Creative Cooking...Homemade Oreo Cookies

I am going to tell you right now this recipe isn’t low on calories, fat or anything else for that matter. I made these cookies to see if I could actually make homemade Oreo cookies. That is all. I like Oreos, but they are not something I buy on a regular, just an every blue moon taste. The kids at my second job have been begging me to bring them something to eat. For some reason they think I will bring in one of my shrimp dishes, um, no! So this recipe was for them and a challenge for me.


After researching recipes, I found the one on My Kitchen Addiction to be the one I could closely follow. A couple of things I need to say are I really need to invest in a biscuit and cookie cutter. It would so make things easier for me. I tried to do the heart shaped ones but that was too labor intensive because you had to work fast with the cookie dough. So a cordial glass was used. Yeah, didn’t have much to choose from to make these work, but I tried.

Homemade Oreos as adapted from My Kitchen Addiction

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons half and half

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

3 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, whisked to remove any lumps

First step is to get your dough made. Combine your butter and sugar in your mixer and mix until light and fluffy. Add your egg and vanilla until they are incorporated.

I mixed my flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together earlier in the day because I made these at night. Then on low, add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients.

Wrapped and ready for the refrigerator

Divide your dough in half and make into two disc and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

After dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll your dough out on a floured surface into a 1/8 or ¼ inch thickness and using your cookie cutters have at it. Bake them for about 12 minutes depending on your oven, I baked mine 15 minutes and they were perfect.

While the cookies are cooling, make your filling. With my whisk attachment I combined the soften butter, half and half, salt and vanilla and slowly whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. I didn’t have any lumps to deal with. I tried the piping method, but I needed new piping bags and the Ziploc bags didn’t work because the frosting is a bit stiffer than most fillings. So I spread on with a knife. Worked just fine. Viola! Homemade Oreo cookies.

Not too bad...

Yummy filling...

Verdict: This was a simple recipe and to think when you look at the ingredients on the packages making them yourself probably is healthier. And for the record they tasted just like Oreo cookies. The kids agreed. Keep them refrigerated or the filling will melt at room temperature. These were easy to make. The only problem I had was the dough was not forgiving. You had to roll and cut quickly otherwise the cookies would get too sticky to transfer to the baking pan. Use enough flour. Other than that this is a recipe I will make again. More times I make them the better the presentation.  I had most of the items in my pantry or freezer and only purchased the Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. Let me know if you try it.

Homemade Oreos...