At my job, my coworkers love finding a reason to do potlucks:
Birthdays.
Going away parties.
Holidays.
Big events (i.e. SuperBowl)
And oh why not, let’s just do a potluck just because.
Who doesn’t like potlucks? It’s the perfect opportunity for people to make their signature dish (or try making new ones) and bring recipes to share with others.
This week, I decided to try out a new truffle recipe – people at my job are suckers for sweets. Our nurses love to bake – cookies, cupcakes, cake, brownies, bread… you name it, someone in our ER can make it. Usually when we do a potluck, we have about 2-3 savory dishes and 5-6 different desserts.
Yeah, we’re probably not the healthiest bunch of healthcare workers lol.
I’m generally known to make something “different” when it comes to dessert – other people like making traditional, classic desserts like brownies or chocolate chip cookies. I like to make peppermint chocolate cupcakes, sugar cookie cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting, and gingerbread whoopie pies.
Last time I made some mint chocolate truffles and received rave reviews from my coworkers, so this time I decided to stick with truffles but change it up a bit. I saw this recipe a while back and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make them – well, I’m glad I didn’t disappoint my coworkers, because this was a big hit this past weekend too.
- 1-13 oz package of frosted animal crackers
- 6 oz light cream cheese, softened
- 8 oz almond bark
- white chocolate chips or sprinkles for decorations
- Using a food processor, pulse the crackers until they turn into fine crumbs.
- Add in the cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined - you can use your hands, but I used an electric stand mixer to make the process easier.
- Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the cookie balls are chilling, make the candy coating: melt the almond bark in a double boiler over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to make sure you don't burn it.
- Dip the cookie balls in the melted almond bark, one at a time, until evenly covered. Return back onto parchment paper and return into refrigerator and chill for another 30 minutes.
- If desired, melt some white chocolate chips over a double boiler with a few drops of food coloring. Add the melted mixture into a Ziploc bag. Cut the corner of the bag with a pair of scissors and drizzle over truffle balls.
- I dipped half of my cookie/cream cheese balls into the plain melted almond bark, then added a few drops of pink food coloring into the remaining melted almond bark and dipped the rest of the cookie balls in them to get truffles with two different colored coatings.
Can you tell I was mildly obsessed at how pretty these truffles turned out?
I’m sure we’re going to have another potluck soon – I’m already searching for the next new dessert recipe I can try. Cupcakes? Cookies? Either way, I’m sure my coworkers will all gladly be my guinea pigs :)
Recipe adapted from Cookin’ Cowgirl
