homemade oreos, rose + peanut butter filled.

So I was eating turkey chili just now before I sat down at my laptop to start writing this post. Of course I got distracted and checked up on the food & fashion blogs I regularly read, all my email accounts (way too many), and tastespotting before finally arriving hurr.

Then I got back up to get my new favorite "chapstick" because my lips were simply parched, and I saw that I hadn't finished all my chili .. !!!

Best feeling. The same thing happened with these oreos. I'll explain.


I made the chocolate sandwich cookies first. The dough for these is ridiculously good. There's a good amount of salt that definitely complements the dark coffee & coca flavors.

Some of it is going to somehow end up on the papillae of your tongue & you're going to regret finding out how crazy good it is. You will also try to stop yourself from eating it by remembering how dangerous salmonella can be (because that always works ..) ... until you realize there are no eggs involved. And then before you know it, you're eating more dough than you're rolling.

Heed my warning & try to prevent this from happening.

I love this picture. The lighting is freaking awesome. Also partially
because I remember how good it tasted.

The dough is not only easy to make, requires little ingredients, and is eggless, but it doesn't have to be chilled, like most sandwich cookie dough! Just roll it straight after it's made.

It is slightly sticky. I took pictures of the steps I used to transfer the rounds from rolling surface to pan easier. I won't detail them in the recipe, because the pictures say it all. I used a pretty small cookie cutter.

Roll out the dough on a layer of plastic wrap with a floured rolling
pin. Peel away excess dough.Place silicon mat directly above plastic
wrap. Gently, but tightly pull & fold edges of plastic wrap over
the silicon mat.

Holding the left and right sides, flip the mat over quickly. The dough
rounds should remain intact.

Pull away the plastic wrap. Be gentle.

Voila.

These can be filled with whatever you like! I mixed cream cheese, a little butter, and some powdered sugar as a base. I divided this in two, and added natural peanut butter to one half, and rose flavoring and rose syrup to the other half. I also just sandwiched some with nutella.

You could also do an espresso or fruit filling. Or citrus buttercream? Yummmm.

And then I made ice cream sandwiches out of the remaining cookies. And this is where I got the same feeling as I just did from my turkey chili. I forgot about the ice cream sandwiches until yesterday, as I was looking for dessert we could eat after the BBQ we had. These were a perfect little accompaniment to the fruit platter of watermelon, oranges, and fresh apricots my mom made.

Second warning: these are kind of addictive and easy to eat. And that's all I'm going to say.

Homemade Oreos
cookie recipe barely adapted from here. there IS a significant amount of salt, but it's so delicious, so definitely add that much.

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 1/2 cups + 3 TB flour 
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1 1/2 tspns salt 
• 3/4 tspn instant coffee granules 
• 15 TB unsalted butter, room temp, cut into smallish cubes (I subbed 2 Tb with sour cream. Worked perfectly.)

1. Combine all ingredients from sugar to coffee granules in a bowl.
2. If using mixer, add in butter, a couple cubes at a time, and mix with the paddle function. Texture will start sandy. As it comes together, turn out and combine with hands. 
3. If mixing by hand, add all butter in at once. Make sure its softened. Meld the butter into the flour mixture using the back of a wooden spoon. Dough will come together. 
4. Roll out dough to 1/8". Use the method detailed in pictures above to transfer dough rounds to cookie sheet. If using a different method, be sure to back the cookies on parchment paper or a silicon mat.
5. Bake 12 - 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven & let cool a couple minutes on the sheet until they can be transferred to a cooling rack. Cool completely on rack, before filling.
6. For the filling, combine equal amounts butter & cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until the desired consistency and taste is acquired. Add flavorings (such as vanilla or almond extracts, rose flavoring, jam, marmalade, peanut butter [in which case, add less sugar], espresso powder dissolved in 2 tspns hot milk, or zest), if desired. 
7. Add about a 1/2 TB filling to each cookie. Can also fill with 1-2 TBs ice cream & freeze. Store in airtight container. Enjoy!