Cookie Dough Truffles

What a way to celebrate after getting off a diet! For my next indulgent recipe, post-diet, I decided to finally make this recipe for Cookie Dough Truffles that I had been saving up from Annie's Eats.

I absolutely love, love, L-O-V-E, love eating raw cookie dough. I used to buy huge tubs of cookie dough from Costco and almost half of it would be eaten raw. When I used to live at home, I would try to beat my sister to the cookie dough whenever my parents bought some, because she, too, loved eating raw cookie dough. When co-workers bring in their kids' cookie dough fundraiser, I have to sometimes show my support and buy at least a tub. Half of that is also eaten raw. I guess not a lot of people share in my love for it. Being in the field of food safety that I'm in, I shouldn't be liking it much either because of the raw eggs. Luckily (*knock on wood*), I haven't been sick with salmonella yet.

One of my co-workers, Jenny, and I got to talking about our love for eating raw cookie dough and I had been telling her about this recipe that I wanted to try out. But not until after the diet. So guess what........the diet is over! This is a rich, chocolatey goodness that any cookie dough lover would love. My daughter even said "mmm, this is so good." And this cookie dough does not have raw eggs.

8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

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

1 1/2 lb. semi sweet chocolate (chips)

1) Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, condensed milk, and vanilla until well incorporated and smooth. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.

2) Shape the firm cookie dough mixture into 1-1 1/2 inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover loosely and transfer pan to freezer and chill for 1-2 hours.

3) When ready to dip the truffles, melt chocolate (chips) in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (or double boiler). Dip frozen cookie dough balls and coat with the melted chocolate, gently shaking off any excess. Transfer back to the wax-paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and refrigerate to let the chocolate set. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes approximately 4 dozen truffles.