homemade oreos

It’s the first day of fall next week yet everyone in the northeast has been saying summer is over since labor day.  “Last day of summer” posts invaded my instagram and I feel personally offended by anyone looking forward to wearing jackets.  We wear jackets from October to May in Boston and I. AM. NOT. HERE. FOR. IT.

I am a heat and humidity, drinks on the patio, sundress, and aperol spritz type of girl for as long as it’s physically possible.  I am also an oreo girl and thankfully they work in all seasons, fake early fall and all.I’ve been making these oreos for years but most recently for my friend Riley’s birthday (middle of august…also when they start releasing pumpkin beers…).  I wrapped them up and took them to the brewery and if there is an experience breezier than 12 adults crowded around a tiny patio table, drinking beer and eating homemade oreos out of parchment paper, I’d like to find it. The recipe is from Joanne Chang of flour bakery and that woman is just the dream.  She’s the force behind my favorite banana bread and one time she was cooking on the line at Myers and Chang when I was there and I had approximately zero chill about it.   I made these pretty true to size of a real oreo but in the bakery they are closer to the size of your palm and all the better for it.  They taste extremely nostalgic and extremely rich.  If I didn’t loath milk, I imagine they would be good with milk.I like to think one day when I have kids I will pack them homemade oreos but that is absurd and we all know I will not have that type of time management.  So make them today for your adult friends and adult self instead.

homemade oreos

(recipe from flour bakery)

cookie

1 cup (two sticks) butter, melted and cooled a bit

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled (I’ve also used dark)

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 2/3 cup confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

directions

In a large bowl, whisk together your melted butter and sugar until smooth.  Next whisk in your chocolate and vanilla, followed by the egg.  Whisk until incorporated.

In a smaller bowl, stir together your flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.  With a wooden spoon (but like really…any spoon) stir your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients.  As it comes together, the texture will be like soft play dough.

Let the dough sit out at room temperature for about an hour to firm up or pop it into the fridge for a few minutes.  I’ve also forgotten this step and headed straight into the log stage and that has turned out ok too, just a little lopsided.

When you are ready, divide your dough in half and form it into two log shapes, each on a sheet of parchment paper.  The log should be about 10 inches long and 2 1/2 in diameter but I never measure and just form it to about the size of cookies I want to make.  Longer and skinnier for smaller cookies and vice versa.

Roll each log entirely in the parchment and give it few rolls to smooth it out.  Chill the dough logs in the fridge for at least two hours or until firm.  If you are really set on perfect circles, you may have to take the logs out every 20 minutes or so to re-roll them so they don’t settle into having a flatter side.  This is also a good time to either wrap your dough in plastic wrap to keep in the fridge overnight, or pop it into the freezer to bake at a later time.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  With a sharp knife, slice your logs into equal sized cookies, about 1/4 inch thick (no clue what this looks like, I just guess.)

Place the cookies 1 inch apart on your cookie sheet, but they don’t spread much so don’t worry.  Bake for around 20 minutes.  It takes some testing to see if they are done as you can’t tell by looking at them because the chocolate is already dark.  They should feel firm to the touch on top and will set more as they cool.

While the cookies cool, mix together your softened butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, milk, and salt. You can use a hand mixer or sheer willpower.  The recipe instructions describe the texture of this icing as “spackle” or “putty.”  I think it makes more sense to think of it like oreo cream filling…

Fill your cookies either by spooning icing onto the bottom of half the cookies, or using a piping bag/plastic bag to pipe the icing on.  Press the other sandwich halves on top and you are good to go.

Enjoy : )