Social Kitchen

I love nostalgic foods.  I love cookies that can be dunked in milk.  In the Venn diagram of these two finite sets, the only intersection that shows the logical relation between the two are oreos.  I also love Venn diagrams.

Let me explain: oreos are so nostalgic.  I don’t know of anyone that does not immediately think of their childhood when eating an oreo.  But it’s also such a unique cookie.  Contrary to what you may believe, all cookies were not created equal.  You may think that you can dunk just any cookie into milk for tasty satisfaction, but that just isn’t the case.  For a cookie to be fully absorbed by the milk and become soft, as the milk was intended to do, the cookie must be dry.  Sure, there are a lot of dry cookies out there, but the beauty of an oreo is that it also has the creamy, white filling.  It’s not affected by the milk, but it adds to the consistency of the dunked cookie that leads to, well, perfection.

These cookies have the exact properties of that nostalgic oreo: the crumbly, dry, chocolatey wafer-like outside, with the creamy, vanilla-esque center.  I will say, though, that this is a much more grown-up version than the one you’re used to.  The chocolate flavor is much more intense, and the filling much creamier.  Rather than not being able to stop at one, with these, you are quite satisfied with half.

But live with the times, I say!  You are not a child anymore anyway.  So go ahead.  Make these.  Eat these matured oreos.  And dunk away!

Homemade Oreos (from Flour)

This recipe, as with every other recipe that I found, called for Dutch processed cocoa.  I thought that this would be pretty simple to find, but not so much the case.  I looked at five different grocery stores without any luck.  Then I read that a dark chocolate cocoa has a mix of natural and Dutch processed.  I used that and it was fine.  So if you can’t find Dutch processed, go with this.  Don’t take a grocery store tour of your town.

1 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa (see note above)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Mix together butter and sugar in a bowl, until well-blended.  Mix in the vanilla and melted chocolate.  Last, add the egg and whisk until everything is well combined.

In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until everything is well incorporated.  Let the dough sit at room temperature for an hour so it has time to get firm.

Place the cooled dough on a large sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper.  Guiding the dough with your hands, roll the dough into a log, about 10 inches long, and 2 inches in diameter.  Wrap the excess paper around the dough and twist the ends.  When the dough is covered with the paper, roll into a smoother log and place into the refrigerator until firm – about 1.5 hours.  Every 15 minutes of those 1.5 hours, reroll the log to make sure that the dough doesn’t settle and have a flat side.

Preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice the dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place them on the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the center is firm to the touch.  Let cool on the baking sheet.

Filling (from Retro Desserts)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat the butter and shortening until soft and smooth.  Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until the mixture is perfectly smooth.

To assemble: Place a tablespoon-full of the filling in the center of one of the cookies.  Press down with another cookie until the filling has spread to the edges.  Repeat with the remaining cookies.

This entry was posted on October 20, 2011 at 9:12 am and is filed under chocolate, cookies, sweet, Uncategorized.