Homemade Oreos

June 21, 2014September 1, 2016 baking, chocolate, cookies, sweets

As a kid, I loved oreo cookies. Okay, fine, I’ll admit it, I still love oreos. So when I first saw TKOs (Thomas Keller Oreos) at Bouchon Bakery, I was hooked. I had to make them at home.

The best part about home cooking and baking is the freedom you have to play and make something perfectly suited to you. I liked TKOs, and the cookie recipe below is adapted from the plethora of TKO recipes online all based off of the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook. One big change I made is that I don’t like filling these sandwich cookies with white chocolate ganache. I prefer a modified butter cream (recipe at the end) because it allows me to color/flavor the filling easily and I like the flavor/texture against the shortbread.

Another thing I found – use the best quality cocoa you can. I sprang for Valhrona and the intensity of flavor and color was a marked improvement over making these cookies with Hershey’s cocoa. Of course you want to use the unsweetened, alkalized (or Dutch processed) stuff. I’ve seen bloggers use natural cocoa powder and like the results, so feel free to experiment, although I’m not sure what changes (if any) it makes with the baking soda.

I’ve given the recipe in grams, although my scale doesn’t like when I go too small so I’ve also given you tsp measures of the baking soda and salt. The frosting recipe at the end is based on proportions so you can make as much or as little as you’d like. I don’t like a ton of frosting in my sandwich cookie, although I think they look cuter when they are more amply filled.

Homemade Oreo Recipe

Cookie Ingredients

259 g all-purpose flour (a little less than 2 cups)

87 g good cocoa powder (a little more than 1 cup)

3/8 tsp baking soda (1.6 g)

227 g unsalted butter (8 oz) at room temperature

2 tsp salt (6 g)

161 g sugar (almost 1 cup)

Place the flour in a medium bowl with the cocoa and the baking soda. Use a whisk to combine and aerate the mixture a bit.

Put the butter in your stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, mix it with the salt and sugar until it is light and fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer, slowly, in two or three additions, mixing for roughly 15 seconds after each addition to combine. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl during these additions. Once all the dry ingredients are in, continue to mix just until the dough comes together.

Mound the dough on your work surface. Shape it into a big rectangle (about 8 inches long,) wrap it in plastic wrap, and let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour and up to overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Place the dough between 2 sheets or parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll it out to 1/8 inch thick. Rolling seems easiest if you roll in one direction, then turn the dough 90 degrees, versus going back and forth. Cut out your desired size, I like a small round fluted cutter. Thomas Keller’s TKOs are pretty huge, so feel free to make them as large or small as you’d like. The scraps can easily be mashed together, placed in the fridge to chill, then re-rolled and cut. At the very end, just bake the remaining scraps, they are delicious in ice cream or anyplace else you’d use chocolate cookie crumbles.

Arrange your cookies on the parchment lined baking sheets (leave a little space between, they will spread, but not too much) and bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating your sheets midway through if necessary. The size of your cookies will really determine the length of time they need to bake. Once they are fragrant (chocolatey, buttery goodness from your oven) and just beginning to crack/crackle on top, they are done. When you pull them out of the oven they will be very fragile so place them, tray and all, on a rack to cool for the first 5 or so minutes. They do firm up as they cool, so I keep them on the parchment when I transfer them to the racks without the pans. Once they are cool, pair them up and get to filling.

Frosting Filling

3 parts butter – room temperature
1 part cream cheese – room temperature
8 parts powdered sugar
pinch of salt
*Splash of milk/cream (optional)

Mix the butter and cream cheese together, I like using a hand mixer or whisk, then slowly incorporate the salt and powered/confectioners sugar. If the frosting is too thick, add a touch of milk or cream. Piping the frosting leads for the prettiest presentation.

Flavorings: At Christmastime, I like to add peppermint extract and even crushed peppermint candies to the frosting, but vanilla extract is classic and coffee liqueur (any liqueur really) would make a delicious filling too. For more fun, use a touch of food coloring and use additional extracts to make raspberry or orange fillings. And don’t forget about chocolate. The original recipe uses ganache after all, so doubling down on chocolate might be right up your alley. No matter what you decide, the results will be delicious!