Homemade Oreos

Makes 16 to 18 sandwich cookies

by Joanne Chang

Last Edit Date: 7/20/2012 1:51:02 PM

Oreos used to be a mystery to me. My mom never bought commercial sweets, and she certainly never bought the almost-black cookies that looked burnt to her. For the same reason, they never appealed to me either—until one day when I finally bit into one at a friend’s house. Wow. Years later, I created my own version of an Oreo, made with real chocolate and bittersweet cocoa and filled with a creamy mixture of sugar, butter, and a little vanilla. It’s a decidedly grown-up version of the treat. And it’s delicious. Even Mom approves. When she visits, she always requests them for the care package I send home with her.

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for the cookies

1 cup (2 sticks/228 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg
1-1/2 cups (210 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (90 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp.baking soda

For the vanilla cream filling

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1-2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. milk
Pinch of kosher salt

In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and granulated sugar until well combined. Whisk in the vanilla and chocolate. Add the egg and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.

In another medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda until well mixed. Using a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. The dough will start to seem too floury, and you will find it easiest to switch to mixing it with your hands until it comes together. It will have the consistency of Play-Doh. Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 1 hour to firm up.

Transfer the dough to a 15-inch square sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough log about 10 inches long and 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Place the log at the edge of the sheet of parchment paper, and roll the parchment around the log. With the log fully encased in parchment, roll it into a smoother log, keeping it at 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm. The log may settle and sink a bit in the fridge, so reroll it every 15 minutes or so to maintain a nice round log, if you like. If not, your cookies will be more oblong than round, which is not a bad thing taste-wise, though they won’t look like the famous packaged cookie. (At this point, the dough log can be well wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If the dough is frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or butter it.

Cut the dough log into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place the slices about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cookies are firm to the touch. Check them frequently after 16 or 17 minutes, poking them in the middle. As soon as they feel firm to the touch, remove them from the oven. You can’t judge by color because they start out black. Let cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack to warm or room temperature. They don’t have to cool completely before you fill them, but you can’t fill them while they are hot.

While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer), beat the butter on low speed for about 30 seconds, or until completely smooth and soft. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Add the milk and salt and again beat until smooth. It will look like white spackle and feel about the same—like putty. You can also mix this frosting by hand. Make sure the butter is very soft, and use your hands to mix and knead the confectioners’ sugar into the butter. You should have about 1 cup. (The filling can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Scoop about 1 rounded tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, then press the cookies together to spread the filling toward the edges. Repeat until all of the cookies are filled.

Photo: Keller + Keller

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by Justin2907, 2/15/2013This recipe is excellent and the taste is out of this world good. I formed the log and stuck it in the fridge, re-rolling it only twice and let it sit overnight to firm up.I found it easy to cut without any problems. My yield was 20 cookie sandwiches. I would probably double the filling next time I make it.

by Helgarde, 3/3/2012These tasted great. For a less sweet filling, you can use half butter and half cream cheese and reduce the sugar slightly. Mia--if you're upset by the butter in the filling, think about what real Oreos use: it used to be hydrogenated vegetable oil--otherwise known as Crisco. Which would you rather eat, really?

by cpm323, 2/12/2012I just finished making these fabulous cookies. They have just the right salt to sweet taste and the cookie is perfectly tender and crisp. I used a one and a half inch round cutter to make the cookies more "oreo" sized and made 40 cookies.

by Czarena, 1/17/2012AB FAB!!! These cookies totally rock. My 5-year-old helped and they will be gracing her lunchbag here and there. As my daughter is lactose intollerant, I substituted Earth Balance buttery sticks for the butter, egg replacer for the egg (sharing with a vegan friend), and soy milk for the milk in the frosting. They turned out SO GREAT!!! I will be making another full batch (we only made a 1/2 batch this time to try them out, and we did roll them smaller) for our Super Bowl party...I can only imagine how fast these babies will fly off the plate!

by JekU, 1/2/2012These cookies were great! I followed the actual directions at first, but had a hard time maintaing the rounded shape of the dough log. So I opted to roll them out and cut with 2 3/4" round cookie cutter. I was able to make 2 dozens oreo cookies that's so tasty and unique I gave them out for christmas! Everybody raved about it. The butter filling is heavenly. I placed it in an icing bag with a rounded tip and piped a small amount in the middle of one cookie, then used the other half to distribute it. No need to put a lot if you're feeling a little guilty. This recipe's a keeper.

by hanseata, 10/31/2011Made them as treat for Halloween. They turned out very nice. Working with the dough is a bit of a pain, though. I religiously rolled the log every 15 minutes while cooling, but the log was more oval than round, and very brittle to cut, even with my sharpest knife. But fortunately all the cracks and patched holes vanished during the baking. I like the great chocolate flavor of the cookies, the filling is a bit too sweet for my taste, but certainly right for the kids.

by Gabrie, 7/26/2011I only made the cookies (not the filling) as I was using them to make white chocolate coated cookies but they turned out great. I also rolled mine out and cut them into different shapes and the type of dough was absolutely perfect for cutting and rolling (I did it after letting the dough rest at room temp. for an hour and then chilled them before baking). Incidentally, I weighed my cocoa and it was exactly 3/4 cup.

by JPSavoringToday, 4/2/2011I made these yesterday for my daughter, but I rolled them out and used a 1 1/2" cookie cutter so they were closer in size to Oreos, which worked great and I ended up with about 50+ cookies. Great flavor in the cookie part, great recipe. I did have one thing I wanted to mention: When I weighed my cocoa, 90 grams was close to 1 1/4 cup, not 3/4 cup.

by MissEpicurious, 2/20/2011really good interpretation of oreo cookies! I did not have to bake mine for 20 min, in fact they were done in about 14, so I would start double checking them at 12 min. For the person complaining about the butter in the filling; it's a cookie, of course it has butter in it. Find healthy specific recipes if you're concerned and don't be a negative-nancy.

by audrey629, 1/27/2011These were really tasty. The cookie had a very nice flavor and texture.

by imamma, 1/26/2011Must agree with the others. Your personal preference for fat content has nothing to do with rating a recipe. Unless that is, they are making such a claim, which is not the case here....... These are a fun remake. Have you tried black cocoa? That will really give you the black color, not to mention the adult chocolate flavor. Good recipe.

by rude16, 1/26/2011@Mia 1...yes Mia, put a stick of butter between the two cookies...learn to read the recipie before commenting, it makes you seem inexperienced....to everyone else, made the cookies yesterday and they are delicious!!

by sread, 1/26/2011I made these yesterday. Very tasty, but I ran into a problem with the filling. I ran out of real butter and had to make the filling with one of the "healthy" margarines. The filling is way too runny. I had to refrigerate it in order to fill the cookies and then had to refrigerate the "oreos". So, don't substitute margarine. BTW, the cookie part tastes very similar to the original and the filling is much tastier than the original.

by jgdanby, 1/25/2011Mia1, pay attention here. These are Oreo replicas, after all. For 16 cookies, you'd have 1 1/2 teaspoons of butter in the filling of each cookie. Your one star because you think these are overly-fatty is unwarranted. All it matters is if the recipe works and the product presents well and tastes good.

by Mia1, 1/25/2011A stick of butter as the filling? Really?

by getsmart, 1/25/2011My son and his friends loved these cookies!!!!