Vanilla Bean Truffles

I've posted about truffles a few times on this blog, so this may be redundant, but I couldn't help posting about these... I just loved how they look in those little pink and white baking cups! Also, I've never made truffles this exact way before. They taste similar to the mascarpone cake truffles I made a while ago, but these were a little simpler to make. I used a whole box of Trader Joe's Vanilla Bean Jo Jo's (vanilla sandwich creme cookies, as opposed to chocolate) for this recipe, and one 8-oz. block of cream cheese. Other vanilla creme sandwich cookies would work, too. I originally made these as a gift for my daughter's kindergarten teacher. Today is her last day of kindergarten and her teacher is just wonderful. My daughter has had a great year (she just loves school!) and I can only hope that her 1st grade teacher is great as well.

In the past, I've used my medium cookie scoop to form truffles, but they turned out too big. This time, I formed a ball with my cookie scoop, but then cut that ball in half, and then rolled each half into a ball. I got about 60 truffles this way.

I don't how much chocolate I used- I just dumped it in until it looked right, so use as much as you think you need!

Vanilla Bean Truffles

1 box vanilla sandwich creams (I use Trader Joe's)

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (optional)

8 oz. real white chocolate, melted

6 oz. milk chocolate, melted

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted

Crush the cookies into fine crumbs (filling and all) using a food processor. Mix in the cream cheese, using a stand mixer or a wooden spoon. Then mix in vanilla bean seeds, if using, and vanilla extract. Form into small balls using a mellon baller, or small cookie scoop. (I got about 60 out of this recipe). Set on a tray or baking sheet covered with wax paper. Chill in the refrigerator until hard- a few hours to overnight.

Melt the white chocolate in one small pan, and the milk and semisweet together in another small pan. Using a toothpick, dip the cookie balls into the chocolate, tapping the toothpick against the side of the pan to get rid of excess chocolate. Set on a tray covered with wax paper to set. When they are all dipped, refrigerate until set. Drizzle with remaining chocolate in contrasting colors.