Recipe for Truffle-Stuffed Oreo Chunk Cookies (And Pictures of my Vegan, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Roll!)

Well, the iced pumpkin chai latte cookies I brought in to work the other day are all gone, so I had to bring in more treats tonight so as not to disappoint my loyal customer base :))

I have so many ideas of what I want to make that deciding what to make is often very difficult!  Very rarely am I hard up for ideas (although it does happen) and today I had a hard time deciding between mocha layer brownies, cinnamon bun-esque scones, pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing or truffle stuffed Oreo (Newman-O) chunk cookies.  I settled on the last choice because I had all the necessary ingredients already on hand :)

Holy moly did the cookies turn out good.  They're a little rustic and imperfect looking--some of the chocolate oozed out of a couple--but I like that!  I hope these cookies are well received and that they go quickly because Thursday I will be bringing something else in for the special Thanksgiving day morning yoga class.

Every year, the yoga studio I work at holds a donation-based yoga class on Thanksgiving, with all the donations going to Camp Mak-A-Dream.  This year, the teacher teaching the class commissioned me to make a treat of my choice to include in each of the goodie bags she's assembling for people who come to the class.  I decided to make pumpkin brownies :))

Anyway, enough of that...here's the recipe for the cookies!

Truffle-Stuffed Oreo Chunk Cookies

Yield apx. 36 cookies

Ingredients:
-  1/2 c. + 2 T. Earth Balance, softened (or other vegan spread/margarine)
-  1/2 c. muscovado sugar
-  1/2 c. light brown sugar
-  1/2 c. cane sugar
-  Scant 1/2 c. vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
-  2 T. tapioca starch
-  1 T. pure vanilla extract
-  2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
-  1 tsp. baking soda
-  1 tsp. sea salt
-  1/4 tsp. cinnamon
-  12 creme-filled cookies, coarsely chopped (Oreos, Newman-Os, etc.)
-  36 truffles or other chocolate fillings of your preference :)

Directions:
1.  Cream together Earth Balance and sugars for 5 to 7 minutes, until very light and fluffy.  In a small bowl or cup, whisk together almond milk and tapioca starch and gradually add to butter-sugar mixture.  Add vanilla.
2.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Add dry mixture to wet and mix until combined.  Fold in chopped cookies.  Cover and refrigerate dough for at least two hours.
3.  After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
4.  Use a 1.5-inch silicon cookie release to scoop out balls of dough.  Press down center of dough, place in truffle or other type of chocolate and add a little more dough to the top.  Roll dough into a ball, making sure there are no gaps, and place on prepared baking sheet.  Repeat prcess with remainig dough.

5.  Allow cookies to bake for 5 1/2 minutes at 325 degrees, after which time, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees, turn the baking tray around in the oven, and allow cookies to bake for an additional 5 1/2 minutes.  Cookies are done when the are beautifully cracked and slightly golden.

 6.  Let cookies cool on baking sheets for five minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
7.  Enjoy!

Okay, and now for my vegan AND gluten-free pumpkin roll.  I am also so, so proud of this.  For something that's gluten-free, the texture was AWESOME!!!  And the flavor??  Well, let's just say I ate three little slices before packaging the roll up and shoving it in my freezer to resist further temptation...for now...

Recipe maybe to follow :)