Homemade Oreo Cookies

A favorite treat of mine are Oreo cookies dunked in a cup of black coffee. OH.MY.WORD. that is some serious deliciousness.

With Valentine's coming up, I was struggling to come up with something to make for my son's class. I had a dilemma... food allergies. Two little girls in his class have food allergies. One little girl is allergic to apricots, and the other girl is allergic to peanuts and eggs. This makes things a tad more challenging. I found a recipe for homemade Oreo cookies from Sugar Cooking's blog, but had to alter the recipe, slightly. These cookies are absolutely amazing! WOW, I don't think I will ever purchase another pack of oreos again... they were also very easy to make.

Homemade Oreo CookiesCookie Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa or cocoa powder for baking works well
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
3 to 4 tbsp milk
For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tsp milk
2 to 3 drops red food coloring*

1. Preheat to 375°F. Retrieve two baking sheets. If you don't have two baking sheets, the remaining dough will have to be refrigerated while the wafers are cooking in the oven. This will stop the cookies from spreading to much.
2. In a bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the milk. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate and bake for another 3 to 4 minutes. Set cookies on cooling rack. Makes about 24 Oreo cookies, total of 48 wafers.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar, vanilla, milk, and food coloring*. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk or coffee.

*optional

Since these are for my son's class for Valentine's Day, I made them a little more special by using a gel icing to write "XO" on the top of the cookie and sprinkling pink decorative sugar over the "XO." Then I placed one cookie in a muffin tin, so each kid will have a special treat.