Gluten Free Tea Party - Vol 1

This week I hosted a tea party to celebrate a friend’s birthday.  It was the first tea party that I’ve hosted since having to go gluten free & so I was anxious to adapt my favorite recipes and see how they turned out.  I am very happy to report that everything turned out beautifully and I will be sharing the recipes with you in the next several posts.

Today I will be sharing a very easy, and incredibly decadent, recipe for truffles.  I highlighted the original recipe in a layout I designed for a recent challenge on Kitchen Keepsakes web site http://www.freewebs.com/kitchenkeepsake/ .  The challenge was to incorporate a banner into your layout & I must thank Kristie http://www.lotstoscrap.blogspot.com/  for the push to try something new.  It was very fun to take the challenge and push myself to utilize a shape for the banner rather than the traditional ribbon and triangles.  It was also a good way to clean out some of my stash of old letters and embellishments.  I just jazzed them up a bit with Michael’s version of stickles glitter glue and diamond glaze.

Here is the recipe

Easy OREO Truffles

1 (16 oz) package OREO Cookies

1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese, softened

16 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. Crush cookies in the processor. Add cream cheese & blend well. Chill the dough for about 15 min & form into 1 in balls. Chill in the freezer 10 min. Dip the balls into melted chocolate & roll in crumbs or coconut. Place on waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, & refrigerate leftovers.

For variation try lemon, orange or strawberry flavored cookies & dip in colored chocolate. Jam or liquid flavoring can be added to enhance flavor.

I’ve tried several adaptations of this recipe.  For a gluten free version I used a package of gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies.  Since those packages are smaller I didn’t waste any cookies for crumbs but rather rolled them in coconut.  My family liked them so much I had to remind them that they had their own gluten filled version J

For the tea party I wanted something to blend into the brighter spring décor & so I made lemon, orange and strawberry cream truffles.  ALL of them were a big hit!  The recipe is simple enough to make multiple batches . . . ready to try some?