Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies (Homemade Oreos)

I’m a big believer that homemade is always best. The flavor is always far better than anything packaged, and I like being able to choose each ingredient myself. In fact, I almost never buy packaged snacks because of all those things on the ingredients lists that I’d rather avoid. So, I was immediately drawn to the new book from Lara Ferroni Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk, and I received a review copy. These versions of popular snacks not only cut out all the preservatives since they’re homemade, they’re also made with whole grains in some cases and less-refined sugars. Of course there are instructions for making your own Twinkies, Pop Tarts, Nutter Butters, and more sweets, and there are also recipes for Cheesy Squares, Corn Chip Strips, and Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips. There are even a few dips, Potato Chips, and Hot Pockets. Most recipes even have options for making them gluten free and/or vegan. I wanted to try the homemade Oreos first because I knew they’d be on another level compared to the store-bought ones. As a kid, I never really liked the middle of an Oreo because it didn’t taste like much to me. I was pretty sure I’d have a different experience with these.

The cookie dough is easy to make with a food processor. Whole wheat pastry flour, teff flour (or whole wheat flour), cocoa powder, muscovado sugar, salt, and baking soda were combined in the food processor and pulsed to mix. Cubed butter was dropped into the food processor one piece at a time while pulsing. The dough started becoming crumbly which is what you want it to do. Last, a little milk and vanilla extract were added while the machine was running, and the dough formed a ball. I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and chilled it for about 30 minutes before rolling it out. For rolling, I placed the flattened dough between sheets of parchment paper since it was a little sticky. That way, extra flour wasn’t worked into it while rolling. The dough was rolled to a little thicker than one quarter inch, and one and a half inch circles were cut. Although the yield for this recipe is noted as 40 cookies, I got exactly 24 circles even with re-rolling dough scraps. The cookies baked for about 10 minutes and were left to cool. The filling was made with butter, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and confectioners’ sugar. There are recipes in the book for pantry items like homemade confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and mint extracts, marshmallow crème, etc. I made the confectioners’ sugar which was a simple matter of placing granulated sugar and cornstarch in the blender and letting it run for about five minutes. In the end, I didn’t find the flavor much different from the organic confectioners’ sugar I buy in bags, but it’s nice to know I can whip some up if I find I have an empty bag and don’t feel like going to the store. I used a plastic bag with the corner snipped to pipe the filling onto the flat sides of half the cookies. They were sandwiched and left to set up for about 10 minutes before a first taste.

If Oreos had always been this good, I would have been a huge fan. These were definitely worthy of being twisted apart for licking the middle, and they were great for biting right through to taste the cookie and filling at the same time. I want to try the Corn Chip Strips next or the Cheese Squares or maybe the homemade Nutter Butters. I’ll definitely be making more homemade versions of snacks.

Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Recipe excerpted from Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2012 By Lara Ferroni. All rights reserved.

About 40 cookies

There are two types of people in this world: those who eat their Oreos in one piece and those who carefully twist them open to expose their delicious insides, lick them clean, and then dunk the dark chocolate wafers into milk until they are perfectly soggy. Guess which one I am.

Cookies:
1⁄2 cup (60 grams) whole- wheat pastry flour
1⁄4 cup (30 grams) teff or whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup (26 grams) cocoa powder
1⁄2 cup (100 grams) loosely packed muscavado or cane sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup (130 grams) powdered sugar

To make the cookies, combine the whole- wheat pastry flour, teff flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Pulse several times to mix thoroughly. Drop in the butter 1 table- spoon at a time and pulse to create a crumbly mixture. Then, with the food processor running, drizzle in the milk and vanilla. Mix until the mixture starts to stick together, about 1 minute. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is a little less than 1⁄4 inch thick. Use a 1- to 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies (you can reroll any scraps). Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before filling. While the cookies are baking, make the filling. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated.

Spread about 1 teaspoon of filling on half of the cooled cookies. Top with the remaining cookies and gently twist to seal. Let sit for 10 minutes before indulging.

For gluten-free Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies, replace the whole-wheat pastry flour with an equal amount of gluten-free all- purpose baking mix. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment for easier rolling.

For vegan Crème-Stuffed Chocolate Cookies, replace the butter with an equal amount of coconut oil and the milk with an equal amount of almond milk.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

23 comments:

  1. I was horrified to learn what was used to make Oreos. I will definately be trying this recipe! Thanks for the share :)

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  2. Oh this looks so good! I guess I'm a weirdo because I like to split the cookie, scrape the white stuff and discard, then mush the cookies back together and eat. :) this could be a whole series! How do you eat your Oreos!

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  3. Wow! Your oreos look amazing!. That sounds like a wonderful cookbook. Personally, I like to dip my oreos in milk and let them get a little soggy!

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  4. Homemade Oreos are the best and yours look perfect!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. What perfect looking cookies and what a great idea. I would love a copy of that cookbook. I think we all need to buy fewer packaged snacks and get back to baking ourselves so we know exactly what it is we're feeding our children xx

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  6. This is a book I definitely want to pick up. I've made something similar, but I didn't love the filling. I should try this version.

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  7. This all seems very delicious, may I ask for the recipe

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  8. Great post. I always thought I was the only person in the world who didn't like the stuff inside Oreos. (I'm a huge fan of homemade anything.) These cookies look awesome!

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  9. I am too a firm believer of the homemade. They are fresh and free of unnecessary food additives. These oreos look delish.

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  10. I'm with you on the store-bought Oreos. I never really understood the appeal. These, however....I cannot wait to make! Your scalloped-edge cutter makes them look oh so elegant, too. ;)

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  11. Chocolate sandwich cookies are my weakness. Not Oreos, actually, but the 365 brand ones. I don't know what makes them so good. I've wanted to try my hand at homemade ones for a while now, and you just may have inspired me!

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  12. Lisa, another goodie I had on my files to try for quite some time. I wasn't sure it was worth it going through all the trouble, but you definitely made a good case for it!

    Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

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  13. I (secretly) dislike store bought Oreo's; the filling seems chalky and the cookie is too dry. I have yet to try making my own but your Creme Stuffed Chocolate Cookie looks scrumptious! I may just have to try making my own!

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  14. i've seen a lot of knock-off oreos in blog land, and these are by far the most impressive! i've never been keen on the nabisco product, but these seem tasty!

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  15. oh my gosh, these look wonderful! they look and sound sooooo delicious Lisa!

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  16. So cute! Love these...so much fun. :)

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  17. Very impressive - they really do look like the real thing!
    Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas and best wishes for 2013 :-)

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  18. This recipe is so timely! My wife and I were just talking last night about the only package cookie that we're likely to buy is Oreos. She was thinking about working up a recipe for one (she's the cookie baker in our household), but you've saved her the trouble! I've sent her the link to this. ;-) Good stuff, and it sounds like a terrific book. Thanks for this, and I hope you have a happy holiday.

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  19. I love any and all Oreos. Lately, we buy Whole Foods brand oreo-like cookies but I still love the original Nabiscos. I've made the Baked version of homemade oreos, and while they were pretty terrific, we eat so many in this house, I'd have to make a batch weekly. Next time I get a hankering for homemade oreos, though, I'm going to give this recipe a shot.

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  20. I would love to try these, Lisa! They look so perfect! I love sandwich cookies but hardly make them because of the heat here.

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  21. I never got Oreos either. I liked the cookie part but hated the filling. I thought Double Stuff were confusing - why would you want more of that white yucky filling? Glad these were a hit.

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