Running to Bake: Do-it-Yourself Oreos

I really love Oreos. I'm not sure what it is about them, but whenever they are in the house, I can't help myself from eating them. ALL of them.

However, since starting my Clean Living Challenge (which is going great so far!) I've had to cut back/cut out any junk food that I didn't make myself. The solution? Make my own Oreos! Of course I headed over to the trusty Pinterest (remembering I had seen them on there before) and found this recipe.

One note: I found this dough completely frustrating to work with. It kept ripping and splitting apart (might be something to do with the fact I don't have a rolling pin and had to use a glass to roll the dough out...naaaaaaah) but the end product was TOTALLY worth it.

I also don't have a 2" cookie cutter like the recipe suggested, so again, I used a class to cut out the circles (which ended up being more like 3") so they were bigger and I should have been baked a little longer than the suggested 12 minutes. In the end, mine were a little soft. Didn't make a difference to me though, these things are epic!

Do-it-Yourself Oreos

adapted from My Kitchen Addiction

Ingredients:

For the Cookie :
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

For the filling:
1/2 cup salted butter (softened)
2 tbsp 10% cream
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
3 cups icing sugar

Method:
In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until nice and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix until everything is combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until evenly mixed. With your mixer on LOW, slowly add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time. Add until everything is JUST mixed. I found that my mixer didn't get everything quite mixed, so a kneaded it together a little bit with my hands.

Divide the dough into 2 even sized discs, wrap separately in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

When the hour is up, remove 1 disc & preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a couple of baking sheets with a baking mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin (or in my case, a Canadian Club glass) and roll the dough out until it is about 1/8-1/4" thick. Use a cookie cutter that is about 2" in diameter to cut out the circles & transfer to your mat. Roll up the scraps & continue until you're almost out. Continue until you have used up both discs of dough (you may have a little left over which you can re-shape into a basic cookie!)

Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. If your cookies are thinner, you won't need them to bake as long as the thicker ones. I baked mine (3" across) for 12 minutes and they came out a little soft, but I liked them that way! When they are done, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool COMPLETELY.

While the cookies are cooling, it's time to whip up the icing! In the bowl for your stand mixer, use a hand mixer to combine the softened butter, cream, vanilla and salt until all combined. Add your bowl to the stand mixer and set the speed on low. SLOWLY start adding the icing sugar bit by bit and watch it come together. This icing is quite stiff once it is all finished, but that's what you want!

Put the icing in a piping bag fitted with a large round tip or flower tip (which is what I used). Pipe onto one cookie and finish everything off by adding a cookie to the top! VOILA! You've made your own Oreo!