Oreo Madness

What could be better than Oreos? Maybe Oreos covered in chocolate!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Suze, and she knows why. What's that? You want to know why too? No, I really should not say. Oh, you really want to know that badly? Well, OK, you forced it out of me. But please don't tell her I told you this: she stinks at chocolate dipping Oreos!

The beauti-licious, yet dipping impaired Suze.

Last year I made the snowmen cookies below for the themed gift baskets I make every year. (They were a total copy from the wonderful site, FavorZ.)

Well, Suze tried to make some too, but let's just say they came out, um, ...well, ....not as good as she hoped for. So I started to rib her about it, and that gave birth to a friendly and good natured rivalry between the 2 of us and our confectionery skills. We try to poke fun at each other whenever we can.

So of course, Suzie came first to my mind as I was working on these chocolate dipped Oreos for this year's baskets. I figured if I snapped some pictures and put together a little tutorial here, it might help her out. (Doubtful, but hey, what are friends for?)

These cookies are dipped in super white candy melts and chocolate transfer sheets in a candy cane design applied to the top. Cut the transfer sheets into little squares that will fit on the top of your cookie. Melt the candy melts till very smooth and creamy. I prefer the Merken's and Guittard brands, as they perform the best. If the chocolate is low quality, or old, it will not melt nor cover smoothly. Be careful not to overheat or get water in the candy; that will ruin it as well.

Brush the Oreos with a big fluffy food brush before you dip them to avoid excess crumbs from getting in your melted chocolate. I use a large 3 pronged fork to dip the cookies. I dip, then let most of the excess chocolate fall back into the bowl, then place them on parchment or wax paper.

Gently place the transfer sheet squares on top and gently press it into place on top to make sure that chocolate comes into contact with all of the design.

I do about 5-8 on a cookie sheet and then pop those in the freezer for 5 minutes. Chilling them makes the design transfer over fully and cleanly, as well as giving the surface a nice shine. Just pull the transfer sheet square off when you take them out of the freezer. Don't worry about the little bit of chocolate mess at the base of your cookies. After they have come back to room temp, you can take your handy palette knife and clean up the bottom edges.

By the end of your dipping session, your chocolate is still probably going to be "contaminated" with chocolate cookie crumbs, making it not very useful for any other purpose. So I crumble up all the broken Oreos that I did not dip into the chocolate, spread that on the parchment, chill, and break it up into a cookies and cream bark. YUMMY!

All the items in my basket are going to have a candy cane/peppermint theme. I do a different theme every year.

I will bag each of these individually and tie with a red ribbon before I put them in the baskets. If I place them unwrapped into the baskets; the transfer surface might get scratched and marked up by other items, and we just can't have that! Not after all this work!


Maybe if Suze reads this she can give it another go. Of course, if she does read this I am in big time trouble. LOL


I hope you all get a chance to try this. Send me pics of your projects if you do! Even better, send all your pics to Suze! Tee hee hee.


Have fun making all of your holiday treats! I will try to post pics of more of the things I am working on if time permits. Such a crazy time of year, isn't it?


Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/