Circus Animal Cookie Truffles

I know, right?

I found this recipe on pinterest, which took me here. 

I KNEW I had to try these. I knew they needed to be a part of my life. Every time I walked past the Circus Animal Cookies I knew I had to buy them. Then, one day, there was a giant bin FULL of Circus Animal Cookies ON SALE.

And so it began.



I took those cookies home. I hid those cookies. There was no way they were going to disappear before I realized my truffle making ambitions, even if it took (in typical me-fashion) a few weeks for me to get to them.

Then one day at the store, I meandered down the baking aisle and saw the almond bark. It was practically calling my name.

" Beccaaaaa......... buuuuy meeeeeee! Taaaake me home and make TRUUUUUFFLESSSS!"

There really was no turning back after that point.



So, I rounded the corner and grabbed the frosting, and went to the register almost bouncing with excitement. (Almost, people. Almost. If you bounce with excitement over frosting at the grocery store in a small town, 3 days later the rumor mill cranks out news that you're either pregnant.) (Just kidding. Kinda.)


So, with no further ado, the Circus Animal Cookie Truffles. 

What You Need:
3 cups Circus Animal Cookies
1/2 can Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg Almond Bark
Red Food Coloring (optional)
Rainbow Nonpareils (optional... but not as fun without!)

You'll also need a cookie sheet, tin foil, and room in your freezer!

What You Do:
1. Use a food processor to crush/grind your cookies until they're finely ground, coarse crumbs. Do it in small batches, then put the crumbs from each batch into a bowl.

My food processor cried when I asked it to do this, but it solemnly took to the task. It only smelled a little like burning motors when I was done. If you have a sissy food processor like me, you can also just put the cookies in a large baggie and take a rolling pin to them.

2. Once you've made all of the cookies crummy (Bad pun, I know. I couldn't resist!),  add in your frosting. You can mix it with a wooden spoon if you'd like, but I think it's much faster to just use your hands. You'll know it's done when it all sticks together in a ball, and it's a uniform pink color with no pockets of white frosting.

3. Line a cookie sheet with foil.

4. Don't judge me because I buy the cheap foil. <-- b="" crucial="" is="" one="" this="">

5. Make small balls out of the cookie/frosting mixture and place them on the foil-lined cookie sheet. The original recipe claims it makes 18 truffles. I made a few with different sizes so that I could see if there was a insides-to-coating ratio that I liked best. I made a few that were bigger than I wanted and a couple that were smaller, and I came up with 31. Moral of the story: If you like big truffles, you'll have less. Logic.

6. Pop those puppies in the freezer, and set your timer for 3 hours. If you have a freezer like mine, have an otterpop while you wait.

7. When your three hours is up, melt your almond wax according to the instructions. If you want to be fancy, divide in in half and add some red food coloring to one half of it, so that you can have both white AND pink truffles. Just like the cookies. :)

{Make sure you put enough red food coloring in the almond bark for the pink truffles. I was nervous and didn't put quite enough in. They were still pink... but it was harder to tell the difference in color.}


8. Break the middle tines off a plastic fork, and use it as a scoop to dip your truffles in the almond bark. Trust me on this, it's WAY easier than a spoon. Click here for a visual.

9. Once you dip the truffles, set them back on the foil and immediately sprinkle them with the nonpareils.

10. Set them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to harden and set.


The finished truffles will store at room temperature for 2-3 days, or frozen for a week. Best served at room temperature.

Give 'em a try! The hardest part is waiting to eat them!

Recap: 
3 C Circus Animal Cookies
1/2 can Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg Almond Bark
Food coloring
Sprinkles

1. Crush cookies in food processor.
2. Add frosting. Mix till it forms a ball.
3. Form into truffle-sized balls and put on foil-lined baking sheet. Freeze for 3 hours.
4. Melt and color almond bark, then dip truffles. Set back on baking sheet.
5. Put in fridge for another 20-30 minutes to set.
6. Enjoy. :)

ALSO

I saw these at the store, and couldn't resist. {I need to be better about ignoring it when things call to me from the shelves of the grocery store.}

And.... now I don't know what to do with them. My initial thought was to make a chain garland to hang, but the more I thought about it the less I was excited about chained ribbon hanging. *thinking cap* Any ideas out there?