Thomas Keller Oreos

Over the last two and half years of food blogging, I've noticed that people like to posts certain recipes in waves. For instance, lately, I've been seeing a lot of homemade marshmallow posts.  I'm proud to say (brag) that I made them two years ago (and again recently for Eat My Blog). Other times, I fall way behind on the trend like with these homemade Oreos.  I've had the recipe saved for ages, but I'm not sure why I never got around to making them.  In any case, I finally got the chance to make these last week...just in time for my oven to crap out on me. It was insane. I put the cookies in and three minutes later my fire alarm was going off like crazy and I had a burnt mess instead of little flower shaped cookies.  It was not pretty. I did manage to get a couple of usable cookies, but my oven remains on the fritz. Maybe there will be a new one in my near future...and possibly a new apartment as well. The recipe below is how I made the cookies. The filling was still pretty liquid even after the 6 hour hardening time so I whipped it with a hand mixer to get a thicker consistency. I definitely want to try making these when I have a correctly functioning oven because was little I could taste around the burnt parts was absolutely delicious. The cookies are slightly salty and reminiscent of World Peace Cookies without chocolate chips and help balance the sweetness of the filling. I normally hate white chocolate, but it works well here.  Fingers crossed that I have a new oven soon!




Thomas Keller Oreos
(From Essence of Chocolate)

Makes 18-24 sandwich cookies

For the filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped (I used chips and did not chop)

For the cookies:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3/4 inch cubes, at room temperature

To make the filling:
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to boil over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the white chocolate, making sure it is immersed in the cream. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk to completely melt the chocolate.

Transfer the filling to a small bowl and let it stand for 6 hours, or until it thickens enough to spread. If the filling hardens too much, it can be re-warmed in the microwave.

To make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt on low speed until combined. With the mixer still on low speed, add the butter a few pieces at a time until it is all in the bowl. The dough will be sandy at first, but it will come together. When it does, stop the mixer.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and form it into a block about 5 by 7 inches. Cut the block into two pieces. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Using a 2 or 2.5-inch round cutter, cut rounds from the dough and place them 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Scraps of dough can be re-rolled to cut more cookies.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool on them for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely.

To assemble the cookies, turn half of the cookies so the flat side faces up. Whisk or beat the filling until fluffy and has soft peaks. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag and cut a small hole in the tip of the bag. Pipe about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the filling on the center of each of the flipped cookies. Top with another cookie and gently press the cookie together until the filling spreads evenly to the edge. The cookies will keep in an airtight container for 3 days.

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