Uh-Oreo, I've Christened my Kitchen

It's taken an unreasonably long time to assemble this blog post, but the time has come that I share my incredible discovery.... Homemade Oreos are Awesome!

Upon first moving in to our new apartment, before even buying any furniture, my roommate and I had a mission to fulfill. She shared a genius recipe for homemade Oreos, we bought the few additional ingredients I didn't already have from past shopping trips (shortening, eggs, and powdered sugar) and we mutually agreed that freshly baked Oreo cookies would serve as our perfect first roommate "dinner."

The key differences between homemade Oreos and the original Nabisco brand:

1. Nabisco Oreos are vegan — this recipe is not
2. Nabisco Oreos are uniformly crisp cookie sandwiches — trial and error provided us with one batch of very crisp cookie sandwiches and one batch of slightly chewier cookie sandwiches
3. Nabisco Oreos all look identical — these cookies looked... well, homemade

Honestly, despite the extra work involved and my lifelong love of Nabisco Oreos, I have to admit that I loved these homemade Oreos best! They yield a richer chocolate taste and can be easily adapted to fit any preference — bite size, super size, chewy, crispy, lots of frosting, a little frosting, you name it!

And hey... what's a little extra prep work when the final result is a whole batch of awesome cookies?

Homemade Oreos (recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and arrange racks in the middle
• Mix together all dry ingredients
• Add butter and then egg, mixing ingredients together on low speed until dough forms
• Form small (1/2 - 1 inch) rounded teaspoons of dough and arrange on a cookie sheet about 2-3 inches apart
• Press down lightly on the center of each dough ball and refrigerate for about 10 minutes
• Bake for 6-8 minutes until tops begin to crack
• Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack

Filling:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-vegetable shortening
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

• Mix butter and shortening until light and fluffy
• Add remaining ingredients and mix on high for 2-3 minutes

Assembly:

• Pair the cookies according to size similarities
• Fill a piping bag with filling, cut a small hole at the bottom and pipe onto one cookie per pair
• Press the cookie's match on top lightly

And in other news, more important than cookies, (or at least AS important as cookies) is my home life update...

Over a month into living in our new place, our kitchen is STILL our most complete and best looking room. Both my roommate and I are sleeping on mattresses on the floor and our living room is just now beginning to come together, but our kitchen is fully equipped with a table, chairs, extra counter space, plenty of wine storage, and these incredible BAKING SUPPLY DRAWERS!

....I've started to build quite the collection of stuff

Happy Baking!

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