Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Ok, let’s start by calling these what they are – homemade Oreos. They’re not identical, of course, but they are essentially the same thing. Certainly the same concept.

The first time I made anything like this was from a Martha Stewart recipe. Someone gave me Martha’s cookie sheets as a gift, and on top of them was a paper that included a recipe for chocolate sandwich cookies.

Have you ever made one of Martha Stewart’s dessert recipes? I have, and I learned two things:

1. The cookies were fantastic. Seriously, one of the best things I’ve ever made and everyone loved them

2. They were a HELL of a lot of work. I mean, a ton of work. As in, set aside your whole damn day to make fake Oreos.

Nope.

They were good – excellent, even. But honestly I don’t have the kind of time required to make them, and I assume very few other people do either.

On the other hand, damn they’re good. So I set out – can I make something similar, but a little easier on both the time and effort fronts?

Turns out the answer to that is “yes” 😊

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

· 1 ¾ cups flour

· ¾ cup sugar

· 2/3 cup sweetened dark chocolate cocoa

· ½ t baking soda

· ¼ salt

· ½ t vanilla

· 14 T butter, softened to room temperature

· 1 egg white

· 1 T warm water

Filling

· ½ cup shortening

· 9 T butter, softened to room temperature

· 2 ½ cups powdered sugar

· 2 t vanilla

· 1/4 t salt

Directions

Let’s start with the cookies. Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl and whisk until well blended. Next, add in the vanilla, butter, egg white and water and mix with your hand mixer.

Roll the dough into logs about 2 inches in diameter (the thicker the log, the bigger your cookies will be. Since you have to pipe the filling onto them, I generally make them a decent size across…that way, less piping which I always manage to make a huge mess).

Clearly not attractive…but stay with me!

Wrap each log in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill in the fridge for at least two hours (but overnight is cool too).

When you’re ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and cut them into slices, placing the slices on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes, until they’re set and take them out of the oven. Leave them on the sheets for a couple minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

You don’t need to add the filling immediately. If you want, you can make the cookies ahead of time and store them in an airtight container until you’re ready.

When you are ready, mix together the shortening and butter until the mixture is kind of fluffy. Add in the sugar, vanilla and salt and mix until everything is well blended.