Homemade Oreos

Making Homemade Oreos from scratch is so easy! These cookies are 100% homemade- there's no cake mix or fake ingredients! Smooth and creamy icing is sandwiched between two dark chocolate, crisp wafers. These cookies are crunchy but never dry and the flavor is beyond anything you'd ever get in a package.

This recipe for Homemade Oreos, changes everything about Oreos for me.

Who here is a creme fan?! As a kid, I would always twist apart the cookie, tossing the blank and eating the side with the icing. But now that I've been making my own, instead of filling up on all that creme, it's all about that dark chocolate wafer.

I swear Oreos have changed over the years. Now that I'm all grown up, I actually can't help but notice how dry and flavorless the cookies are.

This recipe produces cookies that are intensely chocolatey and are crunchy all the way through without being too dry. There is a special ingredient required to really nail the flavor of these cookies. You will need to pick up some black cocoa for this recipe. Black cocoa is the only way you are going to achieve the richness and darkness closest to an actual Oreo. 

What is Black Cocoa?

Black Cocoa is very, very dark and intense Dutch process cocoa. The color is much deeper than normal cocoa powder and is, in my opinion, the best secret ingredient for making any chocolate baked good DEEPLY chocolately.

In my research for Oreo recipes, I found that many of them called for 100% use of black cocoa. This cocoa powder can be more bitter (due to its intensity) so I decided to blend it with normal Dutch process cocoa. I think using the two types of cocoa was the right choice for this cookie. The cocoa blend made for a softer complexity which I really enjoyed. It was a nice balance.

If you're a dark chocolate lover, definitely feel free to experiment with the cocoa proportions using more black cocoa!

Ever since discovering black cocoa, I started experimenting with using it into my other chocolate recipes (cake, frosting, brownies...) and it totally transforms every recipe I put it in. The chocolate flavor is much better and richer. I LOVE this stuff.

How to Make Homemade Oreos

Making the dough is very straightforward. This recipe is 100% completely from scratch! These Homemade Oreos are NOT made with cake mix! It was very important for me to have a recipe that is totally homemade.

You'll combine the ingredients as instructed, but be on the lookout that the dough is the correct consistency. See how it pulls away from the sides of the bowl in the below photo? It shouldn't stick to your fingers much either.

If after mixing all of the ingredients and your dough is too dry, add a teaspoon or two of milk to moisten it up. If it's too sticky, add a dusting of flour.

It is important that the dough consistency is right so that your cookies crisp up all the way through. Whenever I follow this recipe, I've never had to add anything, but I wanted to share some troubleshooting tips just in case!

Next, roll the dough out very thin, about ⅛ of an inch. I keep a clear ruler near my station to check the thickness as I'm rolling out my dough. I also keep a pastry brush nearby to brush extra flour off the tops. It's a great trick to keep your cookies lookin' clean!

Cut the cookies with a round cookie cutter (I used a fluted edged biscuit cutter) and bake!

How do I know when my cookies are done?

These ones are a little tough because you won't be able to see them brown edges very easily since they are so dark. I test baked a few cookies until I got the baking time right. That way, I did not end up putting a whole tray of cookies at risk. You're looking for these cookies to be firm and crisp, but not rock hard. For me, it took exactly 13 minutes for the cookies to bake until they were crunchy but not overdone.

I recommend starting at 10 minutes, and checking them at each minute from there until your cookies are baked perfectly. When you go to check on them in the oven, they should feel firm to the touch and there should be no sheen/shine on the tops. Allow your test batch to cool to know if your cookies are the correct crispness, before baking off the full trays,

Making the cream filling for Homemade Oreos is just as easy as you think it would be. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until you get a nice "Oreo creme" consistency. Spread on one cookie and sandwich it with another.

And, voila. Homemade Oreos!!

Homemade Oreos

5 from 2 reviews

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Ingredients

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For the Cookies

• ½ c butter (,softened at room temp)
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• ½ c Dutch blend cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp dark cocoa powder
• 1 ¾ c all-purpose flour

For the Creme Filling

• 2 ½ c powdered sugar
• ¼ c vegetable shortening
• ¼ c butter (,softened at room temp)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar until totally smooth, using a hand mixer.
3. Mix in the vanilla & salt, ensuring to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl using a spatula.
4. Add the egg and mix well, scraping down the bowl again.
5. Gently stir in the cocoa powder until just combined.
6. Lastly, mix in the flour on low speed until a dough forms. Do not over mix the dough. The dough should be on the thicker side and shouldn't be too moist. (it shouldn't stick to the sides of the bowl). The dough should be fairly easy to handle. If it's sticky, add a little more flour, if it is too dry, add a teaspoon or two of milk.
7. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is ⅛ inch thick. Use a ruler to measure to be exact.
8. Use a round 2" cutter to cut out the cookies. Place them on the prepared trays (these don't spread much so you can place them about 1 ½ inches apart).
9. Bake cookies for about 10-13 minutes or until the edges look and feel crisp all the way through. My tip is to start off with a test cookie, to see how long they will need to bake in your oven. After you cool down your test cookie, it should be crisp all the way through but not too hard.
10. As the cookies cool, prepare the frosting. Combine all ingredients in a bowl using a hand mixer. If the icing is too thick, add a teaspoon of water until you reach the desired consistency (stiff, but still able to flatten it between the two cookies).
11. Spread the icing and sandwich the cookies together. Store for up to 1 week in an airtight container.

Notes

Recipe by Owlbbaking.com