Milk and Cookies

Hi Everyone! So sorry for the time away from the blog - I hope you all aren't too upset. I had a few "bumps in the road" here that held me up for a bit but all is well now :) (For those of you wondering, I was mugged while on the DC metro system and, unfortunately, my iPhone with all my wonderful baking pictures was stolen, but as I said all is well now).

So... I was going to write a post about these AMAZING corn muffins I made last night. But then I thought no, it is not exciting enough (look for that post on Wednesday!) I felt like I needed to come back with a post that you could get really excited about, something you would really want to try. How about homemade Oreo Cookies?

I thought that might get your attention :)

I love Oreo Cookies (well, c'mon, who doesn't?!). There is something about the chocolate cookie and the cream filling that just hits the spot. However, I'm not a fan of ingredients that I cannot pronounce and sadly the nutrition label on the Oreo bag has one to many for my liking.

A few quick notes before you start. The recipe calls for dutch process cocoa - this is what will give your cookies the iconic color of a real Oreo, you know the kind that will leave little bits of black cookie on your teeth when you bite into it. However, dutch process cocoa is sometimes hard to find so you can use regular cocoa powder as well. Recently Hershey's has come out with a "Special Dark Cocoa" which is a blend of Dutch process and natural cocoa and it is what I used when making the cookies and it worked well. And beware, this recipe get messy!! I hope you enjoy the cookies!



Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients


2 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of dutch process cocoa (you can also use natural cocoa powder)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (kosher salt works best, but table salt can be used)
1 cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat Oven to 350*. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (this will make your clean up a breeze)

Mix together the flour, cocoa and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
Add the flour mixture in very slowly, allowing the mixture to become fully combined before the next addition.

Once your dough has come together roll out on a surface "floured" with flour and cocoa. Your dough will look dry, but do not worry, it should :)

This is where it starts to get really messy!

Even as you roll out your dough it will still seem kind of dry and crumbly, yet it will stick to the rolling pin, just make sure to flour your rolling pin as you go along and you will be fine. I would suggest rolling it fairly thin, this will ensure that they will cook thoroughly. (Think back to making Christmas cookies with mom... the the thinner the cookie the crispier it was).

Then take a cookie cutter of your choice and cut away! I used a small fluted biscuit cutter and then went back and left an impression of a second smaller cutter as a design.

"Flouring" your cutter with flour and cocoa will help the dough from sticking.

These cookies will not expand as you cook them so you don't have to worry about having too much space between each one on the sheet. Once you place them onto the baking sheet put them in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Bake at 350* for 8 minutes (for thin cookies) and up to 10 for slightly thicker cookies.
Let the cookies cool before filling!

Cream Filling
Ingredients 

1 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons of COLD water
(Bowl of hot water)
1/2 cup of shortening (such as Crisco)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

Stir together the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl or cup. Place the cup/bowl into the hot water and let sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture become transparent (it will not be completely clear depending on the brand you are using).  Remove the cup from the hot water and let it sit for 5 minutes.

In a medium size bowl beat the shortening until it starts to become fluffy
Add the vanilla
On LOW speed, a few heaping tablespoons at a time, add the powdered sugar
Once all of the powdered sugar has been incorporated add in the gelatin mixture
Make sure that everything has mixed together

To make the cookie sandwiches place about a teaspoon of cream filling onto an upside down cookie, add a second cookie right side up and gently press together. And voila! Homemade Oreo cookies :)

If you make your cookies about the size of the original you will end up with about 30 cookie sandwiches. I made my cookies a bit on the thicker side and had 24 cookie sandwiches!

Enjoy!

"Nestle Toulouse"

One of my favorite episodes of Friends centers around Monica and her quest to recreate Phoebe's Grandmother's chocolate chip cookie recipe (appropriately named "The One With Phoebe's Cookies"). Monica tries every variation of a chocolate chip cookie recipe she can think of with no success only to hear Phoebe declare that she remembered her Grandmother saying she got the recipe from a French friend name "Nestle Toulouse".  <Insert canned laughter here> The episode cracks me up each and every time I see it mostly because I can relate. My own Grandmother's "secret" chocolate chip cookie recipe is printed on the back of that yellow bag of chocolate chips. And her sugar cookie recipe? Well, lets just say I have the cut off side of what I can only guess was a baking soda box from 1952.

But seriously, is there anything better than a classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie?

J had requested a dessert to bring into the office today so naturally I went directly to my Old Faithful.. the chocolate chip cookie.

Don't you just want a spoon??

I have only two simple recommendations when making the cookies. The first is USE BUTTER! Specifically, use unsalted butter. (This is actually a great guideline for any sort of baking adventure you find yourself embarking on). And the second is learning that your refrigerator is your best friend. If you are baking in a hot kitchen or if you live in a hot and humid climate your dough will start to become too soft. There is a fine line between softened dough that you can spoon onto a cookie tray and dough that is already melting that will give you flat, thin cookies.

I love my iPhone, but I really need to invest in a real camera.

And for those of you who do not have the Toll House Cookie recipe you can find it here. The only thing left to do... go get a glass of milk and enjoy!

The final product!

Just in case J forgets who made the cookies for him :)