Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

For me, the joy of making cookies does not lie in the finished product, but in the dough.  And, since I know with every swipe of raw cookie dough comes with the threat to strike me down with salmonella (even packaged cookie doughs have the warnings on the side to ruin the fun these days...), eating the raw dough also comes with a sizable portion of guilt.  No longer.  These truffles are the perfect substitute.  It fulfills all chocolate chip cookie dough cravings without any worry of getting sick (well, you could eat too many of them, but then you would be sick for another reason...). 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil or shortening
miniature chocolate chips for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and brown sugar.  Mix until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and mix until combined.  Stir in flour, sweetened condensed milk and salt.  Mix well to form dough.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Allow dough to chill in refrigerator until stiff enough to form balls (feel free to sample all of the way through...).  Once dough is chilled, form into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet.  Transfer to a freezer and allow to chill for 1 1/2-2 hours.  Dough gets soft really quickly, so they're easiest to coat with the chocolate when they're frozen and not just chilled. 

When ready to dip truffles, place bag of chocolate chips and coconut oil or shortening in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Dip each truffle in chocolate mixture and allow to cool on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips to garnish immediately after dipping so they stick!  Store in the refrigerator.
Makes a lot!

Adapted from Annie's Eats