the gregarious homebody


Friday, July 11, 2008

*"Homeos"--WHY? Because they ROCK!

So I'm reading Alexis' blog and, shockingly, (not so if you've read it) develop an the itch to bake. AND I've got the perfect excuse (and a place to take all said baking instead of eating it ALL BY MYSELF--another tip from Alexis)--Audrey's annual 4th of July Crab Party. Since my local orchard stand has a sign up for sour cherries, of course I'm going to make something with them. The season is oh-so-short and I think they're my second favorite fruit for desserts. But something else caught my eye on the blog and a good Jewish girl always brings something chocolate, so I tried a recipe for--



Homemade Oreos!



Now I know you're all "WHAAA??" and "Why the hell would you MAKE THEM when you can buy a pack for $3.99 AND get double-stuffed?" but I love the idea of making something homey (read: all-natural) and I LOVE Oreos and I was bored after being locked in a house for almost 2 weeks with a kid with a summer cold.



adding softened butter to the chocolatey goodness


And they were really really worth it. OY. Crispy but a little chewier than *real* Oreos, with a more buttery filling (with no trans fats, thank you very much, thanks to this), and THANK THE LORD, they were so rich that even I couldn't eat more than two at a sitting (and this from a girl who once ate an entire package of the store-bought over the course of an hour. Yuck.).

Dutched cocoa is key to the almost black dough. No fancy kind here for *authenticity*

Are they a tad fussy? NO! Honest to g-d. The only special piece of equipment I would suggest you definitely use is a pastry bag because if you use it, the filling looks so good--you know, like it's squashed down perfectly even all around. If you're either a) a retard like me with a spatula or b)a somewhat type A person like me when it comes to stuff like this, you'll thank me for the suggestion.
balls of dough ready for the oven after flattening them with the bottom of a glass sprayed with Pam

finished cookie discs (cracky tops) awaiting their creamy filling


Two things I did that the recipe didn't specify are refrigerating the panned balls of dough (so that they were easier to flatten) and I also flipped the baked cookies and filled them so that the outside was on the inside. Huh?! Just bake your cookies and you'll see--the tops of the cookies are a teeny bit puffy and cracky. I simply put that part on the inside of the sandwich cookie so that the outside of the finished cookie was flat like the real thing. Check out the recipe here. Smitten Kitchen is an awesome site for fab food pics and recipes that deliver.






*I know this name sounds like some kind of homosexual/urban lingo derivative, but my 12 year old son thought of it all by himself without a hint of irony.

12 comments:

Regardez Moi said...

OMG those look amazing. And it's that time of the month over here. So really, that post was like, torture.

jen said...

If you're very very good and aren't afraid to give me your REAL address (despite my stalker tendencies)I could MAYBE send you some. Because I feel your pain. I really do.

Regardez Moi said...

Hmmmm....do you promise not to put razor blades in them? My mom warned me about that.... :-) (that right there was a smiley face softener. as if to say - that was a joke! i know you wouldn't put razor blades in my cookies!) (but seriously, you wouldn't do that would you??)

The Handsome Husband said...

The only additive I've ever added to baked goods was green.

:o)

jen said...

OOPS! That last comment wasn't Handsome Husband, it was ME. I hate sharing a computer--I'm going back to my laptop.

HH doesn't bake. Or BAKE.

Anymore.


Much.

Regardez Moi said...

LOL! (I hate using LOL but it was appropriate this time becuase well, I squealed out loud when i read this. So maybe I should have written SOL. But that has another connotation entirely.) ANNYWAY - HAHA! Who doesn't like an environmentally friendly brownie? Get it? Huh, huh??

Anonymous said...

This would so take the guilt out of stuffing my face with the things--if you put the labor into making them, it's justified to eat tons of them, right?

Anonymous said...

Ok....she's right; they're awesome. I made them tonight--and fairly quickly, I might add--w/the assistance of two 9 y.o. helpers--who, I might add again, couldn't stop talking about how good they were going to be. And, they were right. Most excellent. The pastry bag bombed on my end, though. The filling was a bit thick and dry and I was using all my strength to squeeze the junk through the tube. I managed to spatula it on ok, but was wondering if my texture was off for some reason. Damn good. I didn't refrigerate the balls--b/c I missed that in the instructions--and they flattened ok. I actually sprayed a little Pam on the heel of my hand. Even w/the 2 girls spooning the dough onto the cookie sheet we still managed to get relatively well matched cookies. Go figure!! Thanks Jen for pointingin out this recipe. I think it will be a regular.

Anonymous said...

Ok....she's right; they're awesome. I made them tonight--and fairly quickly, I might add--w/the assistance of two 9 y.o. helpers--who, I might add again, couldn't stop talking about how good they were going to be. And, they were right. Most excellent. The pastry bag bombed on my end, though. The filling was a bit thick and dry and I was using all my strength to squeeze the junk through the tube. I managed to spatula it on ok, but was wondering if my texture was off for some reason. Damn good. I didn't refrigerate the balls--b/c I missed that in the instructions--and they flattened ok. I actually sprayed a little Pam on the heel of my hand. Even w/the 2 girls spooning the dough onto the cookie sheet we still managed to get relatively well matched cookies. Go figure!! Thanks Jen for pointingin out this recipe. I think it will be a regular.

jen said...

Vick, so glad you liked them. Do you often spread Pam on your hand? Hmmm??

Ambika, anything made in your own kitchen is automatically HEALTHY. It's known fact.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...do I often put Pam on my hand? I could go many, many places w/that one, but not today. Use your imagination.

Anonymous said...

ooh, i'm all over these! thanks + going to try this...loove oreos.

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