Pumpkin Pie Truffles

At first when I noticed the sign up in the teachers' lounge to bring treats, I ignored it and was more than tempted to cringe. For several weeks I even ignored the email that asked us to sign up. Treats for an entire week to feed the entire staff and faculty? Yikes...

Then I was browsing food blogs (as per usual) and found the cutest idea: covering pumpkin pie filling with white chocolate. I mean, covering anything with creamy, melted sugar is always a good idea, right? All of a sudden, scrawling my name on that schedule didn't sound so intimidating. I tweaked the recipe a little, and voila! Four dozen office-worthy treats in no time.

{Here's the original idea: http://livlifetoo.blogspot.com/2010/11/white-chocolate-pumpkin-pie-cupts.html}

Well, this week is my week! Hope they all love these little autumn truffles as much as I do.

Ingredients
3/4 c. (or 6 oz.) cream cheese
3/4 c. pureed pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 c. powdered sugar
9 crushed graham crackers
3 squares of almond bark
decorative sprinkles or other edible decorations

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, spices and graham cracker crumbs.

Beat on high until well combined. Generously grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan. Using a small melon-baller, fill each mini-muffin cup.

Bake for ten minutes. The batter will make two pans (48 mini muffins).

While waiting for the pumpkin cups to bake, melt your almond bark on a low setting, stirring often. When pumpkin cakes are done baking, cool them completely.

You don't want to be dipping them in bark while they're still warm! After cooling, coat each cake in melted bark. Decorate with sprinkles immediately after coating.  Allow each cake to cool again on a large sheet of wax paper. (To speed things up, feel free to put them in the freezer!)

Wonderful. Perfectly spiced. Coated in delicious almond bark. If the mood strikes (or if you have almond bark leftover) coat something else in it! Pretzels, cookies, Ritz crackers, you name it!

Definitely enjoy with life.