Christmas treats - Oreo Truffles

I don't like working with melted chocolate but despite that these end up on my Christmas treat schedule every year.  They are fairly easy especially once you get into a dipping groove.  And people are usually pretty impressed by homemade truffles.   They probably take about an hour of hands on work time.

Oreo Truffles

yield: depends on ball size but I got 45 on my batch this year

Ingredients
-1 package Oreo (or Oreo type) cookies, about 36-39 cookies (I used Aldi brand, 39 cookies in the package)
-8 oz cream cheese or neuchatel cheese (I usually use neuchatel because it's less fat or calories or something), softened
-about 8oz melting chocolate
-optional sprinkles

Directions
1) Crush all the cookies, filling too.  I used my blender but a food processor or just a ziploc & rolling pin would work.
2) OPTIONAL withhold 1/4 cup of cookie crumbs to sprinkle on top the finished truffles.  It doesn't compromise the mixture either way.
3) Combine the crushed cookies with the cream cheese.  It's fairly easy to do by hand with a spoon.
4) Once everything is mixed, roll it into balls a little smaller than ping-pong sized (that seems to be my standard size).  I usually make these a few days ahead of when I plan to dip them and they are in the freezer in the interim, just on a cookie sheet.  I'd at least recommend a little fridge time before dipping, to help them firm up.
5) Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over the stove on low heat.  Keep the heat at low while you place one ball at a time in the pan.  I use 2 forks to roll it around and then shake the excess chocolate as well as you can.  Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet to set.
6) If you wish top with either reserved cookie crumbs or sprinkles.  I usually do this between every third truffle so they don't set too much.
7) These will set fine at room temperature after an hour or so.  You can speed up the process a bit by putting them in the fridge but my fridge never has room for that.   

Store in the fridge.  These keep a loooong time.  They've been in our fridge a year and still completely edible.  Better fresh but they won't go bad fast.

Source: slightly adapted from Kraft