Monday, December 19, 2011

A Quick, Easy, and Very Yummy Edible Christmas Gift

Chocolate. Oreos. Two of my favorites. Since going gluten free last winter, Oreos are no longer a treat that I can enjoy. But I still enjoyed making these quick, delicious, easy treats for my kids' Sunday School teachers.



All you need is chocolate (I used Baker's brand semi-sweet), Oreos, and sprinkles to decorate. The reason I chose Baker's is because that is a safe, peanut free brand which means Lily can enjoy these too. Most of the melting chocolate is not safe for her. But since most of you won't have to worry about peanut allergies, any kind of melting chocolate will do, even regular old semi-sweet chocolate chips.



Oh, and I must add that I picked up a package of regular Oreos and a package of the mint Oreos because I have a thing for chocolate and mint and chocolate-covered mint Oreos just sounded really yummy. And for two packages of Oreos, I used four boxes of the Baker's semi-sweet chocolate.



So here it is step-by-step. This is not hard to do. The trick is to keep your heat low enough that it doesn't burn the chocolate.

And if you don't have a double boiler like me, just do what I did. If you have two sauce pans that will nest inside one another, put about 2 inches of water in the larger pot, and your chocolate in the smaller pot. And then arrange them like this:


It works perfect this way.

Oh, and you could also probably just melt your chocolate in the mircowave, stopping it to stir every minute or so. But I've never had much luck melting chocolate in the microwave; it always seems to dry out when I try to melt it that way.

Once your chocolate is in the pot, make sure to stir it frequently to encourage melting and keep it from burning. Another tip is to only melt one box at a time. If you put all four boxes of chocolate in at one time, it would probably take a really long time to melt.

So once your chocolate is all nice and creamy and fully melted, you'll start the dipping process. I know that they sell special tools designed specifically for dipping stuff in chocolate, but I just used a fork.

Drop your Oreo in (I did one at a time) and push it and flip it around using a fork to get it all covered with the chocolate. Once it's completely covered, slip the fork down under the Oreo and use the fork to lift the cookie up out of the chocolate.



Then you need to transfer the cookie to a wax paper-covered baking sheet by kind of just letting it slide off the fork. The trick is to not touch it with your fingers. I don't think anyone wants to eat fingerprinted cookies.

After I had a full sheet covered with chocolate covered cookies, I sprinkled on a variety of sprinkles just to dress them up a bit. You could also melt some white chocolate and drizzle it on or dip in white chocolate and drizzle with dark chocolate. Be creative. Use your imagination. Go ahead, I dare you.



Once I had all of the cookies dipped, I moved the trays of cookies out to the table on our back deck. You need to get them cold so that the chocolate hardens. I don't have an extra fridge, so my only option was out on our covered deck. And goodness knows, it's cold enough right now.



And there you go. Then you can package them up and give them to friends, neighbors, mail carriers, teachers, or eat them all yourself.



I wrapped them in plastic wrap to keep them fresh, then I put them in containers to give.



I found these mini loaf stones at Michael's for $1.00 each. Cute. And they can be used again by the recipient.



Because I always feel the need to use a mason jar in many things I do...



Gift boxes...



The point is, they are easy, they are quick, and they are very yummy. And they're kind of pretty to look at too. :)

2 comments:

Jen @ a place 2 call home said...

Thanks for visiting my site and commenting. I added you as a friend. These desserts look amazing! And what wonderful gifts!

Amy said...

Those look delicious! I may just have to make some today, and I'll eat one or two in your honor since you aren't able to have any :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to comment!