Admittedly, this is the only “baked” good I make every single year. They don’t require much prep work, and they don’t require the use of an oven. That makes these Oreo Balls the perfect dessert for those with a small kitchen or limited budget. I was taught how to make them by my mom, and they’ve been a huge hit every year since.

Here’s my go-to recipe for chocolate-covered Oreo balls.

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 1 package of Oreos (this is one of those few times I would not buy store brand)
• 1 brick of cream cheese (8 oz)
• 1 package of white chocolate candy coating (or candy melts)

Using a food processor, chop your entire package of Oreos to a crumble. You may see some clumps (from the Oreo filling), but you should not see any large cookie pieces. We want the Oreos to be crushed to a breadcrumb consistency. In desperate times, I’ve also done this step with a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin- just place a handful of cookies into the bag at a time and crush them.

In a mixing bowl, soften your brick of cream cheese. You’ll want this to be solid but squishy- like playdoh. Once your cream cheese is softened, add in your crushed Oreo cookies. I add my cookies into the bowl little by little, so I can knead the dough as the cookies are added.

Use your hands to mix together the crushed Oreos and softened cream cheese. Knead and squish until you have a large bowl of gray dough.

Roll your dough into balls about 1″ wide and place on a cookie sheet. They don’t need to be super far apart, since we won’t be baking them. *note* At this point the dough is entirely safe to eat… just saying. Place your sheet of balls of dough in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. If you skip this step, it will be very messy and difficult to add the last ingredient.

Once your dough balls are chilled. Melt your white chocolate in a separate bowl in 20 second increments, mixing between each one. We will use this chocolate to dip the Oreo balls, so they have that crunchy outer shell.

I prefer to dip my Oreo balls using toothpicks or a fork, but this step is kind of open for interpretation. Some people prefer to drizzle their Oreo balls with chocolate on top, and some people prefer to dip them entirely. I dip mine in the bowl of white chocolate and simply place them back on the same cookie sheet as I go.

If you choose to fully dip your Oreo balls, you may find that they get more difficult to dip as you go. If this happens, stick the dough balls back in the freezer to chill again and reheat the chocolate back to a runny consistency.

After your Oreo balls have been coated in chocolate place them in the refrigerator to chill. They harden pretty quickly, but it is important to keep them chilled if they aren’t going to be eaten immediately or if they’ll be traveling.

These make fantastic, budget-friendly gifts. I like to use Christmas tins like the set linked here to divide up my Oreo balls and gift to coworkers, teachers, friends, and family.