Homemade Oreos

I was so excited when I came across this recipe on Annie's Eats. I've had plenty of "homemade" Oreos in my life and sure they are good but they are not Oreos to me.  All the ones I have had were more like whoopie pies; made from a cake mix and cream cheese frosting in the middle. Not really capturing the amazingness of the Oreo.  Annie mentioned how these cookies are more of a crispy chocolate wafer cookie with cream filling.  She is an amazing baker so I knew I could trust her.


You can determine the size of the cookie by how big you roll the balls.   I think they are cute small but it's less work if you make them a little bigger.  I was so excited when these were done.  I took a bite and loved the amazing texture of the chocolate cookie. It was slightly crispy but slightly soft and chewy as well.  Then the filling had that amazing Oreo creaminess to it which we all love.


The best part of making these cookies was when I took some over to my neighbor as a thank you for watering my little garden while I was gone. As soon as she answered the door she took one look at the Oreos and just lit up with excitement.  I'm excited to make these again and share the yumminess with more people. I also think it would be fun to color the filling different colors for holidays or baby showers etc.

Oreos
Recipe from Annie's Eats

Yield: about 20-24 sandwich cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1-1½ cups sugar*
10 tbsp. (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg

For the filling:
4 tbsp. (¼ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla extract

*The range of sugar called for here allows you to make these cookies as sweet as you like (or not).  To make it closer to a store-bought Oreo, use 1 cup.  For a sweeter cookie, use the full 1½ cups.  I split the difference and used 1¼ cups.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.  Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

In a food processor or the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Mix briefly to combine.  Add the butter to the bowl and pulse or mix briefly to incorporate.  Add in the egg and mix until the dough forms a cohesive mass.

Scoop a scant tablespoon of batter onto the baking sheet.  Continue scooping, spacing the dough balls a couple of inches apart.  With moistened fingers, gently press down on the dough balls to flatten slightly.  Bake for 9-11 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.  Transfer the baking sheets to a wire rack and let cool completely until the cookies are firm and set.  Be sure the cookies are completely cooled before filling.

To make the filling, combine the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth.  Add the confectioners’ sugar to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the vanilla extract.

To assemble the cookies, pair them up by size.  Use a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip to pipe a swirl of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair.  Sandwich together with the remaining cookie and press down so that the filling reaches the edges. (If you don’t have a pastry bag you can use a freezer ziplock bag with a tiny corner cut off, or you could use a knife.)