Homemade Oreos... Sweet #1

Homemade Oreos... a.k.a Fauxreos. Not like the store-bought. But, oh-so-close... and better for you! 

Note: For the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting recipes using lots of butter and sugar:).... so some of the other recipes I had scheduled to post will be postponed for a while.  

In the month of October, our local church has an annual youth retreat... where kids from a few neighboring cities come together to fellowship and hear God's word. Cookies are always a welcome treat, and for the past few years I've been able to help out by baking some homemade goods. For this special occasion, I normally do not worry about butter or sugar amounts... and sometimes I end up taking shortcuts just to save some time. So once a year, I overlook the fact that I may end up buying a few ready-made ingredients that a recipe may require... such as caramels, marshmallows, graham crackers, and similar items. Where I would normally make these items from scratch, I find it much easier to just use a good quality store-bought alternative. 

Last year, I managed to post the recipes I baked...  they were known as a cookie/dessert series...  and I labeled them as  #1, #2, #3, #4 ,#5 ,#6 , #7, and #8 (You can click each number to see the respective recipe.)  So this year, I thought it would be nice if I once again posted the recipes I made for the kids. Took a bit more work than I thought, as I had to bake quite a few batches of cookies while taking step-by-step photos as well. And because sometimes I worked into the midnight hours, some of the pictures suffered from lack of natural light. Please excuse the poor quality photos that may be coming up in the next couple of weeks.

The recipes I will be posting were all new recipes for me... some I had been wanting to bake for a few years now. Like this homemade Oreo cookie recipe. So glad I finally tried it.... even though it took me one whole morning to do them:). I personally loved these cookies! Though I have to admit I liked them much better after they had been refrigerated a day or two... somehow the flavors came together much better after the cookies were allowed to sit for a bit. 

These Oreos aren't the cake-y kind, but rather bake up crisp... like the original. And they are dark and chocolaty, with a slight bitter undertone... like the original. Are they exactly like the store-bought? No, but they're better:)... simply because you know the ingredients you've used, and because the filling is butter based, so there's no shortening in these cookies. I had fun making different shaped Oreos... just because you can do that when you are baking at home:). The fillings can easily be made seasonal. You don't have to make a vanilla filling.... try a  pumpkin flavored, mint flavored, strawberry flavored, pistachio flavored, or a chocolate flavored filling. 

One day, when I have a free morning, I'll bake these again... just so that I can have some in the freezer:).  Oh, if you are interested in making these cookies, I highly recommend looking at the original recipe... Stella does an amazing job with the details and explanations. And if you haven't seen her site yet, she has some other wonderful recipes worth checking out. You will need a scale to make these. Even though I wrote down the cup measurements when I made these, I decided last minute to post the weight measurements only... for accuracy and consistency. So here is "Sweet" #1.... Hope you enjoy...  

Note: According to original recipe, these cookies can be made gluten-free by using rice flour. I haven't personally tried the recipe using rice flour...  not yet anyway:). 

You will need: makes about 64 sandwich cookies. Adapted from BraveTart

Oreo Cookies:

6 ounces butter, room temperature 

7 1/2 ounces sugar 

3 ounces brown sugar

1 tsp kosher salt 

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsps instant coffee powder 

1 TBS vanilla extract

5 egg yolks

8 ounces all purpose flour(or rice flour for gluten-free), sifted

6 ounces cocoa powder, sifted

Extra: as needed

cocoa for rolling out the dough

a few teaspoons of hot water or coffee

Vanilla Filling:

6 ounces butter  

10 ounces powdered sugar, sifted 

1 TBS vanilla bean paste (or extract)

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Make the cookies

1. Using a mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, salt, baking soda, powder, espresso, and vanilla.... until combined. About a minute or so. 

2. With the mixer running, add the yolks... one at a time. Stop and scrape the bowl down. Turn the mixer back on and add the flour and cocoa. The mixture will be stiff, but mix on low speed until totally combined.

3. Divide the dough in half and flatten into a disc. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate about 30 minutes or up to a week.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper... oil the bottom of the cookie sheet, if need be, so you have a flat surface and the parchment paper lays flat. The cookies will bake and take the form of any ripples or creases. 

2. Roll the cookie dough to 1/8” thickness.... any thicker and the cookies will be too thick when sandwiched together. Use cocoa powder instead of flour for dusting, if need be... to keep the cookie dough from sticking. I like to roll my dough on parchment/silicone baking sheet to help with any sticking. But you can roll dough on the counter and use a bench scraper to loosen the dough if it sticks.

3. Cut out cookie rounds(or squares, if you want to be different:))... using a 2” (or 1 1/2 ") round cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to the cookie sheets. The cookies don't spread very much, so you can place them pretty close to each other. Set them aside.

4. Re-roll the the scraps and repeat cutting out the cookies. Using a wooden skewer( for small kebabs) poke 5-6 holes in in the cookies, or you could leave them plain.  If you would like, you can make designs on top of the cookie with extra thinned out dough.... cookie dough scraps that are thinned out with a bit of hot water/coffee(1 tsp at a time) to make a paste(sort of like a frosting) that can be squeezed from a heavy duty ziploc baggie. Pipe any design you like.... hearts, dots, names, wiggly lines, or even the word "oreo". 

5. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. Cool completely. Cookies can be frozen and filled later.

Make Vanilla Bean Filling:

1. Using a mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Set your mixer on medium heat and mix for 10 minutes, stopping and scraping down the mixture as needed. The filling should become fluffy and white over this time.

2. Transfer the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip... or a  ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.

3. Pipe a small dollop of filling into the center and around the edge. Top with another cookie wafer and press down gently to sandwich the cookies.

4. Place the cookies in an airtight container and refrigerate for several hours to overnight(better).... I've even frozen them for later.