Homemade Oreos... Sinfully Delicious

My friends are super supportive in my writing and cooking endeavors. Chances are, they get to eat the products I play with in the kitchen, so it’s not like they’re forced to endure my talking about these delicacies in vain. One of my closest friends, Jamie, actually got me a great book for my birthday “The Mac + Cheese Cookbook”, and I’ve been drooling over everything in here since.

It usually takes me forever to come up with the courage to try a recipe from cookbooks, but there was one in Arevalo and Wade’s book that I couldn’t wait to create: the homemade Oreos.

First, I made them for Mothers Day, and gave them as gifts to my mom, aunts and grandmother. My husband was livid – I didn’t have any leftovers for him. The next time I made the Oreos was for our church group. They were inhaled, and Matt was very happy for the leftovers.

Since everyone loved them, I figured I’d share them with all of you. They’re not particularly hard to make, and very easy to enjoy with your friends. (Unless you’re like my husband. Then you’ll wolf them down without sharing.)

Homemade Oreos

Cookie Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, for topping

Frosting Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• ¼ cup shortening (I used lard!)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions 

• Preheat your oven to 3750F. Prepare your baking tray with parchment paper.

• To make your cookies, start by mixing your flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I used a fork, and carefully sifted until the mixture looked like sand.

• Add your butter and eggs to the dry mixture, using your hand mixer on a low setting. Now your mixture will look like wet sand.

• Scoop out your dough into small balls, roughly smaller than a tablespoon. Make sure that you don’t make the dough balls too large, otherwise they won’t cook properly, and will be overly large. Sprinkle the topping with sea salt. 

• Bake your cookies until the dough starts to crack and puff up slightly. This will be approximately 6 minutes. These cookies will look underdone, and that’s ok! They are supposed to be soft. Let them cool on the tray. 

Now, for the filling!

(If you have a heavy duty mixer, here’s where you want to pull it out.)

• Blend your butter and shortening (lard).

• Slowly add your powdered sugar and vanilla, half cup at a time. Blend until it’s smooth.
• Place your filling in a pastry bag, or if you’re on a budget, in a heavy duty gallon bag with its tip cut off one corner.
• Once your cookies are cooled, pipe a dollop of filling in the middle, and press the remaining cookie on top.

 

Don't mind my larger cookies. I couldn't help myself.

• Take your shot and try to dip this bad boy in a glass of milk, and enjoy!

Delicious dinner rolls, Texas Roadhouse Style

I love eating bread. It’s not uncommon for me to sit across from the panaderia (That’s a Mexican bread shop, for you gringos) and drool until the freshest buns come out. Then I inhale them. 

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making bread, but was always terrified about the idea of working with yeast. Yeast. It sounds horribly difficult. However, if you’re afraid of something, face it head on. So here we go. I decided to follow a great recipe that I pulled off of Deliciously Yum. She mimicked Texas Roadhouse Rolls, which are sweet. Buttery. Delicious. It’s like eating a pillow and a marshmallow, but a lot better, because no one frowns on it.

So… don’t be afraid like me. Don’t be ashamed to eat these. Enjoy. Don’t share.

Wannabe Texas Roadhouse Dinner Rolls

Yields 18

2 1/4 (1 envelope) active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup lukewarm milk
3 tablespoons melted butter, slightly cooled
1/4 c. sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
melted butter for basting rolls

Instructions
1. Combine yeast and lukewarm water in your bowl and let stand for 10 minutes (until yeast starts to foam and bubble).


2. Add milk, melted butter and sugar to the yeast mixture and mix well. If you’re luckier than I am and have a standing mixer, use the paddle attachment. 

3. Add 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of flour to make a batter.  You want it to be very wet.

4. Add egg and salt and mix well. Again, if you have a mixer, switch to the dough hook and with the mixer running on medium speed, add remaining flour. Continue mixing for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth. I used my mixer, and a rubber spatula. 

5. Sprinkle some flour onto the counter and place dough on top. Let it rest for 10 minutes. While it rests, grease another bowl with butter. Place dough inside. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

6. Remove from the bowl and punch dough down. Place dough on floured surface and roll out into a square about 1/2 inch thick. 
7. Cut your dough into rectangles, about 3 inches by 2.5 inches. Place dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise again until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

This is far too long. I had to recut these bad boys down.

Now we let them RISE.

Nice and puffy.

8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready because the bun tops will be golden. Remove from oven and baste those buns with melted butter.

9. Enjoy them quickly.