Chocolate Covered Oreos with Chocolate Transfers

So I made chocolate covered Oreo's a few days back and I liked them, they were easy to make. But I didn't like how there was a really thick layer of chocolate on top and none on the bottom.  So I decided  I had to try it again.  And I did and it was way better!  So here you go.

 First you have to melt your candy melts.I use milk chocolate but you can use white, I think it would be a great background.  I just hate working with the white ones so I stick with the stuff I like.

This may or may not be a picture that was from the first time I made them.  

Then you dip your cookies. And yes I know there is a dirty joke in there somewhere, but Santa is watching so we have to be good; at least for now.

I got all this one one sheet of chocolate transfers.  And I know it's after Christmas really, but well, I actually did so many holiday things I ran out of time to post them.

 As you dip your cookies (hee hee)  you tap off as much chocolate as you can and then place the cookie on the transfer sheet.  They are the same sheets I used on my marshmallow pops.  Then all you have to do it let them dry fully before removing them. And there you go, super fancy cookies that make you think you are amazing.  Well at least until you screw something up; again.

Okay they may not be perfect, but they are good.  I think next time when I place them on the transfer sheet I should press them down just a little to make sure they make full contact with the image.

So there you go, a simple Christmas cookie, after Christmas.  I know, but hey they will still work for New years and since there are different transfers for all the holidays this is just a base for that.  Or at least I am really ahead for next year.

Chocolate Covered Oreo's

  This is going to be one of my easiest posts ever. I made these in like 5 minutes and I love how they turned out.  I also made another variation a few days later but we will get to that.

  Also we had my work holiday party this past Friday.  I now have seen it all, well if you count a fake Rod Stewart trying to pull my dress up everything, well then I have seen it.  I had a blast, I don't drink, and Hubby hardly dances but this year he did.  So it was all good, I didn't win any prizes but I got to dance and stay out late and wear a dress and you know, not do anything else.  So all in all it was awesome, now back to the cookies.

I may have made a few things this day, but this is the cookie box. It is sort of pretty actually.

Firstly I must admit, that I am not an Oreo cookie lover.  I mean I used to eat them, or more truthfully I ate the middle, then tried to give away the cookie part.  They are not bad, just not my idea of a cookie I want to always eat.  Now you make something with an Oreo and that I will eat, and want more of.  It's weird, but so am I, so don't even bother trying to figure it out.

I had three molds, if I had four it would have done the whole box, but whatever it was so fast I just did one mold twice.

  When we were grocery shopping the last time at Wal mart I saw these peppermint Oreo like cookies.  And I figured, well I got cookie molds so I better use them before the season passes.  As I have had molds like this for a few years, and every year I say I am going to use them.  And so I finally did, even for the right season, I am impressed with myself if I do say so.

That is as close to 2/3 full as I can figure out, they need marks on the mold or something.

 So all you need for this is the cookies, plain oreos or whatever;  I think any cookie of the same size would work.  And you need chocolate and the molds.  That's it, and it looks really fancy when you are all done, so get ready to be "Super amazing cookie maker of the year!"

  Or you know, just get ready to eat some cookies.

And see how the chocolate was all lop sided and not covering the cookie, that did not make me happy.

 So firstly you need to melt your chocolate.  Some of the molds just had a simple pattern, others had an actual image, like Santa and stuff.  If you had time and the skill, or even if you really cared, you could use coloured chocolate to make the picture and then just fill the rest with regular chocolate.  But as we all know how lazy I am, and that each step keeps me from having a cookie sooner, I did milk chocolate.

As you can see I tried to fill in the lop sided empty spaces, it just made a mess.

I melted the chocolate and put it into a large squeeze jar thingy. Then according to the instructions I filled the candy mold about 2/3 of the way full.  Then I tapped the mold to make the chocolate settle and get rid of air bubbles.  Then I just put a cookie in and pressed it down until it made the chocolate reach the top of the mold.  I was hoping the cookie would get fully covered, but that didn't happen.  Oh well.

They did turn out to be pretty cute though.

So then I just put the molds in the freezer and in like 10 minutes they were done and I popped them out.  Now I liked them, and my friends really did too, but I found that the chocolate was so thick on the top of them that it was not a great combination.  So I did them again another way, which I will share later.  But either way they were good, and looked really cute.

This was the simple mold, just snow flake outlines.  Simple but fancy.

Oreo Cheesecake Pudding Pie

Looking at it like this, you cannot even tell how badly I messed up.

Oh boy, this is going to be a doosey.  I so love to read other blogs, and find inspiration in them.  I always see things others make and pin it away and think, I will never make that.  Then I usually don't  because I always screw things up.  Until I saw this pie at Lil Luna.  I was all, I can make that.



And then I tried.

And this is why I should never make things from other blogs. I know they are never going to be as good.  But still I try, and fail, then eat all the evidence.

So if you check out the original post on Lil Luna you will see this amazing pie, that you will think looks so easy and yummy.  Which it is, if you are good at following simple directions, that is.

So I will show you what I did, and tell you how I made it differently.  Not on purpose of course.  Just so you know. Then you will want to make the original, and maybe mine if you like second best pie.  Who knows; you might right?

This is all I had to buy, I had the rest of the stuff at home.  Notice my cool laptop, I just had to include that, it makes me look like I know how to blog. Because no one would ever know someone with a laptop did not have any clue how to work computers right? Oh and side note, Hubby says the cupcake thing on my laptop is embarrassing, so he pretends it's not there.  I like it personally

Firstly, I was having a play date, not with the kid who must have a baking craft.  Oh no, this was going to be one where I could sit and chat with my friend while the boys ran around and tore the house apart.  It was going to be awesome!  So I thought,  I should make desert and impress my friend.  Now my friend is amazing, she acts impressed with everything I make, which is great.  I know it is all a front, but that is why I love her. Also I made home made pizza, Hubby made the pizza dough for me and I did the rest.

This is the cream cheese filling before I added the cool whip.  It tasted really good, but the cool whip made it even better.

 Let me know if you want to have Hubby make a post about how he makes Pizza.  It is so good, and he makes it really thin for me so I can eat lots and not get sick on the doughy crust.  But you can also make it thicker and it is still amazing.  Okay back to pie.


So I went to my local store to buy all the stuff to make this pie.  And this is where it all fell apart.  My store of course did not have Oreo pie crusts, what they did have was either graham cracker crust, which just seemed wrong.  Or they had this butter crust. I thought great, butter crust it is, because there is no way I was going to make a crust from scratch.  That was until I started checking the expiry date.  I dug and dug, and I think after 6 crusts with a date of "best before May 2011" I was getting upset.  I found one with a good date, put the expired ones in my cart also and kept shopping.

I only added about 1/3 of the tub of cool whip, but it seemed like a lot.

I needed white chocolate pudding, and if you guessed that they did not have that either, you get a prize.  So I opted for Oreo pudding, I mean it is supposed to be an Oreo pie, so that is what I went with. The other stuff I got, I turned in the out dated pie crusts and headed out.  And just so you know, the store people were really upset about the outdated crust and rushed to pull the rest off the shelf. Stuff happens, you know?  I am a stickler for dates, so I always check.  Not a big deal.

So the next night, the night of the play date, I set to work.

And when they say to fold things in your batter, you are supposed to lightly mix the stuff in with a sort of weird movement.  Not like me, where I stir it all crazy like.  Just so you know.

Oreo Cheesecake Pudding Pie
Adapted from Lil Luna found Here

-pie crust of your choice ( I used the butter crust, I loved it)
-1 row double stuffed Oreo cookies cut up*
-1 8oz block cream cheese
-1/2 cup butter
-3 squares semi sweet baking chocolate melted
-1 large tub of cool whip**
-1 cup icing sugar
-1 box Oreo pudding mix***
-1 1/2 cups milk****

This is the only non expired crust I could find, and I think it was either called butter or short bread.  You can use anything, as long as it is not expired.

*I tried crushing the Oreos once before, but because they are double stuffed they just sort of smooshed so I cut them
**I have no idea if the large tub is bigger here or what, but there was a lot, but I like lots of whipped topping so it worked out great for me
***You can use any flavor I think, well, not pistachio, lemon or butterscotch, that would be wrong I think.
****I actually used 2 cups, but my pudding was way too thin, so use 1 1/2 cups if you actually read recipes, which I obviously don't do, d'oh!

Now if you are not a wimp like me, you would have filled this all the way up.  I thought I would save the left over filling to eat with apples, or just with a spoon, but it got hard and gross when not in a pie, so it ended up in the garbage.

I decided to make my cheesecake filling chocolate to counter the fact that my crust was vanilla.  I just added 3 squares of melted semi sweet bakers chocolate to the cheese mix.  It worked great, but either I screwed up or I was just wimpy, but it would have fully filled my pie crust.  I used about 3/4 of it.  I should have used it all, because it tasted amazing.  So next time, I will use it all, and just not be able to cover the pie with the lid.

See that cool cutting board, it is the most colourful thing in my kitchen.  Other than the wall o' sprinkles that is.

Then for the pudding layer I was supposed to use only 1 1/2 cups milk, but I didn't read that fully until it was too late.  I should have paid attention because my pudding was a bit too runny.  I still used it and it tasted great, but it didn't hold together too well.  Oh well, live and learn right?

I learned the hard way to never try to smash double stuff Oreo's, they just end up smooshing together, so cut them,.trust me.

Then I put on a bunch of cool whip, and my chopped up Oreos.  I used double stuffed since that is what I had.  Then I put it all in the fridge hoping it would set up.  It did , sort of.  I mean it was amazing, I would have eaten the whole thing.  The pudding was soft, so the top sort of slid off a bit, but people I could eat this every day!

  And I am so lucky to have such a great friend, because I sent it all home with her, except for a small piece.  I had to see if it tasted as good the next day.

This is my watery Oreo pudding layer, at least we get to cover it with cool whip to hide it.

And just in case you were wondering, it tasted just as great the next day.

So notes for next time.  I will use all the cheesecake filling, no wimpy thin layer for me.  Let that pie spill over the crust.  Read the whole darn recipe and use only 1 1/2 cups of milk for the pudding layer, making it thicker so it won't spill out of the crust.

I put on as much Cool whip as I dared, I still had some left over.  I may have eaten it with a spoon the next day, just to get the container out of my fridge.  

And maybe try making this in cups with just Oreo crumbs or crushed Oreos for the bottom and that way you can eat just a little and not feel so bad.  Or heck just make the pie and eat until you are sick.  I mean you don't even have to crack an egg, so you know it's going to be healthier than if you did right? No? Well, whatever you have to tell yourself, just make it, and try Lil Lunas way too, because I bet hers is even better.

It looked so nice, then I tried to put the lid on it and realized it was one huge pie.  Ha, I said huge pie!

I cut a piece and did the happy dance when it was not a total flop.

And this is the picture where you can actually see the layers.  People that know what they are doing can cut a piece and make it look nice.  I never said I know what I am doing, just so you know.

Oreo Bark and My Hospital stay

See how cute they turned out?  Keep reading and you will be surprised that  they did.  I sure was.

  So I had this post all ready to go earlier in the week, I actually have a whole bunch ready.  But then Wednesday at work I got sick and had to go to the hospital.  I just got home, and I am trying to get something in my tummy before I have a shower, oh how I missed my shower. So I thought I would pop on and let you all know my exciting news.  I had a bowel twist or obstruction, we are not 100% sure.  Now part of me thinks I must have the worst luck in the world.  The other part of me is just happy I did not end up needing surgery and I am going to be home for the holidays.  We were not sure what was going to happen.  All I know is the pain was worse than labour and I didn't get a cute baby at the end.  Oh well.  So at least I have my posts all lined up to go so I can put them up and relax and try to enjoy the fact I am home.  I had plans to make a desert for Christmas diner and share that night, because it looks so good.  It may not happen, we will see if I can talk Hubby into making it and I can take credit for it, unless he screws it up more than I would, then I am totally telling you all he made it.

  So please have a great holiday and I will be on over my days off, what else is a girl to do when she has to rest right?  Now please enjoy my pre written post on the joys of screwing up your holiday baking.

  I have been seeing chocolate bark on the blogs I visit for a long time now.  I loved the idea of it, but did not like the look of the large chunky pieces.  I like small and uniform and the stuff I saw was not small, or uniform.  Now to tell you that I now understand why they make bark the way they do, well lets just say I had an A Ha moment.

  I decided that for the holidays I would make Oreo bark in my silicone gingerbread man mold.  Firstly I am happy how it turned out, but I will definitely change how I do it next time. Secondly there must be someone watching out for me, because I was so close to just tossing it all out. It would have been a big waste of chocolate and time.  And you can never get that chocolate back.  The time, well not so important.

Oreo Bark

-1 bag of Oreos ( I used double stuffed)
-white and milk chocolate candy melts, about 3 cups

My nice set up, before I almost tore my hair out.

  So I put the Oreos in a plastic bag and smashed them with a meat tenderizer.  First mistake, they got all gloppy, maybe because they were double stuffed but I had a hard time getting them out of the bag.  Also the pieces were still so big it was hard to get into the mold.  So next time I use a food processor to get it done.

At least I got to get some frustrations out.

See more smooshy than crushed.

I then melted my white melts ( you can do either first, just do whichever kind you want on the top of your bark first)  I then mixed in half of the crushed Oreos and mixed them together.

Oh well, it was too late now, so I just stirred it all together.

Now looking at this you would think it would be okay.  And  you would be wrong, it was far from okay.

  I then put them in a disposable piping bag, you can always use a zip lock bag, but we don't have zip lock bags big enough in this house for some reason.  I then cut off the end and piped the filling into my mold.  Here is where the frustration began.  The Oreos were so big they clogged up the piping bag and they would not fit perfectly into the mold.  So I was frustrated, may have said some bad words.  I may have had to tell my son that I did not just say what he thought I said.  And I may have wanted to toss it out the window. 

  So I filled them as best I could and tapped the mold on the table to get the chocolate to settle. Then I put it in the fridge while I got the other layer ready.  I started by going back and bashed the remaining Oreos some more, still it did no good.  I mixed the remaining Oreo's into the melted milk chocolate candy melts and put it in a new disposable piping bag.  Again my bag got all clumpy and I ended up using a pallet knife to try and get the filling nice and level.  It didn't work, and the backs looked horrible and I thought  I was going to cry.  I did have a little extra chocolate left over and made a small puddle of traditional bark on a plate.  Can I just say how easy it was?  Well I am an idiot and that is all I have to say about that.  And I did not have enough milk chocolate so I just left a few men with one layer, I was not going to do any more, I was so done with this.

Redemption!  Cutest bark ever!

  I know right!  All that trouble and cursing and what not and they worked out.  Only next time I will blend those Oreos to smithereens, and we will all be happy.

  I did end up eating the extra puddle of bark but you know what, my gingerbread men look so cute! And if you wanted you could even decorate them with sprinkles, but I was too frustrated and had eaten too much bark to care by that point.

  Oh boy am I glad the holidays are almost over.

  And can I just say this is the reason I hate trying new things, if they don't work out exactly like I plan I may end up hurting someone.  And Hubby thinks that him losing a body part is not worth the cookies, chocolate or whatever.  But he is a wimp, so I don't really listen to him anyway.