Tastes of Tuesday

Thought I would add a little more to my tastes of fall collection. Today, I'm adding Oreo Truffles. These are not exactly fall-ish, but you can certainly make them to fit the season by a drizzle of orange chocolate coating. Just use food coloring to tint vanilla coating, or buy the Wilton chocolate melts in a fall color. Anyway, these are absolutely fantastic. And trust me, if I'm passing along a dessert type recipe, it would have to be easy. I prefer to concentrate on the meal part of things rather than dessert, so I generally try to find something very easy. So, enjoy these few recipes I'm posting today, and be sure to check out my sister's post on Apple Squares. They sound like a must have!
Easy Oreo Truffles (courtesy Kraft Food and Family magazine)
Ingredients:
1 pkg. Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies, divided
1 pkg. 8oz. cream cheese, softened
2 pkg, 8 oz. each, semi-sweet baking chocolate melted
Directions:
Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in a medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch diameter. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Refrigerate until firm, about an hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator. Sidenote: I have given these as teacher gifts. Once firmed, I place in a chinese take out box and tied a ribbon on the handle. I did this for Valentine's day, but it would be a sweet gesture anytime!!

Pumpkin Ooey Gooey Butter Cake (courtesy Paula Deen)
Cake:
1 (18 1/4 oz) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 Tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
8 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 (16oz) box powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.
Serve with fresh whipped cream. This recipe will change your life!!!