Homemade Oreo's

This recipe had been popping up on a lot of blogs and I was very eager to try it out. I am not a very ‘store bought’ baked goods person. I’ve had way too many experiences when something that looks really good in a package: greatly disappoints when consumed. If I’m going to be ‘bad’ and treat myself to something sweet, I want to make sure it's well worth my while. There are of course a few exceptions to this statement, one of them being Oreo’s. I have loved Oreo’s since I was a kid. Remember back in the early 90’s when the icing was dyed neon? We rarely had store bought sweets in the house when I was young so whenever my Mom brought home a bag of Oreo’s it was a source of great excitement.
Above: Batch 1, Batch 2. and Batch 3.

For this recipe, I met a challenge immediately. Dutch process cocoa is not readily available in Canada. The difference between Dutch process and natural cocoa is the bane of many bakers’ existences. What is the difference? Dutch process cocoa has been treated with an alkali which neutralizes its acids. For this reason, any recipe that calls for Dutch process cocoa will always have baking powder in it unless there is another acidic ingredient in the recipe. Natural cocoa powder still posses its acids which means that when you’re making a recipe with this form of cocoa, you don’t require a baking powder: only a baking soda.

Now the recipe that I chose to make unfortunately called for Dutch process cocoa. I tried researching what alternatives could be used. One website suggested that if the quantity used in the recipe was less then ¾ of a cup, there would be no variation to the outcome. To me, this didn’t make a lot of sense but I decided to try it anyway. The first batch had a lot of spreading and all of them ended up cracking. I’m assuming this is because of the presence of both baking powder and baking soda, when my natural cocoa didn’t need it. I wanted to test what the final product would be before I started tweaking the recipe because I deal with many recipes that call for a type of cocoa I don’t have access to. So for the second batch I decided to eliminate the baking soda completely and double the baking powder. They turned out a lot better. There was very minimal spreading which was better for the overall Oreo effect. There was nothing wrong with the large first batch: they still tasted great and were crispy like an Oreo cookie should be. But the cracked appearance took it away from the look I was going for that the second batch accomplished. These two cookies came from the exact same recipe except for one had baking soda and one didn’t: look at what a difference that makes! Also, the second batch tasted a lot better then the larger cookies did. They were a lot fudgier on the inside, while the larger ones didn’t have an overly chocolate taste. Interesting!

So finally, I decided that there was one last variation that I had to try before this recipe was retired for a bit. My second batch still had too much rise for my liking, so for the third batch, I cut out the baking soda completely and put the original amount of baking powder that the recipe called for. This batch still had a little bit of rise to it but I liked the over all outcome much better. The cookies were still fudgy but had a good crispness to them. The cracked a little bit on top but not nearly as much as the first batch.

So the final verdict? These are not your store bought Oreo cookies. Crisp chocolate fudge cookies with a ‘very similar to the original’ vanilla icing. Consider them a gourmet version of your store favorite. I would still like to try the recipe with Dutch process cocoa but for now I’m satisfied with my 3^rd attempt variation on the recipe. I think one of the most interesting aspects of this kitchen experiment was when I took the three variations of cookies to work: everyone like a different one. There was no unanimous favorite to be had. Grab a tall glass of milk and try it out yourself!