From the Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

These chocolate ship cookie dough truffles were another of the desserts we served at my friend Erin's baby shower - they are one of her specialties, so we recreated them in her honor!  Erin actually made these at MY baby shower too, and one of my friends (who had never met Erin before) loved them so much that she offered to pay Erin to make them for her son's birthday party!  So they are definitely a party favorite :)

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookie dough?  Dipping it in a rich chocolate shell with mini chocolate chips on top as a garnish makes it pretty and much more shower or party-appropriate than eating cookie dough directly from the mixing bowl with a spoon (not that I've ever done that...)  This cookie dough is eggless, so no worries about serving raw cookie dough to your guests!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Yield: 20 truffles

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup and 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus extra for garnish

1/2 package chocolate almond bark

Directions:

Mix the shortening, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and milk until well blended.  Add the baking soda, salt, and flour, and stir well.  Stir in the mini chocolate chips.  

Using your hands, roll the dough into 20 balls.  Place the truffle balls onto 2-3 plates and put in the freezer for about an hour. 

Melt the chocolate almond bark in a small bowl (heat for 1 minute, stir, and continue heating and stirring in 15 second intervals until completely melted). 

Remove 1 plate of truffle balls from the freezer (leave the other plates in the freezer so they don't thaw too much while you're coating the first plate of truffles in chocolate).   

One at a time, put the truffle balls into the melted chocolate, using a spoon to coat it completely in chocolate.  Use a toothpick to spear the truffle ball, remove it from the chocolate (allowing the excess to drop back into the bowl), and place the truffle ball on wax paper.  Immediately dip the toothpick back in the melted chocolate to fill in the hole you created when spearing the truffle ball.  

Sprinkle the top of the truffle ball with mini chocolate chips as a garnish while the chocolate coating is still melted.  Repeat with the remaining 19 truffle balls.

Refrigerate and serve cold (they are better cold than at room temperature).