Oreo Truffles (Snowballs)

Christmas week. The Mountain View house is in maximum activity. Mark and Carmen and the twins arrive Wednesday — the family's first Christmas in Anchorage since the twins were born. Joseph drives down from Anchorage Wednesday morning (he came up from Kodiak the week before for boat business). Angela and James and Mia are local. Lourdes is the conductor, seventy-three and tired and luminous.

I held all three children at various points. Mia is two-and-a-half. Marco and Sofia are two. They are loud. They are exhausting. They are the future. Mia and Sofia immediately bonded over a shared interest in pulling on the cat's tail. Marco discovered the lechon kawali and would not be moved from the kitchen counter. Mark stood next to him guarding the platter.

The Christmas Eve dinner — Noche Buena — was at the Mountain View house. Eleven people including the children. Lourdes blessed the food. We held hands. Lourdes prayed for Reynaldo. We all teared up. We did not pretend not to. The prayer was the meal. The meal was Reynaldo. The Reynaldo was alive in the room because the food he liked was on the table and the chain was unbroken.

Carmen pulled me aside in the kitchen at one point. She said, "Grace. Thank you for everything you do for Mama." I said, "Carmen. I do nothing." She said, "You do everything. Everyone knows. Don't pretend." I cried. Carmen cried. We hugged in the corner of the kitchen with leche flan cooling on the counter. The hug was the daughter-in-law and the daughter naming the daughter's work. The naming was rare.

I made arroz caldo on Christmas morning. Marco bit Sofia on the arm. Sofia cried. Mia patted Sofia's back. Carmen mediated. Mark laughed. The chaos was the holiday.

The leche flan was Lourdes’s, and it belonged to her hands and her memory of Reynaldo — I would not try to replicate it here. But standing in that kitchen corner with Carmen, something sweet and simple felt like the right note to carry forward from that night. These Oreo Truffles are what I made for the cousins to take home in little bags on Christmas afternoon — Marco approved, briefly abandoning the lechon kawali counter, and Mia ate two before anyone noticed. They’re the dessert you make when the table has already held everything heavy and sacred, and now it just needs to hold something joyful.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes (includes chilling) | Servings: 36 truffles

Ingredients

1 package (14.3 oz) Oreo cookies
8 oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz white chocolate chips or white almond bark
1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable shortening (to thin chocolate)
Crushed Oreo crumbs or white nonpareils, for topping (optional)

Instructions

Crush the cookies. Place all Oreo cookies in a food processor and pulse until you have fine, uniform crumbs with no large pieces remaining. Alternatively, seal cookies in a zip-top bag and crush with a rolling pin.
Mix the filling. Transfer crumbs to a large mixing bowl. Add softened cream cheese and mix together — first with a spatula, then with your hands if needed — until fully combined into a uniform dough. It should hold together when pressed.
Form the balls. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time and roll between your palms into smooth, round balls. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with all remaining dough.
Chill. Place baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or the freezer for 30 minutes, until the truffles are firm and cold all the way through.
Melt the chocolate. Combine white chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until completely smooth and fluid. Do not overheat.
Coat the truffles. Working quickly with cold truffles, dip each ball into the melted white chocolate using a fork or dipping tool, letting excess drip off. Return to the parchment-lined sheet. Immediately sprinkle with crushed Oreos or nonpareils before the coating sets.
Set and store. Allow truffles to set at room temperature for 10 minutes, then refrigerate until fully firm. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Nutrition (per serving)

Oreo Truffles (Snowballs) — The Sweetness Lourdes Left on the Counter