Recently, I wrote up a tutorial on How to Make Oreo Cake Pops for the lovely and amazing website Craftsy.com. An important life skill if ever there was one!

And naturally, they were delicious. Here's a sneak peek:

and gosh are they tasty! (tutorial for those can be found here).

But the process got me thinking...could I do this with other flavor combinations? For instance, could I substitute shortbread cookies for Oreos, and fancy chocolate for the candy melts?

Why the heck not?, I thought, especially as I have a boatload of freebies I'd recently received, including tasty shortbread (Duchy Originals) and Tcho Chocolate. I thought: I'm going to make some shortbread cookie truffles, or die trying!

Actually, it wasn't so dramatic. I didn't actually think death was a possibility. But I suspected deliciousness was dangerously close!

So, I won't keep you in suspense. Here's how they came out:

I know, beauties, right? Here's an inside shot.

And I am happy to report that they taste as good as they look. Lightly salty. Very buttery. A little nutty, owing to the fact that I used part regular shortbread and part "oaten biscuits". Nice and moist inside--the shortbread didn't crumble as much as I thought it might. And the chocolate was to die for. I used the Tcho Milk Chocolate discs (from their baking chocolate series), and I can say with no hesitation that this is not your typical milk chocolate. It almost tasted...caramelly. The flavor just lingered in your mouth. Yum yum yum yum yum. They're pricey, but if you have a recipe that will really let the chocolate shine, I say go for it.

Nice little morsels--decadent, but hey, that's why they're in small portions, right? Next time I try this recipe, I'd like to try using dulce de leche or melted caramels instead of the cream cheese to moisten the crumbled cookies. Yep: I have visions of Millionaire's Shortbread Truffles dancing in my head!

But for now, here's the simple version. Gosh-darn are they good.

Shortbread Cookie Truffles (Printable version? Right here.)

Makes 12-16

2 boxes Duchy Shortbread (I used one box of the plain butter kind, and one box of the "Oaten Biscuits")
1/2 block cream cheese (4 ounces)
1 bag chocolate morsels (I used an 8 ounce bag of Tcho Milk chocolate)

Prepare the truffle innards. First, prepare a baking sheet like so: lay a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on top, and set to the side. You’ll be happy to have this handy a few steps down the line.
Now, you need to crush the cookies. If you have a food processor, put the whole cookies inside, and pulse several times, until the cookies have been reduced to fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place the cookies into a heavy duty plastic bag and crush using the bottom of a heavy tumbler or the side of a rolling pin. This is very fun for kids (with supervision, of course!)!
Once the cookies are completely crumbled, place them into a large bowl. Add the cream cheese, and using your impeccably clean hands, thoroughly mix the cookie crumbs and cream cheese. Since the shortbread is already pretty buttery, it should be able to form nicely into balls.
Clean your hands so that you have a clean surface to roll the “dough” by hand. Roll it into balls, about 1 inch or so in diameter. Maybe an inch and a half. Place them on the baking sheet. If you're lazy, you can also just put them on a plate, but they might stick a little bit. I'll be honest. While I want to tell you how to do it the "right way", I in fact did not. I put them on a plate in the freezer on top of some ice cream.

Speaking of which, you do want to chill them. Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for an hour, or the freezer for about 20 minutes.
With the dough still in its chilling place, begin to melt your chocolate over low heat.
It will gradually begin to melt and become smooth. Once mostly melted, the last bits will melt rapidly in the residual heat, so keep a close eye on the pan.

Remove from heat, and take your baking tray out of the refrigerator or freezer. It's time to enrobe.

I like to place the dough on a fork and drip the chocolate on top using a spoon--the tines seem to allow the excess coating to drip off.

Transfer to a wire rack with a sheet of waxed paper or paper towels beneath, to catch drips.
If desired, drizzle sprinkles over the truffle. You need to do this directly after dipping or they will not stick.

Let set for at least an hour before serving.