Happy {almost} long weekend everyone! I just spent my entire morning looking for T’s monkey lovey. I had finally just about given up when T magically found it…I still don’t even know where it was. I could seriously save myself a lot of time my installing a GPS beacon on this thing. Hopefully I can have a more productive afternoon and evening!
This is usually a big ski weekend for us, but we are sticking close to home this year given my recent news. I’m definitely going to miss skiing this winter, but we are going to try to tackle some projects around the home while it’s cold out and we have the time. I’m hoping to hang the canvas photos I had printed, install black-out shades in our master bedroom, and attempt a major organizing project in our basement. I’m also got some new and some old recipes lined up to make- Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa Verde, Pan-Seared Steak with Chive-Horseradish Butter, Khalil’s Turkey & White Bean Chili, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Gooey Butter Cake.
A few weeks ago, Aunt N brought over some Homemade Oreos that she had made and I instantly fell in love with them. The original recipe is from Joanne Chang, who owns Flour bakery + cafe (You must visit one of the locations if you are ever visiting Boston!) After trying these cookies, I added her cookbook to my Amazon birthday wish list! I know in the past that I have said that I enjoy cooking a lot more than baking, but our 12 days of Christmas Cookies has gotten me off on a bit of a baking kick.
This recipe for Homemade Oreos was fairly easy to make…if you like them, you may want to consider doubling the recipe and freezing the dough in the log format. Homemade Oreos are definitely a tasty treat to have on hand. It’s totally up to you, but I thought the cookies I made in these photos came out a little big…I would rather have a larger quantity of smaller cookies. Next time, I will roll the log out so the diameter is thinner, but the log is longer. Then, I would cut the log into ~40 slices instead of 32. Again, it’s just a preference thing.
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 and ½ cups flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 and ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 pinch salt
- Mix the melted butter and sugar together with a whisk in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in the vanilla and melted chocolate. Add the egg and stir until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients for the cookies (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) and stir together. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge for 1 hour (or until firm.)
- Once the dough has firmed up, remove it from the fridge and place it on a long sheet of parchment paper. Using your hands, roll it into a long long. The original recipe calls for the log to be about 10 inches long and 2 and 2/1 inches in diameter. I thought these cookies ended up rather large, so I would recommend rolling the log to about 12 inches long and 2 inches or less in diameter. Roll the parchment around the log and wrap tight. Refrigerate the log of dough for about 2 hours (or until firm.)
- After the two hours has passed, set to oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare two baking pans by lining them with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, then remove the paper from the log. The original recipe calls for the log to be cut into 32 slices, but if you wanted smaller cookies, I would recommend aiming for 40 slices. A good trick is to cut the log in half, then halve each half again. You can then get a pretty good sense of what each slice needs to be for each quarter log. Place each slice on the baking sheet about an inch apart (they will expand while baking.)
- Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes. They are done when the centers are firm. Once done, remove the pans from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the sheets.
- Meanwhile, begin to prepare the frosting. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth.
- Next, add in the milk and salt. Continue to beat frosting filling until well-mixed and smooth.
- Once cookies are cool, spread ~1 tablespoon frosting filling on the flat side of a cookie. Place the flat side of another cookie on the frosting and press two cookies together. Continue to frost the remainder of the cookies.
Source: Recipe from Flour Bakery
Have a great holiday weekend!
