Homemade Oreo Cookies

** Just before the tip popped off my piping bag.

**My iced cappucchino made it into this picture! =] Oh, and that red tea kettle? It was a wedding present from Emily of T.V.F.T.T.S.F. fame! =]

Ahh...the ice cream scooper. One of my favorite multi-taskers.

Recently my friend Emily (of The View From the Thirty-Second Floor) and I have started a blog project that was originally suggested by my husband. In the spirit of the Tuesdays with Dorie group, Emily and I are going to jointly choose a recipe, make it (she in Chicago, and I down St. Louis way), and then blog about it. This way, we can both try new recipes, something I know we both want to do more often. As our inaugural recipe, we chose the Homemade Oreo Cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Now, as some of you are probably aware, I consider myself something of an Oreo lover (an Oreo fiend is how my husband once described it). So I was highly skeptical about achieving an authentic Oreo taste. Here's how things went down:

I came home from teaching summer school today, grabbed a quick lunch with the hubbie, and then sent him off to open gym so that I could have the kitchen to myself (being married to a basketball coach is so convenient sometimes). The cookie dough came together very quickly, although I was surprised that the dry ingredients were mixed together before adding the wet ones (that's pretty much backwards from every other cookie recipe I've ever made). According to the directions, rounded teaspoons of dough were to be spaced 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. How fortunate that I had a tiny ice cream scoop to use to scoop up and drop the dough. I can't emphasize what a great time-saving measure this is. Plus, the cookies were tiny enough that lots could fit on a single cookie sheet, so I got them all baked in two batches
(even more awesome!). While the cookies were baking, I mixed up the cream center for the cookies. According to Smitten's directions, she piped the icing centers on the cookies and it was easy as could be (she noted that having to ice the cookies individually would be an "unholy p.i.t.a." -- I couldn't agree more). Dutifully following directions, I got out, assembled, and filled my piping bag...and promptly squeezed the tip right out the end of it! Note: for future reference, use a Ziploc bag, snip off the corner, then throw it away and be done with it.

Overall, this was a fairly easy recipe to complete, leaving me plenty of time afterward to clean up the kitchen and even (seriously!) clean and redecorate my spare bedroom (I promise I'm not making that up.) before hubbie got home.

I excercised some serious self-restraint and didn't even sample thecookies until hubbie could join me. Together we each ate a cookie. Here are my first impressions, uncensored:

"Umm...the cookies are chewy. I've NEVER eaten a CHEWY Oreo."

"Hey, the creamy center tastes just like the center of an Oreo. I rock!"

"Dang, this thing just sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. Need. Milk. NOW!"

Overall, these are pretty tasty, but, at least in my mind, can't hold a candle to a real Oreo. Of course, there is an unexpected up-side to this recipe. As my husband pointed out, these are undoubtedly better for you than an actual Oreo. But is healthy eating really the reason we eat Oreos?? =]

Homemade Oreo Cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

Recipe Note (This is from Smitten Kitchen's original posting):

Let’s talk about the sugar for a minute, shall we? This is a sweet cookie. A good, sweet cookie. Yet, if you think of an actual Oreos, the wafers are fairly un-sweet and actually on the slightly salty side, which contrasts with the super-sweetness of the filling bringing harmony, happiness, yada yada. If you want your cookie closer to that original, you can take out a full half-cup of the sugar. If you want to make the cookie by itself, go ahead and use the full amount.

Note: I plan to make these cookies again to use for ice cream sandwich cookies.