Christmas Cookies part 1: Chocolate Covered Oreos

On Saturday we had a party to go to. A real party, not the kind with bouncy castles and face paint.  Like, get a babysitter and put on heels and drink vodka deal.

My Italian mother in law, God rest her soul, instilled in me the idea that one  can never show up without a hostess gift. So I knew  I had to make cookies to bring along. But I also knew I had  zero time to make said cookies.

Enter the super fast, speedy, it's-not-quite-cheating recipes. Which I shall share with you, since I love my readers so. Today, chocolate covered oreos; tomorrow, Marzipan Macaroons.

Chocolate Covered Oreos

(For some reason, these make everyone gasp and stretch their eyes. I can slave over rolled out sugar cookies for hours, but it is the oreos that get everyone all riled up.)

Ingredients:
1 bag of Oreos
1  bag of  Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chocolate chips
Crisco
1 cup of white chocolate chips

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Line a baking tray with wax paper.

Pour the bag of dark chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Add a tablespoon or so of Crisco. Nuke for a minute, stir, then nuke at 30 second intervals alternating with stirring  until the chocolate is smooth and  melted. Don't nuke it too much, or it will burn and turn into a yucky clumpy ball of gunk.

With a fork, dunk the oreos one at a time in the chocolate mixture, tapping to release extra. Put on the prepared, lined tray and shove them in the fridge.

While they set, fit a disposable piping bag with a small tip icing nozzle. Fill the bag with the cup of white chocolate chips and  another Tbl of Crisco. (If you don't have any of that icing stuff, you can use a fork to drizzle white chocolate over the tops of the oreos. It's just as impressive, and people will eat them just as happily.)

When the cookies are set in the fridge (about 10 - 20 minutes) nuke the piping bag or bowl of white chocolate for 1 minute and then 30 secoond intervals. Stir the bowl or squish the bag to stir.

Either pipe desings on the dark chocolate with the bag. Spirals make people go, "Oooooooh." Or drizzle, as I've said before. If you add some drague´es, that's impressive too. (Drague´es = fancy word for those little silver balls that chefs use to decorate cakes and cookies and truffles and stuff.)

Pop back in the fridge for another twenty minutes.

Throw flour on your face to make them think you've been breaking your back in the kitchen, and serve.