Oreo Balls and a Weekend

Good morning, everyone. I had a pretty splendid weekend. I stayed the night with Stewart Friday night, we had such a great time. I felt like I hadn't just laid around and relaxed with him in a while. It was a great night. We went to bed pretty early, we were both super tired. And apparently there was an earthquake Friday morning around 2am! It woke me up, but I just figured it was one of those dreams you just jump right before you wake up or something. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know anything about it until I other people were talking about it as well. And then, there was one last night. I didn't feel that one, though. Which, I don't know how I didn't. Because I saw people on Facebook from Prairie Grove, and Johnson who felt it. Oh well, I'm not complaining. It's a pretty weird sensation to have the entire room move. Just. Plain. Weird.

Anyways, back to staying with Stewart -- He woke up before I did, like always. I could hear him rustling around in the kitchen eating his cereal, so I knew it would be time for me to get out of bed soon. He finally came in and officially woke me up, ever so sweetly as he does. And after I finally crawled out of bed I ate, made some coffee and we watched Arthur. I had already seen it, and brought it with me to return to Red Box. But, I figured since I already had it with me, we might as well watch it. It had its funny bits. I was actually quite surprised by some of the more serious moments. All, in all, it was a good movie. And a wonderful morning lounging around with my honey.

Stew had to be at work a little earlier Saturday because of the game. So, I had all afternoon to do whatever I wanted to do. I promised the girls at work that I would make Oreo Balls for the pot luck tomorrow. So, guess what I did with my afternoon?? I made Oreo Balls! My balls are delicious, and taste like Oreo cookie dough. Yes, I have delicious balls. Be jealous.

I'll get to the recipe soon. I promise. Don't rush the balls, okay?

Back to my weekend.. I had to work Sunday. Which really wasn't that bad, mainly for two reasons: 1. It was a Sunday. And Sundays are just awesomely relaxed at work. 2. I got to work with Angela. Which it seems like forever since I've worked with her. It is just an easier day when you work with someone that knows the hall as well as you do. Oh, and we had the pot luck. Which is why I made the Oreo balls in the first place.. I guess I should get onto the recipe. I will journal more later.. Let's talk about balls, shall we?

So, it all starts with three simple ingredients:

1. 1 Package Oreos
2. 1 8 oz. Package Cream Cheese -- Room Tempature
3. 1 Package White Almond Bark

Okay, I lied.. it's four ingredients. But the fourth one is optional. So, call it lying if you like.

4. (Optional) 1 Package Chocolate Almond Bark -- You can get this if you are wanting to add that little zigzag on the top of them.

I bought off brand cream cheese. I find it to be just as good as the name brand stuff. But that is totally up to you. Now, with the Oreos, you just can't beat regular old Oreos.

Now, how do we make these little morsels, do you ask? Well, I shall tell you. Read on, my friends.. read on..

The first thing you are going to want to do is you are going to want to take your Oreos, dump the entire package into a large ziplock bag, get all the air out, cover it with a dish towel, and beat them! Yes, beat the Oreos! I used the back of a big metal serving spoon to do this. You'll want to beat them until they are little Oreo crumbs.

Now, take the ziplock full of Oreo crumbs and dumb into your mixing bowl. If you have a Kitchenaid mixer, I would use that. It just makes things easier. If not, you can just put them into a large bowl and mix the cream cheese and Oreos together by hand. Remember, have your cream cheese room temperature. It just makes it easier to mix. Now, mix away..

Beeeat it... Beeeat it... You totally just sang that in your head didn't you? Don't lie. It's okay, I won't tell.

After all the mixing, you will end up with this amazing Oreo dough-like substance. You could totally just eat it just like this, with a big glass of milk and a spoon. But, that would be bad. We must keep going, and share the Oreo goodness. But, one little taste won't hurt.. Go ahead.

So, now to get the Oreo mixture into little Oreo balls, what you'll need in a teaspoon measuring spoon. If you want larger Oreo balls, you can use a tablespoon. Also, you will need a regular spoon. This is just used to scrape the mixture out of the teaspoon.

And, where are we going to put these once they are rolled into balls? Well, you are going to need a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet. You need the cookie sheet in order to transfer them to the freezer.

To roll them into balls, what you'll need to do is just scrape up some of the mixture with your teaspoon, and then scrape it out of the teaspoon with your regular spoon and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand. That was a lot of spoon talk..

After they are all rolled into balls, you'll take them and put them in the freezer for an hour. They look like little licorice balls. But, black licorice is nasty. These are so yummy.

So, for my hour long wait, I decided to read Cosmopolitan. Don't judge.. I only bought it because Adele was on the cover. And she is just such an amazing person. I had to read her article. It was a good waste of an hour. What are you going to do while you wait? Eat? Read? Watch TV? Go, on.. I'll wait.

You're back? Great! Let's go get those out of the freezer...

Now, what you'll need to do is get some of that Almond Bark, and break off about three blocks and put them into a microwave safe bowl..

Read the instructions on how long to nuke them, and do it until they are melted.

To dip the balls into the Almond Bark you just put a toothpick into one..

Then dip it down into the Almond Bark, and you can also use a spoon to pour some of the Almond Bark over it..

Then just gently tap the toothpick on the side of the bowl to get some of the excess Almond Bark off.

Tap, tap, tap...

After you get the excess off, you just put them onto some wax paper to cool.

Once they cool off, you can take the Oreo ball, and gently wiggle the toothpick to where it will slide out the top. Then you can take some of that optional chocolate Almond Bark, melt it, stick it into a ziplock bag, and cut just enough off one of the corners to where you can use it like a piping bag. Then just make little zigzags on top of the Oreo ball covering the hole that the toothpick came out of.

You'll end up with this...

Nom, nom, nom...

All packaged up and ready to go to a potluck at work.

And you might want to make a double batch, because as soon as I sat these little puppies down at work, they were being eaten. Needless to say, they didn't last very long during the potluck. Which is always a good sign, that you made something wonderful. :)

Happy cooking.

-Chelsea