Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Oreo Madness

What could be better than Oreos? Maybe Oreos covered in chocolate!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Suze, and she knows why. What's that? You want to know why too? No, I really should not say. Oh, you really want to know that badly? Well, OK, you forced it out of me. But please don't tell her I told you this: she stinks at chocolate dipping Oreos!

The beauti-licious, yet dipping impaired Suze.

Last year I made the snowmen cookies below for the themed gift baskets I make every year. (They were a total copy from the wonderful site, FavorZ.)

Well, Suze tried to make some too, but let's just say they came out, um, ...well, ....not as good as she hoped for. So I started to rib her about it, and that gave birth to a friendly and good natured rivalry between the 2 of us and our confectionery skills. We try to poke fun at each other whenever we can.

So of course, Suzie came first to my mind as I was working on these chocolate dipped Oreos for this year's baskets. I figured if I snapped some pictures and put together a little tutorial here, it might help her out. (Doubtful, but hey, what are friends for?)



These cookies are dipped in super white candy melts and chocolate transfer sheets in a candy cane design applied to the top. Cut the transfer sheets into little squares that will fit on the top of your cookie. Melt the candy melts till very smooth and creamy. I prefer the Merken's and Guittard brands, as they perform the best. If the chocolate is low quality, or old, it will not melt nor cover smoothly. Be careful not to overheat or get water in the candy; that will ruin it as well.

Brush the Oreos with a big fluffy food brush before you dip them to avoid excess crumbs from getting in your melted chocolate. I use a large 3 pronged fork to dip the cookies. I dip, then let most of the excess chocolate fall back into the bowl, then place them on parchment or wax paper.

Gently place the transfer sheet squares on top and gently press it into place on top to make sure that chocolate comes into contact with all of the design.

I do about 5-8 on a cookie sheet and then pop those in the freezer for 5 minutes. Chilling them makes the design transfer over fully and cleanly, as well as giving the surface a nice shine. Just pull the transfer sheet square off when you take them out of the freezer. Don't worry about the little bit of chocolate mess at the base of your cookies. After they have come back to room temp, you can take your handy palette knife and clean up the bottom edges.

By the end of your dipping session, your chocolate is still probably going to be "contaminated" with chocolate cookie crumbs, making it not very useful for any other purpose. So I crumble up all the broken Oreos that I did not dip into the chocolate, spread that on the parchment, chill, and break it up into a cookies and cream bark. YUMMY!

All the items in my basket are going to have a candy cane/peppermint theme. I do a different theme every year.

I will bag each of these individually and tie with a red ribbon before I put them in the baskets. If I place them unwrapped into the baskets; the transfer surface might get scratched and marked up by other items, and we just can't have that! Not after all this work!


Maybe if Suze reads this she can give it another go. Of course, if she does read this I am in big time trouble. LOL


I hope you all get a chance to try this. Send me pics of your projects if you do! Even better, send all your pics to Suze! Tee hee hee.


Have fun making all of your holiday treats! I will try to post pics of more of the things I am working on if time permits. Such a crazy time of year, isn't it?


Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Sharon
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

30 comments:

Heather said...

Great looking cookies woman!! I hope it helps Suze!

~Valere~ said...

Sharon,
Have you seen the candy cane peppermint oreos they have out now? I dipped some and they are fabulous! Not as beautiful as your cookies (I am dipping impaired too) but yummy!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a good idea. O love red and white cookies and ever more the snowmen ones. Congrats, your gift baskets are going to be a big hit!

My Sweet & Saucy said...

Love this idea!

Anonymous said...

ohh boy oh boy the yat/yank war has come in to full swing
naughty naughty sharon right in the middle of Suze moving house , having things in boxes and no energy to bake **snork**

Girls we need to pull up the couch, pop out the diet coke and large bags of popcorn and chocolate and wait this one out , i think its going to go down hill real fast lol ...... oh and btw Sharon nice oreos

Snooky doodle said...

these are adorable. I like both the snowmen and the sugar cane decorated ones. They look super. Great gift :)

Suze said...

Snork!!!! You are so gonna get it YAT!!!!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post Sharon, thank you so much for that very informative tutorial! I certainly hope it helps Suze... I'm afraid however your efforts may be in vain.
;)

Olga said...

These look absolutely adorable!!!

Andrea said...

Oh man, those are CUTE CUTE CUTE! I have absolutely no skillz, but by Sharon's description, mine might actually come out better than Suze's? hehe... I doubt it -

Suze, with friends like that, who needs enemies?? LOL

Elizabeth said...

I love these - they don't look homemade at all and their clean lines are super classy! Nice job!

Anonymous said...

Look at that dipping technique!! Thanks for posting for Suze and the rest of us!! Great photos...I really like all the angles and the ones showing the insides! They look great and will make awesome treats in your baskets.

Anonymous said...

Wow, these are very cool! Love your use of the transfer sheets in this creative way. I haven't used those yet and really must give them a try. Thanks for the great post!

Anonymous said...

Love the tutorial, Sharon. You certainly have the dipping skills!

vanillasugarblog said...

Yes, I love this! Transfer sheets! I had wanted to kick my chocolate dipped cookies up a notch, and this is perfect.

Unknown said...

These are so cute! Chocolate covered oreos are the best!

Ann (Miss Sweetstory) said...

Lovely...I've got to try this with the holly & berry transfer sheets that I got at the NEC show...but with Double Stuf!

Anonymous said...

Yum! Those snowmen Oreos are adorable. This is the BEST way to eat Oreos.

Amy said...

Perfection, Sharon! What a fun theme-the candy canes! They look terrific. (poor Suze!)

Mata Family said...

If you weren't forcing me to make these along with you, I would say that they were great! lol

Well, they are great of course! Can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

How many cookies can I get out of one transfer sheet? I want to order some and can't figure out the quantity needed.

SugarEd Productions said...

Thanks everyone!

Anon: I THINK I got 25-30 per sheet. i had 3 sheets and did about 2.5 boxes of oreos. give or take. HTH!

Fatty said...

Can you tell us how you did the snowmen last year? Specifically I am wondering what you did to get the blue hat and those adorable pink cheeks!!

keeganluvscake said...

I would love to know how you did the snowman cookies too! Do you have a tutorial?

Anonymous said...

Where do you order your transfer sheets? Your cookies are gorgeous!

Kara @ Mine for the Making said...

Featuring this on Mine for the Making tomorrow! Feel free to grab a featured button!!

Beautiful cookies!
Kara

Tigriswillreign said...

I'm with Anonymous.... Where'd you get those divine chocolate transfer sheets??

Denise G said...

All I can say is wow. I just ran into your site today and I will be back for more ideas. I am not a decorative baker, but looking at your work for ideas inspires me to be one at least a couple of times a year.

Oh and the transfer sheets. I just ordered them. Can't wait to try them out. I may be buying lots of oreos for a while. What else can I put them on other than cakes?

Erin said...

WOW! These are beautiful and they look so delicious!!!

Katy Felby said...

Do the Oreos get soft or stale in the coating after a few days? I want to ms,e them ahead for a party.