Gingerbread Men Oreo Balls

• Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature.
• Put half of the oreos in the food processor and pulse until you have oreo crumbs. Add the other half of the oreos to the food processor and pulse again, until all the oreos are fine crumbs.
• Once the cream cheese is soft, mix the oreos and cream cheese together, making sure the mixture is very well blended.
• Line a baking sheet with wax paper or plastic wrap, and press the dough mixture evenly around the pan, creating a uniform thickness. Use a mini gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out gingerbread men oreo balls. Repeat this process with the leftover oreo mixture until it’s gone.
• Place the gingerbread men on another baking sheet lined with wax paper and place them in the freezer for 1 hour.
• After the gingerbread men are hard, begin to melt the chocolate candiquik and crisco in a double broiler. You will need a double broiler to keep the chocolate warm while dipping all of the men. There isn’t a specific temperature to put the stove at, your saucepan with the chocolate in it just needs to be warm enough to melt the chocolate without scalding it. It might take 8-10 for the saucepan to warm and the chocolate to melt completely.
• I prefer to remove 2 gingerbread men from the freezer at a time for dipping. To dip, place 1 gingerbread man in the saucepan with melted chocolate. Use a spoon to spoon chocolate on top of the gingerbread man, if needed. To remove the gingerbread man, use a fork to lift it out of the chocolate. To remove excess chocolate from the gingerbread man on the fork, tap your wrist 2 times with your other hand. Scrape the bottom of the fork on the edge of the saucepan to remove more chocolate, then move the gingerbread man to a cooling rack sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. I like to place my oreo balls on a cooling rack so the chocolate doesn’t pool at the bottom of them, it will drip down instead, creating a nice shape. Spraying your cooling rack with non-stick spray is important. Re-spray as needed, you don’t want your oreo balls sticking to the rack. Use a toothpick to help get the gingerbread men off the fork and onto the rack smoothly.
• Continue this process until all of the gingerbread men are dipped. Allow them to harden at room temperature.
• Once the gingerbread men are cooled and the chocolate has set completely, you can begin to decorate them with the royal icing. I like to transfer my royal icing to a squeeze bottle with a small tip. I feel like it gives me more control when decorating. Use the frosting to decorate the gingerbread men as you desire.
• Once all of the gingerbread men are decorated, allow them to harden at room temperature. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator since there is cream cheese in the mixture.

To make the royal icing

• Combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water in a mixing bowl and mix until the icing has a matte appearance, about 7-10 minutes. You may need to add a little more water to get the right consistency. You don’t want the icing to be runny, but have a thicker consistency, but you don’t want it to be too thick where you can’t get it out of the squeeze bottle. Transfer to a squeeze bottle or ziploc bag with one corner cut off.