Not Your Ordinary Chocolate Cookie

This is not your ordinary chocolate cookie.  Take a closer look…

Can you see it?  Can you see what makes these cookies so special?

That’s right, it was just starting to peak out above—the white, sweet, fluffy filling.  So, last question?  What do these cookies remind you of?  AN OREO, is the correct answer.  That is what there cookies are—Homemade Oreos.

I have seen different versions of this cookie floating around the blog-sphere for a while.  I have never been too tempted to make them however.  I always thought it was impossible to produce a cookie with a crunch like an Oreo at home.  I did not want my Oreo all soft and chewy.  So many people claimed, “These are better than store-bought.”  So, I figured I had to try them.  And skeptically I did, preparing to call them a chocolate sandwich cookie when they failed to taste like an Oreo.

Upon baking I saw the cookies spread and puff up.  In my head I already admitted defeat-  soft, chewy, chocolate sandwich.  Upon taking the cookies out of the oven and letting them cool completely, I noticed they were crispy, crunch, and retained a dark chocolaty color.  Awesome, first goal met.  Nevertheless, how did they taste?  The cookie part of the Oreo was always my favorite because of a special taste that just could not be duplicated in other store-bought chocolate sandwich cookies.  THIS COOKIES HAVE THAT OREO TASTE (to me and taste better, less preservative like to my co-workers… Yes, I took a poll)!  The filling was also familiar to an Oreo, though, I am not a filling girl.  So, if you are looking for an Oreo-type cookie (without some unfortunate ingredients, which you cannot begin to pronounce or know what they are), try these cookies.

Homemade Oreos

(or Roreos, as I like to call them because I [first name starting with an R] made them :-)

Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

Ingredients

Chocolate Wafers Cookie:

1 1/4 cups (175g) All-purpose Flour

1/2 cup (45g) Dutch Process Cocoa [I used Hersey’s Dark Cocoa.]

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cups (300g) Granulated Sugar

10 TBS (1 1/4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, room temperature

1 Large Egg

Vanilla-Cream Filling:

6 TBS (3/4 stick) Unsalted Butter, room temperature [The remainder of the stick from the cookies works fine.]

1/4 cup Vegetable Shortening

2 cups (280g) Powdered Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.  I used four baking sheet total for the recipe, baking two at a time.  Rotating the sheets halfway through.

2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar, allowing any lumps of flour or cocoa powder to be broken down.    While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg.  Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.  Do not try to mix this by hand, as I did at first.  You just create several extra dirty dishes when you realize it does not come together so easy.  Use the food processor.  This dough seems to come together like a piecrust, but less crumbly.

3.  Using a cookie a small cookie scope, scope out batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart as these cookies do spread.  Slightly flatten the dough before placing in the oven.  I used the smallest cookie scope I had, at 1 TBS capacity, and these cookies came out larger than I wanted.  They are more like the size of a snack cake, then an Oreo.  I suggest a heaping teaspoon sized scope for a  smaller cookie.

4. Bake for 9-10 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool completely.  I cool my cookies on the parchment paper on a cooling rack, but you may leave them on the baking sheet as well.

5. To make the filling, cream together the butter and shortening in a mixing bowl.  Next add the powdered sugar, then the vanilla.  The mixture may seem thick and pebble-y.  Keep bearing it will come together.  After it has come together, keep mixing for 2-3 minutes until the filling is light and fluffy.  You want a consistency that will not run out the cookie and really retains its shape.  It will be thick (not cake icing-able at all).

6. To assemble the cookie sandwiches, line cookies up with the best-fit match.  Place filling in a piping bag, and pipe out teaspoon to tablespoon sized blob of filling on to the inside (the baked down side) of one cookie for each pair.  Place the pair cookie on top of the filling, pressing down lightly to work the filling evenly to nearly the edge of the cookie sandwich. Continue process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

With my large sized scope, I got 21 cookie sandwiches and one extra unfilled cookie.  The recipe originally calls for 30, and Technicolor Kitchen achieved 37.

Package these bad boys up and get them out of your house fast!  They are too easy to keep around and over indulge in.  You will want to share them with all those around you.