St. Patrick's Day desserts

Even as I type, my roommate and a friend are preparing Italian food for a party we're having tonight in honor of St. Joseph's feast day. He's the patron saint of Italy-- so that's why so many Italians are named Giuseppe! So I figure I'd better hurry and finish off St. Patrick's Day by blogging my obsessive little pictures of the making of the desserts.

The flower pots were cute and not too hard to do. Mom and I bought eight of the smallest they stocked at Home Depot; they're called the three-inch size. I bought a pound cake and used a round cookie cutter to make circles of cake to sit in the bottom of the pots and block the holes. Then we spooned in half-melted green ice cream, burying a gummi worm in each pot, and covered that with crushed Oreos. Oh, and we had a straw stuck in the middle for the flower to be added just before serving. There are very detailed instructions here at Pioneer Woman's place. Some of our guests remembered this dessert from the 70's, which is about when she first made it too. (I shouldn't have told you that; it might prejudice you...)

Here's the pot before the dirt is added.



A bunch of pots chilling in the freezer.



All made up.



And half eaten. :)




For the truffles, I adapted Bakerella's cupcake bites and her Oreo truffles. (The bites have also been made by Pioneer Woman.) I'd had the following inspiration: what if I mixed the Oreos, not with cream cheese or even creme fraiche, but with Bailey's Irish Cream?



Oh, yes. Double Stuff (what's with the lame spelling on the package?) Oreos with minty green frosting, and Irish cream liqueur. Normally I don't like alcohol, but one taste of the Irish cream and I made an exception. It's mostly cream and caramel; what's not to like?

But would the flavors blend well? I crushed a few Oreos in a mixer with a tiny bit of Irish cream, then took a spoonful out to try.



Oh my. It was really, really good.

So into the blender all the cookies went!



I felt like Vermeer's milkmaid, pouring slowly enough to get this shot:



I added Irish cream until the dough was sticking together well...



...and could be easily rolled into balls.



I froze the balls for a few minutes, then poured melted chocolate into molds, set the balls in, and chilled in the fridge for a few minutes.



With this result.



Then I dipped each ball into melted green chocolate.



And slapped on an M&M.



Also green sprinkles.



They were yummy. :)



Here's a whole plate of them.



My mom and I both thought that the filling was the best part-- in fact, Mom was in favor of just serving the Oreo balls without any chocolate coating. But I was afraid they'd fall apart or stick to each other or get mushed if I didn't encase them in chocolate, and besides, they look so darn cute! I later made more and left off the M&M's so the truffles would look like grassy Irish hillsides.