Oreos

Oreo (noun) Two crisp chocolate wafer cookies sandwiched together by vanilla cream.

Back in January, I visited Flour bakery in Boston where they offered homemade oreo cookies. Intrigued, I had to try one. Their cookies were similar to oreos, but the chocolate wafers tasted extremely buttery and much thicker, more like a shortbread. They were good, but not exact replicas of my favorite cookie. Taking matters into my own hands, I googled Oreo recipes as soon as I got home and decided I must try to make them myself. I've had this recipe sitting around for a few months now and I finally tried it today.

I usually tend to stay away from making complicated cookies, especially the ones calling for multiple steps (aka. make dough, bake cookies, make filling, build cookie, clean up giant mess)...ack. But working the night shift at the paper today left me with plenty of time to kill this morning.

These cookies proved they were worth the effort. The chocolate wafers were thin, but not brittle thin, and the buttercream filling was the perfect consistency. I am happy with the way these turned out! Who needs Nabisco??

Homemade Oreos

Cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room- temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Vanilla-Cream Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Makes 30 sandwich cookies.

Bridal shower cookies

With MLF in the UK, I was left on my own to bake and frost a batch of custom bridal shower sugar cookies. After 4+ hours in the kitchen, I emerged with these wedding cake and wedding dress cookies.... and a GIANT mess of a kitchen. With MLF's help, I probably could have finished decorating these cookies in a jiffy AND had a cleaned-up kitchen in no time. I miss him.

Gingersnap Cookies

These cookies are crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle. A roll through some demerara gives them sparkle and crunch. I stashed a large chocolate chip at the center of some cookies as a surprise!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups cups granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for coating
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Heat oven to 375° F. Cream the butter and 1 3/4 cups sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium and add the eggs, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until incorporated. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (it will be sticky). Place each portion on a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 12-inch log, 2 inches in diameter. Wrap and chill for 1 hour. Slice each log into disks, 1/2 inch thick. Dredge in the remaining sugar. Place on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until crinkly around the edges, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Yield: Makes 6 dozenCALORIES 73 (18% from fat); FAT 1g (sat 1g); PROTEIN 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 9mg; CALCIUM 8mg; SODIUM 72mg; FIBER 0g; CARBOHYDRATE 14g; IRON 1mg

Real Simple, MAY 2005

A Low Fat Cookie?!

Jessica convinced me to try a non-super-fatty recipe. I couldn't imagine a low fat oatmeal raisin cookie tasting good, but these cookies taste surprisingly good. They are soft and moist. Granola bar-ish I would say. I made them healthier by not using chocolate chips, subbing in some whole wheat flour, and adding some protein with walnuts.

Low Fat Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour (I subbed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I added some extra spices for more flavor)
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup plain, unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup chocolate chips (I used raisins and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in the egg, followed by the applesauce and the vanilla extract. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, flattening each cookie slightly.

Bake for about 10-12 min. Cookies will be light brown at the edges when done.

Let cool on sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Will Work for Cookies

While MLF (he hates that name, btw...."my little friend") installed my living room ceiling fan the other night, I felt like it'd be a nice thing to do if I offered to bake him up something sweet for all his grunting efforts up on the ladder. I told him to pick ANYTHING he wanted and I'd make it right then. He picked my oatmeal cookies, typically made with raisins and chocolate.

Impressively (and surprisingly), the ceiling fan was looking pretty good so far, so I decided that I'd reward MLF with some extra-special oatmeal cookies. No same ol' raisins and chocolate this time around. I broke out the good stuff - dried cranberries, toffee bits, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I even made an ice cream sandwich with the cookies which was stuffed with caramel pecan ice cream.

The ice cream sandwich was eaten before I could snap a pic. I'll post pictures of the cookies later though!

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, but made some tweaks. This is my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe ever. The cookies come out chewy and very crispy at the same time.


Prissy's Oatmeal Cookies full of toffee, crasins and chocolate!
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats (I used a mix of quick-oats and old fashioned)
1 cup dried cranberries (use however much you want, i used a bit less)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup toffee pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add the egg; mix on high speed to combine. Add the vanilla; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oats, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine after each addition.

4. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat, spacing 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Sweet Hearts

Valentine's Day cookie orders are completed! A day of baking, icing and wrapping produced 4 boxes of personalized "conversation heart" sugar cookies. I hope the valentine receipients get a kick outta them.

Fat/Fun Fest

The title pretty much sums up our MLK holiday weekend in Boston, flitting from one food establishment to the next, to the next, ad nauseum, literally! Highlights: Modern Pastry ("Can I eat a cannoli for breakfast?" Yes! If it's from Modern, you can and should eat it whenever you can), Flour Bakery (pass me another homemade oreo), East Ocean City (jumbo deepfried prawns swimming in kewpie and candied walnuts.. mmm).

But some of the most satisfying food came from the Tsai Kitchen, where master baker PT and sous chef/kitchen annoyance JT went to work on 2 varieties of delectable biscotti. The cranberry almond biscotti was studded with spicy crystallized ginger, bottoms coated with white chocolate. The other was a brownie-like, rich chocolate walnut mini biscotti. Potential new items for sweetstuffcookies??