Cookie Crumble Cheesecake Caterpillars

By cwyorkiex3

So lets get this Creepy Crawler party started with a quick 4 ingredient recipe.


Have you made the simple Oreo truffles - where you blend crushed Oreos with cream cheese? I'm guessing that a lot of you have. It's an easy recipe, right? I used that recipe to make Longtail, the rat for our Halloween party last year and it got devoured.


When I began working on ideas for this theme, I came up with so many recipes that could be transformed into caterpillars, but finally decided to make a version of the Oreo truffles using Golden Oreos. I purchased a package of the vanilla cream filled cookies a while back thinking I would try the truffle recipe using them, but when I finally got around to it, I realized I had used the cream cheese for another recipe. Instead of trekking up to the grocery store, I searched my refrigerator for a possible substitute and found some Philadelphia Ready To Eat Cheesecake Filling. I crushed up some cookies and stirred in a bit of the cheesecake filling and was very pleased with the results. The cheesecake filling added a rich custard flavor to the truffle and it balanced nicely with the vanilla cookies. So, I saved myself a trip to the store, which is always good, and ended up with a truffle that I think tastes even better than if I had used plain cream cheese.


These Cookie Crumble Cheesecake Caterpillars are so easy to create - all you need to do is roll some truffle balls in crushed cookies, lay them in a squiggly row, then add some antenna and eyes. This is a great project to do with the little ones and would even make a fun afternoon snack.

Ingredients

• 36 Golden Oreo Cookies
• 1/2 cup Philadelphia Ready to Eat Cheesecake Filling
• 12 chocolate chips
• 6 pretzel sticks

Preparation

Step 1

Special Equipment Needed:
optional: food processor (or you can use a rolling pin, a pan, or even a book)
optional: small ice cream scoop or spoon



Crush cookies into crumbs either in a food processor or by placing them in a zip top bag and smashing them with a rolling pin, a pan, a book, or your hands. Whatever works. Reserve about 1/3 cup of the crumbs. Mix the cheesecake filling into the remaining cookie crumbs - you can just add the filling to the food processor or even to the zip top bag.

Place the reserved cookie crumbs in a shallow bowl. Pinch off about 2 teaspoons of the cheesecake cookie mixture and roll into a ball (here's where you may opt to use a small ice cream scoop or a spoon.) Roll in the crumbs to coat. You may need to press the crumbs onto the balls. Repeat until you have 30 balls.


To make a caterpillar, set 5 cheesecake cookie balls in a squiggly row. Press two chocolate chips into the front of the first ball for the eyes. Break one pretzel stick in half and press the two halves into the top of the same ball to create antenna. Repeat. If you really want your caterpillars to stick together, you could break up more pretzel sticks and press one in between each of the balls. The pretzels won't show and will hold the row of 5 balls together.


Set on a serving platter or fun plate. Serve at room temperature for best flavor.