Au Pair Recommended Recipes: Homemade Oreos

This is, quite possibly, the most amazing recipe on the face of the earth. A lot of people have been asking me for this recipe and truth be told, its Googeable. Smitten kitchen has the original recipe that I followed to make these chocolately, delicious cookies. And I’m so glad that I tried it out because this will be, without a doubt, something I do every year. When I have my own kids, we’ll be eating home made Oreos for birthdays, holidays, family reunions, funerals, etc, etc. Ha. There will be chocolate. There will be sugar. Yes, there are mountains and mountains of sugar in this recipe. Brace yourselves. And be ready to brush your teeth. Twice.

Homemade Oreos
Recipe lovingly borrowed from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich 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 (Honestly, 1 cup is enough.)
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

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F. (Or 190 degrees Celcius if you’re in Europe or GB.)
   
   
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, (You don’t need to have a mixer or processor. I had two six years old smashing baking spoons together and kneading the mixture with their hands. Get creative, it doesn’t need to be fancy!) 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.
   
   
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined (PARCHMENT PAPER IS IMPORTANT! I tried to use tinfoil the second time around because we were out of baking paper and it was horrible. The cookies would get stuck and it was just a mess.) baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes (Don’t let them burn! They are so much better when the cookies are soft and NOT crunchy! The lesson I learned the second time around.), rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag (or just a sandwich baggie with a corner cut off, honestly…) 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.