Hey, it’s Chef Kieron here! It’s been a tough week with both our 5 and 7 year old boys home from school, and my wife Joanie and I are constantly looking for ways to entertain them outside of plopping them down in front of the TV. My solution? Get them in the kitchen. If they are going to make a mess playing, we might as well make a mess cooking! I’m excited to share this homemade oreo cookie recipe, which we made today. This is a favorite in the Hales household. Recipe makes 20 cookie sandwiches.
Materials
- 18 inch straight rolling pin
- 18x13 inch sheet tray
- 2¾ inch round cookie cutter
- Star Wars cookie cutters (optional)
- Medium digital scale or micro scale (optional)
- Rolling mat (optional)
- Rolling guides (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (282g) unsalted butter, softened (salted is ok)
- 1 cup (215g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8g) kosher salt
- 2 (104g) large eggs
- 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups (130g) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon (4g) baking soda
- 2 cups (200g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon (10g) vanilla extract or essence
Instructions
Making the Cookies
- In a large bowl, or Kitchen Aid with a K blade, blend together 1 cup (225g) butter with granulated sugar and salt, until light and fluffy. Your kids can help measure out your ingredients and it is a great opportunity to practice their math skills.
- Beat in eggs until fully incorporated. My kids love cracking eggs, but oftentimes we get a few bits of shell in the bowl. By wetting your finger with a bit of water, you can more easily pick out any shell.
- Use a sieve to sift flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda into a bowl and mix fully. Everyone can participate in shaking the sieve!
- Using a dessert spoon, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix until combined. Be sure to supervise this as you do not want your spoon to hit the blade.
- Place the dough onto a floured work surface and form a large ball.
- Divide into 4 individual balls, flattening them to flat disks about 1 inch thick.
- Wrap 4 dough disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325˚F (160˚C).
- Remove one batch of dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured surface or silicon rolling mat.
- Roll the dough to ¼ inch (½ cm) thickness. My kids love rolling out the dough! Just remember to help them rotate it in between rolls.
- Using a 2¾ inch (7 cm) cookie cutter, cut the dough into individual rounds and place on a parchment-lined sheet tray, leaving at least ½ inch (1¼ cm) between each cookie. Don’t have any cookie cutters? Try using a ball jar lid instead!
- With the scraps, re-form into a ball then re-roll it out to cut additional cookies. Repeat with this process with each batch of dough.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through.
Making the Filling
- While your cookies are baking, it’s time to make the filling.
- Combine 1/2 cup (57g) butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl or the Kitchen Aid with a K blade. Beat together until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Your kids can help measure out your ingredients. Whether you are using cups or a scale, this is a great opportunity to practice some math!
Assembling the Cookies
- Remove cookies from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Leave until cool, or until the kids can’t take it anymore. For us, this lasts about 12 minutes.
- To assemble the cookies, take a generous teaspoon of filling and spread it out on top of one of your cookies. Sandwich another cookie on top and give it a light squeeze. Repeat this process until there are no cookies left. Everyone can participate in this process! A few cookies may break, and a few may be eaten, but that’s all part of the fun.
- Time to eat! Serve up your cookies with a chilled glass of milk and enjoy.
