Oreos used to be a mystery to Flour Bakery’s chef-owner Joanne Chang — her mother never bough commercially-made sweets in her youth. But, as an adult and successful baker, Chang developed her own version of the sandwich cookies made with real chocolate and bittersweet cocoa, and filled with vanilla cream. This decidedly grown-up version of the treats are a fan favorite for folks who visit Flour (even Chang’s mom approves, too), and now the recipe is yours to make at home.
Homemade Oreos
Details
Yields: 16 to 18 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
for the cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks; 224 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (7 ounces; 200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (100 grams) cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick; 112 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cup (230 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Pinch salt
Directions
for the cookies
- Combine the melted butter and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk in the vanilla and the melted chocolate. Add the egg and whisk until combined. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Use a wooden spoon to stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. (The dough will start to seem too floury—it’s easiest to switch to mixing the dough with your hands until it comes together. It will have the consistency of Play-Doh.)
- Let dough sit for about an hour at room temperature to firm up. Place the dough on a 15-inch square sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Shape with your hands into a rough log shape, about 10 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the log at the edge of its sheet of parchment paper and roll the parchment around the log. With the log fully encased in parchment, roll it into a smoother log shape (still 2 1/2 inches in diameter).
- Refrigerate the log until firm, at least two hours. The dough log may settle and sink a bit in the fridge, so re-roll it every 15 minutes or so to keep the shape a nice round log shape if you like. If not, your cookies may be more oblong than round, which is not a bad thing taste-wise but they won’t look quite like the packaged cookie. You can prepare the dough up to this point and refrigerate it wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or wrapped in plastic in the freezer for up to a month (if frozen, remove the dough from the freezer the night before you want to bake it and defrost it in the refrigerator).
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Remove the parchment from the dough log and slice the log into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place the slices about 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or buttered and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until firm to the touch. Check them frequently after 16 or 17 minutes and poke them in the middle. As soon as they feel firm to the touch remove from the oven. You can’t judge by color because they start out looking black! Let cool to warm or room temperature on the cookie sheet or a wire rack—they don’t have to cool completely, but you can’t fill them while they are hot.
- Use a tablespoon to scoop out a rounded tablespoon of Vanilla Cream Filling (recipe follows) and place the filling between two cookies. Press the cookies together to distribute the filling toward the edges and serve. The cookies may be stored for up to 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
- In a the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or with an electric hand mixer), mix the butter on low speed for about 30 seconds.
- Add the vanilla and the confectioners’ sugar and mix until totally smooth. Add milk and pinch of salt and continue to paddle until smooth. It will look like white spackle and feel about the same—like putty. You can also mix this together by hand. Make sure the butter is very soft and use your hands to mix and knead the confectioners’ sugar into the butter.
- The filling keeps 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.
