Chocolate Therapy: September 2015

Sometimes you need a recipe that you know will turn out well 10 times out of 10. Every so often I have a baking weekend where things just don't go as planned. I'm notoriously bad at talking while I'm baking.

How many eggs did I put in?

Did I just accidentally combine step 3 and 4?

Did I already add the baking powder to this bowl of flour?

Cooking and multitasking I can do. Baking... forget it. I've had to throw out quite a few ruined batches of baked goods in my life, and life goes on.

Such was the case when I decided to make a cake for my friend's birthday in February. She was out of town over the weekend, so I was dead set on making the Milkbar Cake (yes, this one) to surprise her.

Long story short -- I ditched that idea after forgetting to order the multitude of specialty supplies and ingredients. But, I decided I would make her a yellow cake and a red velvet ice cream cake instead (2 cakes > 1 cake). The ice cream cake went into the freezer beautiful, but behind the closed door it managed to collapse into something reminiscent of a science fair volcano post-lava flow. It wasn't even salvageable. I don't exactly remember what happened to the other cake, but I do know that it didn't work out either.

With enough hours and money down the drain, I accepted that baking wasn't in the cards that day. That's where these come in. It's a combination of all great things: Oreos, peanut butter, marshmallow and chocolate. These also have the added perk of keeping well, being easy to store/stackable, and being great for decorating. Wins all around!

They are perfectly crunchy, chocolaty, gooey, salty and sweet. I make them fairly frequently because they're such a hit, and they save me the risk of distress caused by failed baking projects. You can also make as many or as few as you'd like. Shoot, you could even have a craving hit and whip up a few for yourself on a whim.

I'm crossing my fingers Oreo to comes back out with their football shaped Oreos for football season because these would become my go-to tailgate baked good. In the meantime, they're perfect for every other time of year as well!

Chocolate Covered Fluffernutter Oreos
Recipe from Something Swanky

Ingredients *
Marshmallow Cream or Fluff
Oreos
Smooth Peanut Butter
Melting Chocolate

Directions

Split Oreos in half horizontally, making sure to keep the halves of each Oreo together so that final product ends up with exactly one Oreo's worth of cream filling. It doesn't matter if filling ends up on both sides of the split Oreo.
Spread a teaspoon of marshmallow fluff on one side of the Oreo.
Spread a teaspoon of peanut butter on the other.
Press sides together and place on a plate. Repeat until you have your desired quantity. Put plate of Oreos in the freezer for no more than 10 minutes.
Place a sheet of wax or parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl until smooth and fully melted.
Remove Oreos from freezer, and press any filling that has come out around the edges back into the Oreo to ensure it is smooth on all sides.
One at a time, place Oreo on a fork or candy dipping tool and dip, making sure the Oreo is completely covered on all sides by flipping it into the chocolate or completely submerging it. Once fully coated, tap the edge of the dipping tool slightly on the edge of the bowl to remove air bubbles and excess chocolate. If you are making a large batch, you may need to remove about 10 Oreos at a time, and leave the rest in the fridge so that they stay cool.
Slide each Oreo onto the baking sheet, being sure to smoothly remove the fork or dipping tool from underneath (don't just clunk it down!). The melting chocolate will dry quickly, so complete this process with a little pep and move on to the next one.
If topping with sprinkles or chocolate chips, add these immediately after dipping each Oreo. Otherwise, after making all of the Oreos, add melted chocolate to a small ziplock bag, cut off a tiny section at the bottom corner of the bag, and drizzle Oreos with melted chocolate.
Allow to cool for 10+ minutes. Cookies may be stored in airtight container for 2-3 weeks.

*Note: Because you can make as many or as few of these as you'd like at a time, I did not specify exact amounts for the ingredients. You only need a teaspoon of peanut butter and a teaspoon of fluff for each Oreo, so chances are you will run out of Oreos before running out of either of those during the recipe.

The cast of characters.

The terrible picture above shows what to do if the marshmallow runs over the edges after freezing. Press everything back in the round and place the sides back together. Voila!