Happy Holidays from OREO®

Can you believe the holidays are upon us? The air is crisper, our neighborhood is lit with holiday
lights, and the excitement of the season is in my children’s eyes. I feel like this year has flown
by and I cannot wait to get my holly jollies on! One of the holiday traditions in my family that has
been around even before I was born is the holiday cookie tray. My parents would spend hours in
the kitchen prepping, planning, and crafting the perfect array of holiday cookies to share with
everyone.

Starting December 1st, my Dad starts prepping cookie batter for at least a dozen different types
of cookies. By December 23rd, we hand out at least 50 trays to all our friends and family, and of
course, still have some left for Santa and his elves. When I was old enough to start creating my
own cookies, I failed miserably. They always came out either burnt, hard, or just plain inedible (I
have come a long way since high school). After the third attempt at baking, I asked my Dad if
there was any type of cookie or dessert for the tray that doesn’t need to go in the oven. So, we
searched the internet and found the perfect recipe: cookie balls! Our family loves OREOs (if I
haven’t already mentioned that about 20 times in previous posts), and with this recipe, any type
of OREO can be used. The original recipe featured regular OREOS, but we used peppermint,
peanut butter, and birthday cake in the past. The latest recipe I found is using the Golden
OREO Gingerbread flavor and it is outstanding. Here is how you can create your own:

Golden OREO Gingerbread Cookie Balls

Prep Time: 20 min Total Time: 1 hr 30 min Makes: 48 servings, 1 cookie ball each.

What You Need

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) brick cream cheese, softened
• 36 Golden OREO Cookies, finely crushed
• 2 Tbsp. molasses
• 1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 4 pkg. (4 oz. each) white baking chocolate, melted
• 48 gingerbread boy-shaped sprinkles (about 3 Tbsp.)
• 2 Tbsp. holiday sprinkles

Make It

• Mix cream cheese, cookie crumbs, molasses, and spices until blended.
• Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls.
• Place on parchment-covered rimmed baking sheet. Freeze 10 min.
• Dip cookie balls in melted chocolate, turning to evenly coat all sides of each ball with chocolate.
• Return to baking sheet. Decorate with sprinkles.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Tips

Substitute white candy coating wafers for the white baking chocolate.

How to Easily Dip Cookie Balls

To easily coat cookie balls with the melted chocolate, add balls, in batches, to a bowl of melted
chocolate. Use 2 forks to roll balls in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove balls with forks,
letting excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place balls on prepared baking sheet; let stand
until chocolate coating is firm.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 120 calories, 6g total fat, 3g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol,
50mg sodium, 14g carbohydrate, 0g dietary fiber, 11g total sugars includes 11g added sugars,
1g protein

Let me just tell you that this version of the OREO cookie balls is hands down our favorite. Once
we were home and we tried the cookies, we knew we needed to make this incredible dessert!
Our family cookie trays evolved a little bit more after I met my husband. This man only eats
white chocolate, so I needed to find something extra special to make for his tray. We had the
Golden OREO Gingerbread Cookie Balls, but I wanted one more white chocolate concoction to
“wow” him. I searched all the no-bake recipes for a white chocolate dessert, and I found the
perfect addition. I had no idea at the time how much he loved peppermint bark but once he
tasted this OREO-Peppermint Bark he had a newfound love (in both me and the bark 🤣). Again, in this recipe, you can use any variety of OREO and I highly recommend trying Double Stuffed or
Peppermint Bark for that extra kick of peppermint goodness!

OREO-Peppermint Bark

Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 2 hr 30 min Makes: 24 servings.

What You Need

• 4 pkg. (4 oz. each) white baking chocolate, melted
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
• 20 OREO Cookies
• 1/4 cup crushed candy canes
• 1 Tbsp. mixed red and white sprinkles

Make It

• Mix white chocolate and extract until blended; spread half the chocolate into a 10×8-inch rectangle on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
• Top with 5 rows of 4 cookies each.
• Pour remaining white chocolate over cookies; spread to completely cover cookies.
• Top with remaining ingredients.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Tips

Food Facts

You will need to crush 2 (6-inch) candy canes to get the 1/4 cup crushed candy needed to
prepare this fun holiday recipe. Or, you can instead use crushed round hard peppermint
candies.

Substitute

Substitute melted white candy coating wafers for the white chocolate.

Size-Wise

Homemade bark is the perfect treat to share with friends or to present as a gift during the
holidays.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 150 calories, 8g total fat, 4g saturated fat, <5mg cholesterol,
60mg sodium, 20g carbohydrate, 0g dietary fiber, 17g total sugars includes 16g added sugars,
1g protein

Our cookie trays this year will be filled with the Golden OREO Gingerbread Cookie Balls and
OREO-Peppermint Bark as the centerpieces. I know everyone will enjoy them as much as we
do. So don’t delay, head down to your local commissary and grab all the ingredients for this
delicious recipe today!