What is there to say?  Oreos made from scratch.  They take the same amount of less effort than your average homegrown cookie but you look like a Rock Star when you share these beautifully nostalgic treats.  Go on, try it.  Bring a batch of these to your next party and people will act like you just clapped your hands and freaking doves flew out of your sleeves.

(That is, of course, if any of the cookies make it out of your house.)

Homemade Oreos Adapted from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

For the chocolate wafers:

• 1 ¼ cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

For the filling:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup (50  grams) vegetable shortening
• 2 cups (280 grams) sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

Note:  I used a small cookie scoop and flattened the cookie dough with the bottom of a drinking glass (moisten the glass with water if the dough start to stick to it).  I don’t have a pastry bag or tips so I just used the same cookie scoop (cleaned) to put the filling into the centers – once it’s squashed between two delicious chocolate cookies no one cares if you used a pastry bag or not.