MAKE YOUR OWN OREOS.
A favorite writer of ours, Michael Pollan, gives this food rule: "Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself." While this may be a TAD extreme - homemade french fries every day might not be a good idea - I am a firm believer in this basic idea. I have a sweet tooth that can be a bit terrifying at times (see numerous previous posts mentioning donuts). In moments when I find myself in the panic of a craving, it helps to slow down and take the time to bake something instead of rushing to the store. So recently, I decided to make my own Oreos. I found the recipe here, and of course I only vaguely followed it, but BY GOLLY it worked! I’m serious, ya’ll. These taste just like Oreos! They are by no means healthy, but they are definitely healthier than supporting Nabisco, and I used lots of raw honey and butter instead of sugar and shortening. Hooray for homemade junk food!Making these cookies was incredibly easy. You could use cookie cutters and make these look a little bit more like the Real Thing if you want, but it seemed like a shame to waste any bit of cookie to me!
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup of room temperature butter
- 1 large egg
Mix all your dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt)
Beat in the egg, butter, and honey until the whole mixture turns into a sticky dough.
Use heaping teaspoons full of batter, placing them on baking sheet (greased or parchment paper) about 2 inches a part. It seems like not a lot of dough, but it really works well. Wet your palm and press the balls of dough to flatten them.
The original recipe recommends to bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. I did more like 5-6 minutes, but I really like chewy cookies.
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp milk
I simply whisked everything together in a deep-set bowl, but if you have a mixer I suppose that is the proper way.
Place the icing in the fridge for a while to let it thicken a bit, then place a dollop in between two cookies (once they have cooled) and smush them together until the icing spreads to the edges. See, easy!
