Chocolate Christmas Mice

The Christmas  clock is counting down.  I have made my list, and checked it twice.... and crossed things off, but not the Christmas Mice.  The Chocolate Christmas Mice are on my list of things that I really wanted to do for the Grandkids.  I have a collection of resin Christmas mice that I like to get out every year at Christmas time.  They are enchanting to me. They inspired the idea for these  Chocolate Christmas Mice; "They", and the "Precious Grandchildren" who are coming to visit.  This recipe is the same recipe as the Oreo Cookie Truffles that I posted a while back, except, of course, these are shaped into little mice. 

Put your cookies in a food processor or blender.

Process until they are fine crumbs.

Add cream cheese.

Mix them together until completely combined.

At this point, you can begin to melt the chocolate in a double boiler on low.

Take your truffle mixture and begin to shape your mice by making pingpong sized balls.

Stretch and pull them so that they are lengthened and their noses are pointed.

I gathered slivered almonds for ears, candies for nose or eyes, licorice for tails.

Put the slivered almonds into the mouses head to make ears: put the ears up to the front of the head.  Mice have small faces, if you put the ears too far back, they look like pigs.... believe me, I made a few pigs, and a couple dogs as well...just saying....unless of course you want pigs and dogs... then go ahead, put the ears farther back, lay them down or stand them up; have fun.

Take a little of your melted chocolate and dab it on a cookie.  This will be your base.

Glue a mouse with the chocolate on the cookie base.  This will make them easier to handle when coating them with chocolate.

Place them on a plate and put into the refrigerator until the chocolate glue has hardened and the mice are cold and firm.

If your chocolate is completely melted, and the mice are nice and cold, it is time to coat them with chocolate.

The best way to do this is to spoon the chocolate over the mouse while you hold it sideways.  Let it drip all the excess back into the bowl.   I  started out dipping them into the chocolate, but that wasn't the best way to do it, because I smashed in one of their noses and the ears fell off into the chocolate. Spooning the chocolate works best.  

 Licorice ropes make nice little tails.  Put them in after the chocolate has almost hardened so that you don't get chocolate all over them.  

Place into cupcake liners.

 I started out putting candy eyes on them, but didn't like the the way the eyes looked, so decided not to put the eyes on.  I did do a few candy noses, but you don't really need the candies, They looked plenty cute without them.  You could also pipe a darker chocolate and draw eyes with chocolate.

Ingredients
1 16 ounce Package Oreo type Cookies
You can also use your homemade  chocolate wafers or "Newman's Own":  he doesn't use hydrogenated oil in his.
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
16 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips
or you can use milk chocolate, white, or mint flavored for a contrasting mixture
Extra Oreo Type cookies to use as a base for each of the mice
Slivered Almonds for ears
Chocolate or candied balls for eyes or noses (optional)
licorice ropes for tails

Instructions
Crush cookies in a food processor, blender  or in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin.   Place in a bowl with cream cheese and mix thoroughly. Shape into mouse shapes and place on a waxed paper.  Add slivered almonds for ears.  Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. When chocolate is melted, glue each mouse to a cookie (this will be its base) with melted chocolate and put it on a plate or cookie sheet and then place into refrigerator.  Once the mice are cool and firm, and chocolate is hard,  bring them out and coat each one with  the melted chocolate.  Put onto cookie sheet and decorate with candies  and/or licorice tails.  Place each in a cupcake paper to give it a nice touch. Try to keep them out of sight until ready to serve... they may not last.  Since the center of these is made out of cream cheese, keep them stored  in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

When I made all the mice I wanted to make,  I made the rest into truffles.  I put a roasted almond on top of each truffle before I coated them  chocolate.  

Mice 
by Rose Fyleman
I think mice are rather  nice.
Their tails are long
Their faces small,
They haven't any
Chins at all.
Their ears are pink,
Their teeth are white,
They run about
The house at night.
They nibble things
They shouldn't touch
And no one seems
To like them much.
But I think mice
Are nice