oreo Balls That Don't Need Refrigeration. Is there anything butter can't do?!

This isn't even a real recipe, but it is important enough that I wanted a post about it.

Oreo balls are amazing. They are one of the easiest and most popular things in my entire food prep repertoire. If you haven't tried making them, I can't recommend them enough. Wherever you bring them, people will love you. There's just one problem. They contain a block of cream cheese, which means they have to be refrigerated. While this isn't often a huge deal (they normally disappear too fast for this to be too much of an issue), it can present a problem if fridge space is short, or if they are going to be sitting out for a while (for a picnic, etc), or if you want to use them for something like event favors.

Oreo balls are already delicious and addicting, but I wanted to find a way to cut out the cream cheese without compromising the flavor, yielding an Oreo ball that would be just as delicious, but could be stored at room temp.  This St. Patrick's Day was the perfect opportunity since I was planning to make a batch of Shamrock balls (mint Oreo balls) anyway.



I wanted to do this for the sake of convenience, but also for the sake of my sanity. I won't let my milk sit out for more than a minute on the counter. Is anyone else like this?

 I can't bear the thought of milk, or any dairy product for that matter, going bad. I'm one of those people that searches through all the milk gallons for the one with the latest date. I'm one of those people that sniffs the milk every time I take it out, and if I detect even the slightest aroma, down the drain it goes. I have a deeply-rooted fear of dairy products sitting out too long. When I bring something dairy  that needs to be refrigerated to someone's house, I make sure it goes right into the fridge. And, when it sits out to be served, I helicopter around it nervously, waiting to put it back into the fridge.

Mind you, I'm a microbiologist. It's my job to think about bacterial growth. Heck, it's my job to work with bacteria period. And even though all my training tells me, in a rational inner voice, that bacteria aren't going to flourish in my milk that has only been out for two minutes, I just can't help myself. So having Oreo balls that can just sit out, and don't need to be fussed with, is welcome on so many levels.

Normally you crush Oreos with cream cheese and dip them. Without the cream cheese, you need something else to bind the crumbs together. Not icing from a tub, like you would use with cake balls, because the added sugar will make them too sweet.  Of course you could make your own icing and control the sugar. Or you can do what I did, and carry it one step further. After all, if you take out the sugar from icing, what are you left with? It is the easiest solution, and also, I think, the best: butter. The Wonder Fat.

This is crushed Oreos in a bag, by the way...

A stick of butter did the trick for my double-stuffed mint Oreos. Solid butter, not melted butter -- just slice it up into tablespoons and toss it into the crumbs with the mixer going. I even did this immediately after the butter was taken out of the fridge, I didn't bother to soften it. Just beat, and the crumbs will come together. Once they do, you can roll them and dip them like any other ball. And, finally, you can store them like any other ball, that is to say, at room temperature.

Now, I tested this out on mint Oreos, which are double-stuffed (as are all flavored Oreos). When you are using these kinds of Oreos, you generally use the whole cookies from 2/3 of the package, and scrape the filling out of the remaining 1/3, using only the cookie part.  For these, I used a little more filling, because I wasn't sure at first whether additional Oreo filling or butter would bind better (butter does, btw), and they were just a tad too loose, so I could have done without the extra filling.

Because I haven't had a chance to test the butter proportions yet on a package of regular Oreos, if you decide to make these, start out with 6 tbls of butter first, combine it, and make sure it isn't too loose before you add the final 2 tbls. You might even need an extra tbls or so, I don't know. But I know it'll work. And, it'll taste divine. Let's face it, taste-wise when has butter ever been added to the detriment of anything?! Exactly.

Quick and Dirty Creepy Treats: Easy Halloween Food Ideas

Now that October is here, I'll still be posting Autumn-themed stuff, obviously, but I also wanted to get started on some Halloween-themed posts. So, for the next 4 weeks, my posts will be Halloween-centric with some smatterings of Halloween history and lore thrown into each post.

For this post, I am dusting off some really old ideas and pics (I was notoriously bad about documenting my creations before I became a blogger) of quick and easy Halloween treats that come together in a snap but are super fun to do. These treats are collected from ones that I and my friend Lauren made years ago when our lab hosted our Department's Halloween Social. Everyone in my lab pitched in and made Fall and/or Halloween-themed desserts, and this post is dedicated to just a few of them, the "quick and dirty" treats, to borrow a phrase we use often in lab. They are not very sophisticated, but they are cute and easy, and would make a great starting point for brainstorming new Halloween treats. These are all great ideas especially if you want something to do with little kids, because they are all decorating-oriented and not oven-oriented. For this post, we have quick Witch Hats, Critters, Ghosts, and Dirt. Unfortunately, I made these a while ago, so I don't have pictures of intermediate steps, but the directions are straightforward so this shouldn't be a problem. To be honest, they are so simple that, in most cases, you can just figure out how to assemble them from the pictures!



But before we get to that,  let's take a brief moment to chat about:

Halloween has its roots in the pagan Celtic harvest festivals of Samhain ("summer's end") and Nos Calan Gaeaf ("eve before the beginning of winter"), celebrated at the changing of the seasons and the start of winter -- literally going from the "lighter half" of the year to the "darker half" of the year. During this transition, the veil separating this world from the Otherworld was thought to be thin enough to allow spirits (both good and bad) to pass through. This supernatural association and its proximity to the Christian Holiday of All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day) on November 1st, led to a blending of the two into a kind of harvest festival of the dead: All-Hallows-Even (the night before All Hallows Day) became shortened to Hallowe'en and finally to Halloween sometime in the 16th century. Many of the traditional Halloween festivities that we engage in today have their roots in this blending of superstition and spirituality. Interestingly, many cultures hold festivals of the dead in the transition from October to November, including the Japanese, Incans, Hindus, ancient Romans, ancient Egyptians, ancient Persians, Mayans and modern-day Mexicans and most of northern Europe.

One of the most enduring traditions of American Halloween is the practice of Trick or Treating, knocking on doors in costume, and asking for treats in return for not performing a "trick" on the owner of the house. This tradition has several different origins that, over time, merged into one. The practice of dressing in costumes to fool the spirits, also known as "guising", is an ancient practice that has impacted many cultural traditions over the centuries, and was particularly prevalent in medieval times. Since Halloween was the one night of the year when spirits were most prone to walk the earth, it was doubly important on this night to fool them. The other part of the tradition, asking for food or "treats" also has several different predecessors. On Samhain, the Druids believed that any evil spirits walking the earth when the veil was thin would wreak havoc on mankind unless placated with food. In addition, there was the medieval practice (9th century onward) of "souling": when poor people went door-to-door on All Hallows Day (Nov. 1) and asked for food in return for saying prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (Nov. 2). Most of the early food given out were "soul cakes" -- bread squares with currants baked into them. Over time, this morphed into the modern day Halloween traditions we all enjoy.  In America (ever since at least 1927 which is the first example of the phrase in print), Trick or Treating has come to mean candy, candy, and more candy! Halloween traditions vary greatly by region -- some countries give out fruit and nuts, and some require children to actually perform a trick (like a riddle or a song). Interestingly, the medieval practice of dressing up in costume and going door-to-door performing tricks or services for food has another modern descendant -- Christmas wassailing, or Christmas caroling!

Stay tuned to future October posts for other tidbits of Halloween lore, including Jack-o-Lanterns, vampire lore, haunted houses and witches!! Now, on to the creepy critters!

Like I said, the pictures aren't great and I didn't document very well, because at the time it didn't occur to me that I might end up as a food blogger someday. None of these creations were original ideas, they have been floating around in various mini recipe magazines (like the ones by the checkout counters in supermarkets) for years. And if you look around online, you will see far more elaborate offerings in terms of decorating ideas, the ones that I posted are really the simplest iteration on the theme of quick Halloween treats -- the fastest way to put something together that works both visually and time-wise. If you are chronically short on time but over-extended, as I always seem to be, then these are the treats for you. And if you have a little more time, these treats offer many opportunities to be expanded upon.

For witch hats, you only need 3 Ingredients:

• 1 package of Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stripe Cookies
• 1 package of Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped (any flavor)
• 1 package of Betty Crocker purple squeeze icing, or other color of your choice

The directions are very simple:

1. Melt a few kisses in the microwave, you will need some melted chocolate to attach kisses to the cookies.
2. Invert the cookies so that the chocolate coated side is facing up. Dip the bottom of a Hershey's kiss into the melted chocolate, and place in the center of the cookie, covering the cookie's hole. Don't use tons of chocolate, otherwise it will squish out the sides.
3. Take your icing, and pipe a ribbon around where the edge of where the kiss meets the cookie, finishing off in a decorative bow if you desire. I made trailing ribbons on mine, but you could easily omit that and just pipe a band around the kiss and use a large yellow sprinkle for a hat buckle.
4. Let them cool and harden, so they won't fall apart.

What you end up with is something like this:

Fast and easy witch hats that could easily be embellished if you so desire!

Creepy critters are also easy treats that come together in a snap! 

 Ingredients:

• 1 package of Nutter Butter cookies
• 1 package of pretzels
• 1 package of M&M's (plain or dark chocolate, you want the round ones)
• Melted chocolate or chocolate flavored wafers

Directions:

1. Cut the pretzels with a knife so that each pretzel yields 3 curved pieces (follow the schematic left). Each pretzel will yield three legs (1-3) and two antennae (A)
2. Dip the Nutter Butters into the chocolate so that they are completely covered. Set on wax paper when finished.
3. For the legs, dip one end of the pretzel piece in melted chocolate, and attach to the body. Attach 3 legs per side of the critter.
4. Choose an end to be the "front" and attach the antennae to the top of the critter using melted chocolate. They should stick out into the air.
5. Dip one side of the M&M's in chocolate and attach to the critter on the front end, in front of the antennae. Let harden to set.

When you are done, you end up with something like this:

This particular picture doesn't have antennae, the critters look good with or without. The antennae take a little more time, because you have to hold them for a bit and let them set before you let go, otherwise they might fall over. I leave the decision up to you whether you want to use them. You could also make larger bugs by joining three or more coated Nutter Butters in a row, and although those would be easily breakable, they would also be easy to repair with some melted chocolate.

Making the quick ghosts is very similar to making the critters because they both use Nutter Butters dipped in chocolate, only this time it is white chocolate. And they both use M&M's. An easy thing to do is to split the package of cookies, and use half for critters and half for ghosts!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Nutter Butters
• Melted white chocolate or white candy melts
• M&M's, brown

Directions:

1. Dip the Nutter Butters in the melted white chocolate to coat completely.
2. While the coating is still wet, push 2 brown M&M's into one end for the eyes.

Following these directions, you get these googly-eyed ghosts, which can be embellished with more elaborate decorations if you wish! They could also easily be made into mummies from this point with some well-applied icing strips to look like bandages.

Nutter Butters are very versatile templates for easy treats, they can also be Santas and reindeer at Christmas, which I am hoping to demonstrate in 2 months!

Stick all the critters on the same plate, and you have a cute-looking tray of Halloween offerings:

Angela's pumpkin cheesecake is to the right. Some questionable brownies I made which were supposed to have orange swirls of cheesecake are to the left. They tasted fine, but didn't look like the vision that was in my head...

Like the others, this next entry isn't a recipe, but rather directions for assembly. Anyone can make easy "dirt" pudding using nothing more than chocolate pudding (ready-made or instant), crushed Oreos, and various other accoutrements such as tombstones, gummy worms, etc. The decorating techniques described here could also be used on an iced chocolate cake, covered with crushed Oreos. The particular Dirt pictured below is one that my friend Lauren made.

Ingredients:

• Chocolate pudding (ready-made or instant)
• 1 package of Oreos, crushed
• Edible accessories: tombstones, gummy worms, etc
• Creepy container

Directions:

1. For this particular treat, the container matters. A lot. This is supposed to be dirt, or better yet a graveyard, so don't assemble it in a run-of-the-mill tupperware container. Try to find a nice Halloween-themed dish (or at least a plain black one), either round or square, and embellish as much as you can. The dollar store normally has several options. If you really want to get nuts, you can use glass and make a 3-dimensional space where you show the goings on underneath the surface (coffins, zombies in the process of climbing out of graves, etc). How great would it be to have the zombie hand sticking out of the surface of the "dirt" and have the rest of the zombie visible just underneath??
2. Decide on a theme and plan it out first. Do you want to just have quick basic Dirt with worms? Do you want to do an elaborate haunted cemetery? A pumpkin patch? Gather what you need before you start.  You can even make use of the critters and ghosts you made from Nutter Butters! For the example below, Lauren used gummy worms, some of my critters, and tombstones that were really Milano cookies dipped in white chocolate.
3. Layer the pudding on the bottom of your dish, and sprinkle the crushed Oreos on top so that the pudding is not visible.
4. Add your decorations (i.e. worms poking out of the dirt, etc).

You end up with a version of this:

Depending on how crazy you want to get, the Dirt can be the quickest or the most time-consuming out of all the treats listed in this post. Lauren did a beautiful job! She also made a gorgeous pumpkin cake using the Williams-Sonoma Great Pumpkin pan, but that definitely doesn't qualify as a quick treat! Likewise for the pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake Angela made, the chocolate and peanut butter fudge Jenny made, or the pecan pie I made. I also made chocolate chip cookies with black and orange M&M's substituted for the chips, which does qualify as quick and dirty but doesn't deserve its own entry. Everyone's effort was how our lab ended up hosting the best Halloween Social in the history of the Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology Department!

(L - R) Me, Angela, Nick, Lauren and Jenny.

Oreo Balls, Patriot Style

I’m just going to toss these out here, because I’ve posted cake ball recipes numerous times, but never Oreo balls. They are part of the same culinary family, as far as I’m concerned, and wickedly easy. Even easier than their cake ball cousins, if you can believe that, because – get this – you don’t have to bake anything. I’ll say it again: you don’t have to bake anything.

And you only need 3 ingredients:

• Package of regular Oreos (less 7 cookies or so), crushed
• 1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
• Chocolate or candy coating for dipping

1.  First, remove those 7 cookies from the package. Treat yourself to a cookie. Then, take the remaining package of Oreos and crush them. I do this by putting them in a ziplock bag and beating them senseless with a rolling pin or a tamper. You could do it by using a food processor, I’m just too lazy to clean it. Treat yourself to another cookie, two if you crushed the Oreos by hand.

2.  Next, combine the crushed cookies and the softened cream cheese. I find it is easiest to do this in a stand mixer, this way if you don’t let the cream cheese soften quite enough (which I never do), the mixer will take care of the rest.

3.  Then, scoop out the mixture, form them into balls, and place on a wax-lined cookie sheet. I do this with a #60 cookie scoop.

4.  Put the balls in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so (a little longer won’t kill them). Then, you can melt your coating and dip. I usually take the balls out about 5-6 at a time for dipping, and leave the rest in the freezer so that they don’t start to soften.

5.  Once the coating is hard, you can drizzle on some decorations – my theme here is obvious, but get creative. Any method used to decorate a cake ball will work for these too.

6.  Here is one crucial difference between these and cake balls: Oreo balls need to be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese, so keep this in mind and make sure you have enough space in your fridge for a cookie tin (or whatever other storage device you plan to use).

These balls can be made with flavored Oreos as well. I’ve used mint Oreos and they are delicious! Just remember, most flavored Oreos are double-stuffed, so you need to compensate for the extra filling – for mint and other double stuffs, use about 22 whole cookies and 10 cookies with the filling taken out. I haven’t used peanut butter Oreos yet, but I am sure they will be fabulous. This can be done with nearly any sandwich cookie – Nutter Butters, Vienna Cremes, etc. For a cookie you’ve never tried before, I’d add about 2/3 of a package plus the cream cheese, and then add the remaining cookies, a few at a time. If it seems that the mixture is too loose, you can scrape out the filling of the remaining cookies before you add them, as with the double stuff Oreos.

Brownie-Bottomed Ice Cream Cake with Fudge Sauce

Ice cream cakes. They are, hand's down, one of the most versatile cakes imaginable. A home-made ice cream cake is a blank slate of endless possibilities for crust, ice cream flavors, fillings, and toppings.

This year, for my mom's birthday, I decided to make her an ice cream birthday cake, according to her specifications: brownie-bottomed, and filled with Turkey Hill Moose Tracks Frozen Yogurt. She left the rest up to my discretion.





After perusing some literature online, I decided that a springform pan would be the easiest. All of the following directions are for an 8 1/2" springform pan, but anything from 8"-10" should work fine, the larger pans will just yield a slightly thinner cake, and have shorter cooking time for the brownies.

Doing it again, I would make the cake with full-fat ice cream, not low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt. I found that the low-fat stuff doesn't thaw or spread as easily. I only used the Moose Tracks at my mom's insistence. However, part of the problem might be the freezer in my apartment, which is old and doesn't keep things quite cool enough. Actually, doing it again, I think I'd bust out my ice cream maker and customize home-made ice cream, but let your taste buds and instincts be your guide. All good things are going into the pan, something yummy will come out.

Brownie Bottom Ice Cream Cake 

Ingredients/Equipment

• 8X8" brownie mix
• Ingredients listed on the box to make the brownies (oil, water, egg, etc)
• Additional mix-ins if you wish (i.e. chocolate chips, nuts, etc)
• Springform pan (8" - 10")
• Package of Oreo cookies, crushed (optional)
• Ice Cream in a flavor of your choice (1/2 gallon)
• Fudge Sauce (recipe below)
• Whipped Cream or Cool Whip (optional)

Directions

I chose an 8X8" Ghirardelli brownie mix in the "caramel turtle" flavor, meaning that it already contained walnuts, and came with a caramel topping packet. Keep in mind that an 8" square pan (which the mix is intended for) has a larger capacity than an 8" round pan, so the brownies will be thicker if you use an 8" springform pan, and thus will take longer to cook.

1.  Make the mix according to the instructions on the box, adding additional mix-ins in desired. This depends on the brownie variety you choose to buy. I added about 6 oz of semi-sweet chips to mine, and swirled the caramel packet on top.

2.  Bake the brownies, keeping in  mind the size of your pan. Mine took about 40 minutes to bake in an 8 1/2" springform. Personally, I never mind undercooked brownies, because they are fudge-like. When in doubt, pull them out -- you don't want to over-bake. Besides, the brownies are going to be frozen, which will firm them up even if they are slightly underdone. It's all good.

A little fuzzy, but the cooked brownies with caramel swirled on top

3.  When the brownies come out, cool them completely. For me, this meant 30 minutes at room temp, 30 minutes in the fridge, and about an hour in the freezer.

4.  When the brownies have been in the freezer for about 30 minutes, this is a good time to start thinking about thawing the ice cream. If it isn't soft enough by the time the brownies have been in the freezer an hour, that's fine. The brownies can stay in the freezer longer until the ice cream is spreadable (but not melted).

5.  As an option (although I can't really see anyone opting out of this unless your ice cream flavor just does not go with Oreos), sprinkle a layer of Oreo crumbs on top of the brownies. If you have an ice cream flavor that you don't think will pair well, just leave them out -- or use the vanilla Oreos! Or ginger snaps! You get the idea...you could also use fruit sauce and/or puree if you want.

6.  When the ice cream is ready, spread it out evenly over the brownie layer. Freeze the whole thing for at least an hour before putting on a topping, if not longer.

7.  Top with a topping of your choice. I went with a nice fudge sauce (recipe below) and then Cool Whip, but there are tons of possibilities: caramel sauce, peanut butter sauce, fruit sauce, just whipped cream, etc etc.

Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 6 oz chocolate (this is 2/3 C if you are using chips) -  I used bittersweet, but the choice is yours
• 2-5oz cans of evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Place everything but the vanilla in a saucepan
2. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat until thickened, about 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly
3. Take off heat, add vanilla, and let cool

It might seem, during cooking, that this separates a bit, but it will gel when it cools. just give it an occasional stir while cooling.

When it is done, it will almost have pudding consistency

When it is cooled, spread it on top of your ice cream layer, and pop the whole thing in the freezer for several hours or, better yet, overnight. When you are ready to serve, you can de-pan it from the springform. You might have to fidget for a minute or two opening and tightening the latch, to loosen the cake from the sides.

Here is the cake de-panned!

At this point, you can garnish with whipped cream -- I used mine as an all-over frosting, but it was hard to handle the cake to cut it, so I'd recommend maybe putting it on the top only.

Then, you can cut and serve! I'd recommend letting the cake come to at room temp for 5-10 minutes before serving, to make it easier to cut.

Don't want a brownie-bottomed ice cream cake (what's wrong with you - j/k)? What about a blondie or congo bar-bottomed one? Or sugar cookie? Shortbread? Cake would work wonderfully as well -- just split the batter between a 9" springform and a 9" round pan (or a cupcake pan!). Use the cake in the springform as the base for the ice cream cake, and you get the added bonus of some cupcakes when you are done!

Don't want oreos? Any kind of cookie should work!

You want to make this with a fruity ice cream like peach? Use yellow cake/sugar cookie/shortbread for the crust, golden oreos for the crushed cookies, peach reduction sauce and whipped cream on top.

Have someone with special dietary requirements? The bottom can be made using Betty Crocker's Gluten-Free Mixes, and you can crush up some gluten-free cookies. Use lactose-free or sugar-free ice cream if needs be (Breyers is an excellent brand, and their All-Natural line is also gluten-free). I'm not sure if the sauce I made can be classified as gluten-free, but here's a definite gluten-free fudge sauce recipe, and here's a non-dairy recipe. Cool Whip is already gluten-free, and a list of whipped toppings that do not contain casein can be found here.

Don't want an ice cream cake at all? Well, then, you're just a weirdie and I can't help you.

Happy creating!!