Homemade Oreos

     Did you know that March 6th is national Oreo day?  That's today, so it's the perfect time to make homemade "oreos" (or should I say chocolate sandwich cookies) from scratch.

They spell out "Krumbli," see?

I didn't plan this, but a lot of the cookies grew faces :)

     To be honest, I'm not a big Oreo fan.  Yes, it's America's Favorite Cookie, but the only time I ever ate them was at parties; my family never bought them.  To me, they just tasted too fake.
      These aren't exactly like oreos, but they are really, really close. They have that crunchy cookie and intense chocolate flavor. The difference is that these don't have that fake taste you get in the store-bought kind. These, unlike a lot of other recipes, don't use shortening.
      I made two kinds of fillings for these: peanut butter and vanilla.  Let me just say that the peanut butter one was out of the world, and the vanilla one was really good too.  You can use one or the other, or both. Next time, I think I'll try making mint oreos.  It would be like my favorite ice cream flavor: mint cookies and cream.
      I also cut half of the cookies into flower shapes.  You can make them any size, but note that smaller ones will take less time to bake.
       Enjoy!

Step 1: Make the dough

2.  Roll the dough into a compact cylinder about 2" in diameter, or roll into a 1/4" thick sheet.

3. If you rolled out a sheet, cut out shapes. 

4. If you made a cylinder, cut into 1/4" slices.

5. Bake

6. Make filling. (Vanilla)

Peanut butter filling.

7. Fill.

8. Enjoy.

Homemade Oreos

makes 16-24 cookie sandwiches, depending on size

adapted from Flour by Joanne Chang

Ingredients

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, or 6oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup (8oz, 2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup (150g) white granulated sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1-1/2 cups (210 g) flour

3/4 cup (90g) dutch-processed cocoa powder (I couldn't find this, so I used special dark cocoa)

1 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 recipe vanilla cream filling or 1 recipe peanut butter filling (recipes below)

Directions

1. Place butter and chocolate in a large bowl and microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth and blended. Let cool slightly, then whisk in sugar.  Whisk in vanilla and egg until well-incorporated.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Add to chocolate mixture and stir with a wooden spoon, or by hand.  It will feel like sticky play-doh. Mix until homogeneous.
3. Place the dough on a square of wax paper. 
4. For circular cookies, roll into a tight cylinder with a diameter of 2" and wrap wax paper around.  Refrigerate for 2 hours, taking it out and re-rolling it every 15-30 minutes so that it stays round.  (The dough can then be refrigerated for up to a week, or frozen.) Cut into 1/4" thick disks.
5. For cut-out cookies, roll the dough into a 1/4" thick sheet.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until firm, and then cut into desired shapes.  Then refrigerate for another hour before baking.
6. Preheat oven to 325*F.   Place dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart.  Bake for 15-25 minutes, until the centers are firm to the touch.  Let cool on baking sheets until room temperature.  
7. Spoon some filling on one cookie, and then gently press another cookie on top.  

Vanilla Cream Filling

enough to fill one batch chocolate sandwich cookies

from Flour by Joanne Chang

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-2/3 cups (230 g) confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs whole milk

pinch of salt

Directions

1. Beat butter for 30 seconds, until creamy.  Add sugar and vanilla, and mix with mixer or by hand until completely smooth (it will be crumbly at first, but will eventually feel like play-doh).  Stir in milk and salt.

Peanut Butter Filling

enough to fill one batch chocolate sandwich cookies

from Flour by Joanne Chang

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (105 g) confectioners sugar

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (I used all-natural)

pinch of salt

Directions

1. Beat butter for 30 seconds, until creamy.  Add sugar and mix with mixer or by hand until completely smooth (it will be crumbly at first, but will eventually feel like play-doh).  Mix in peanut butter and salt.