Weekend Cooking: Baking as Therapy

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Twin A has been proficient in the kitchen from a very early age. Recently, however, she has embraced baking as a sort of therapy... and there seems to be a direct relationship between the labor-intensiveness of the project and the benefit realized. I've long been aware of the calming influence of baking, the stress-relieving properties of kneading dough, and the sheer 'fun' of pounding chicken breasts with a meat mallet. It's a pleasure to watch my daughter make these discoveries on her own.

High school juniors face many challenges - standardized tests, AP exams, the college search process... and that's without mentioning social issues/peer pressures too numerous to list! With all the dangerous stress-relievers out there, I consider myself fortunate beyond words that Twin A has chosen baking as an outlet.

Her most recent session was devoted to truffle-making. The painstaking process of hand-rolling oreo centers, dipping them in melted Ghirardelli milk chocolate, and decorating with a drizzle of melted white chocolate yielded some gorgeous truffles! They will be attractively packaged and delivered for her BFF's birthday. We happily consumed the 'messy' ones.

Oreo Truffles

Ingredients:

1 pound oreo cookies (3 sleeves)

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound milk chocolate

1/2 pound white chocolate

Directions:

1. Using a food processor, grind cookies to a fine powder. With mixer, blend cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed. (There should be no white traces of cream cheese.)

2. Roll into small balls and place on wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

3. Line two cookie sheets with wax-paper. Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler. Dip balls and coat thoroughly. With slotted spoon, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on cookie sheet.

4. In separate double boiler, melt white chocolate. Using a fork, drizzle white chocolate over balls. Let cool.

5. Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

Notes:

Twin A got this recipe from a friend. She melted the chocolate in the microwave, instead of using a double boiler. She chose to decorate some with chopped walnuts. And, as always true with baking, high quality ingredients yield a high quality product. We learned from experience to use Ghirardelli chocolate in this recipe. These are delicious!!

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