Truffles, Truffles, Truffles

OK, so to know me is to know that I am not exactly domestic. Cooking? Ehhh, not my forte. I like baking. And my new obsession: truffles. Truffles are not true baking, but they are interesting to make. I usually love to bake because it is so precise, so scientific to me. With this truffle recipe I am posting, it is different. I have never had to modify and to work so hard to make a truffle. An interesting experience. My recipe below (with the original source too--I had to modify a bit):

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles
Adapted from: www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2341
2.5 cups white chocolate chunks (*I used 2 bags of white chocolate morsels)
1/3 cup gingersnap cookies plus more for garnish
¼ cup graham cracker crumbs plus more for garnish
¼ cup canned pure pumpkin
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon orange zest (*I did not do this as the gingersnaps had a hint of orange to them)
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (*I used about 1/2 tablespoon of penzey’s pumpkin pie spice)
Pinch of fine salt
2 ounces of cream cheese softened (*To start be sure to use about 4-4.5 ounces of cream cheese; original amount makes the truffles too soupy)

NOTE: be prepared to play with this recipe a bit—have extra gingersnap/graham cracker crumbs , pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and cream cheese. The original recipe is very soupy and hard to work with. You will want to add these extra ingredients in to make the mixture firm. I add additional cookie mix and cream cheese and pumpkin pie spice until the mixture becomes very firm. I added additional pumpkin pie spice and a very small amount of pumpkin to taste.
Directions
1. Grind gingersnaps and graham cracker crumbs—make sure you have more than what the recipe calls for. The recipe is a bit soupy and added in more of this mixture helps to firm the mixture
2. Melt ½ cup of the chocolate and transfer to a large bowl. Add the remainder of ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add additional ingredients to get a firmer mix (see note above).
3. The original recipe calls for transferring the mix to a shallow bowl and “chill until just solid enough to roll into balls, about 2 hours.” I ended up placing it in the freezer about 4 hours and letting it sit on the counter about 10 minutes before starting the truffles.
4. You must work FAST to make the truffles as the mixture becomes soft quickly! Melt remainder of white chocolate. Roll mixture into desired size balls, dip into chocolate and sprinkle with cookie mix. Repeat.
5. Truffles need about chill and set—takes about 1 hour.