Lately, my husband has been getting me into a bit of trouble.
You see, he’s my taste tester. He’s not afraid to tell me when something I make is awful (it has happened before… believe me!), so I know he’ll give me an honest opinion. So, when I’m baking and working on a new recipe, I often take him a plate of samples.
A few times lately (including yesterday when I was working on this particular recipe), he has raved on Facebook about what I made for him. I’m thrilled when my recipes turn out well, and I’m always glad that he’s happy with his afternoon snack. But, I wind up with a whole group of jealous friends, neighbors, and relatives who want to know why I didn’t make homemade oreos (or cinnamon rolls, brownies, muffins… ) for them. It’s a bit of a dilemma!
In this case, the homemade oreos that my hubby was taunting his friends with on Facebook were already spoken for… Most of the cookies were destined for the cafe at our church. But, of course, I had set aside a few extras for my hubby. Then it hit me… I had a solution to my problem! I just reminded him that if anyone wanted samples of the treats, they would have to come out of his snacking stash. My guess is he won’t be sharing my baking secrets on Facebook anymore!
These homemade oreos are easy to make. They are based on my recipe for vanilla bean sugar cookies. By adding dutch process cocoa, they have the dark chocolatey flavor of oreos. Paired with a quick vanilla buttercream filling, I happen to think they are better than the originals. Of course, if you’re friends with my hubby on Facebook, you already knew that.
Homemade Oreos
(Makes approximately 3 dozen)
For the cookies:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons half and half
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 3 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, whisked to remove any lumps
Begin by preparing the cookies. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well incorporated.
Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, beating on the lowest speed. Continue to mix on the lowest setting until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
Divide the dough in half, and shape into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat. Set aside.
Taking only one portion of dough out of the refrigerator at a time, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough to 1/8 – 1/4-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter (approximately 2 inches in diameter) to cut out cookies and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies are cooled, prepare the filling. Combine the softened butter, half and half, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined. The mixture may be a bit lumpy, but will come together. Add the powdered sugar gradually, approximately 1/2 cup at a time, until the filling comes together. It will be slightly stiffer than a cupcake frosting.
Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe the filling onto half of the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies to form cookie sandwiches.
Yes, please! These look just like real oreos! I tried making them once (a different recipe) and it was a total fail. These look like just the ticket! :-D
Love it! Love that they are hearts! :)
These look so much better than the DIY Oreos I made many, many moons ago. Maybe one day I will find the strength to give Oreo making another try.
I can see why your husband would rave about these… they look fantastic!
Glad these passed the husband taste test. They look wonderful and how cute is that glass! Perfect for the oreo cookies.
These look fantastic! I cannot wait to make them :)
These look incredible. Will be making these soon.
so making them today 2/14/12
Wow, these look amazing! Can’t wait to try them!
I just made homemade ding dongs on Sunday, guess its time to make homemade Oreos too! These look wonderful an husband approved is always a good thing.
I love that you made some of them hearts!!! So, so cute! You have one lucky hubby!
How I wish my hubby would even taste what I baked, let alone rave about it. LOLOL, he doesn’t like sweets of any kind. BUT I love them. I’ll attempt this this weekend!! Thanks so much!!
These look delicious!! Can’t wait to try some for my hubby!
I’m not really a big fan of oreo fillings… But I’ve always loved their biscuits! What filling do you think i can change it to… Brilliant btw :)
Jesica – Any cake frosting that you like would probably work… Just make it a bit heavy on the powdered sugar so that it holds the cookies together easily. I was thinking about trying a peanut butter frosting or even a chocolate frosting.
Just printed out the recipe – will make them today!! Oreos are my hubby’s favorite cookie so he will be surprised we can now bake them at home. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
The heart-shaped ones are just perfect for V-Day! I could take or leave the store-bought version, but I adore homemade Oreos.
These look so good. Finally a recipe that doesn’t use shortening. I have the same dilemma, with people always wanting to know when they’ll get their share!
Your Oreos look so much better than the store bought! My family of chocolate lovers will be happy when I try your recipe. Lovely post!
These were FAB-u-lous!! Way better than the store-bought kind (and I love those, perhaps a bit too much and definitely too often). Everyone at The Cafe raved about them…thank you so much for sharing your delicious talents with us, Jen!
I’ve seen other homemade oreos before, and I believe yours are the prettiest.
Wow! These are just spectacular! I am so happy to have found your blog and look forward to following many more of your kitchen adventures :)
Haha, I love how you solved your problem! ;-) These look even better than the original Oreos – I can’t wait to try them!!
I MUST make these!!!
I was wondering if you could tell me where you got the lovely cup pictured? I would love one; it is the perfect “cookie” cup!
Hi, Vicky! Yes, I love that cup for cookie dunking… And, as you can tell, for cookie photos! It came in a set of 4 glasses from Ikea.
I just made these and they are AMAZING!!! My husband is in heaven. Thank you for sharing your talent:)
These would be GREAT for my cheesecake crusts! Much better than having to grind up store-bought Oreos. Can’t wait to try!! Thanks!
I can’t wait to try these! Thanks for posting, Jen.
yummy recipe! can you please tell me what “half & half” is?
Hi – Half and Half is a dairy product made of half cream and half milk. You could certainly substitute either cream or whole milk.
making these since they look so yummy but am gonna use the clover cutter and green icing cant wait :)
just made these for my boyfriend, the oreo connoisseur, fully organic apart from the cocoa, they were so wonderful and my roommates even broke their spring break diets to indulge, thanks so much for this epic recipe :)
I make these last week in their original form and we all loved them. I had frozen some left over dough and defrosted it today to make another batch. In a moment of madness I decided to replace the butter in the frosting for crunchy peanut butter and although the kids preferred the original, I loved the peanut butter version! Just thought I would share :-)
I too have a cookie obsession. Now that I have found ur blog, the addiction is out of control. I truly enjoy your posts, stories & recipes. I was wondering if you could include/write more descriptions of your cookies. Is it a crunchy cookie? Soft? Perhaps chewy? It would help us readers decide if our baked version of your fabulous recipes come even close.
Jen you are brilliant. Want.
Your cookies look so amazing! I tried them out, but mine didn’t come out as dark, and I think I used the right cocoa powder, but they don’t have that really black oreo color I see in yours. :/ Any ideas on why that could be?
Gris – My guess is that it is just the type of cocoa powder… The color of cocoa powder can vary pretty widely. I’d go for a dark dutch cocoa powder, or Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder may also work. I’ve used it in the past, and it has a nice dark, rich color. Hope that helps!
Okay, I’m pretty much speechless. I’m a closet Oreo-aholic and I just made these to use in a base for a cheesecake recipe I’m working on. I cannot express in words how DELICIOUS these are!!! Absolutely A-MAZING! Bless you for this recipe!!! I will NOT be purchasing Oreos ever again! (And I haven’t even made a filling yet!) :) Thanks Jen!
BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER MADE/HAD!! Better than box oreos!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Made these today and they were awesome and oh so easy!
Advice I would give on making these:
-Instead of using a piping bag you can roll the icing in a ball and flatten out onto the cookie to get uniform fillings.
-Die the icing in festive colors for the holidays!
-Re-rolling and re-cutting the dough too many times can make the cookies look dry and dusty from the flour.
I’m 18 years old and I made these for the senior football players at my school. You know how those football players are… they’ll devour anything that won’t eat them first! But, I must say that I received three marriage proposals from these cookies. Stupid Kroger didn’t have Dutch Process or Dark Cocoa so I made it with regular cocoa and it wasn’t as authentic-looking but it was just fine. They tasted very chocolate-y and I substituted half of the butter for vegetable shortening, which really gave it the oreo creme consistency and flavor. Mine did not come out as crispy as a real Oreo, but I probably cut them too thick. Mine ended up like a cross between an Oreo Cakester and regular oreos! All in all, I totally recommend this recipe; it was delicious!
I made these just now and they turned out amazing! I’m definitely going to keep making them over and over again! I also made a jumbo one to see how it’d turn out. I’m going to give it to my best friend tomorrow since he’s such a huge oreo fan :] Thank you so much for the recipe!
I made these last night and they are delicious!! Thank you for the great recipe. I wasn’t sure how to store them, so I put them in the refrigerator and they tasted great!
I’ve been in a hard place in my life for a while now, but this recipe was really friendly towards me. I’m not the best looking or the thinnest but these cookies showed me compassion.
Any suggestions on how to store the dough? I don’t want to make all of them at once since it is just my husband and I…
Hi! You could wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for a few (3-4 days) or wrap it in plastic wrap and then put it in a freezer bag and freeze it for up to a month or two.
I like the dough. I found the filling too sweet. Nothing like the real thing.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe,especially no yucky shortening. Love that you are using Silpats-way better than parchment. Hint: if you need to reroll the dough use cocoa instead of flour.
Any idea how to make these vegan like real oreos are?
Monique – Since I am not vegan and do not typically develop many strictly vegan recipes, I have not tried making this recipe vegan. You could certainly substitute another solid fat (such as vegetable shortening, or perhaps coconut oil) for the butter in the recipe and soy milk or almond milk for the milk/cream. As far as the egg in the cookie, I have heard that some vegan egg replacer products work well in baking, but have never tried them myself.