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Faux-Reos


Who doesn't love these dark-as-sin sandwich cookies? Who hasn't ALWAYS loved them? They're a childhood favorite, but let's face it; many of us still rank them #1 in our personal Cookie Hall of Fame.

This updated classic includes trans-fat-free shortening in the filling, and organic white whole wheat flour in the cookie. Use our regular King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (or our unbleached organic flour) if you must; but trust me, you'll never know you're eating whole wheat when you bake with our King Arthur 100% Organic White Whole Wheat Flour. I say this with pride: it's the best flour on the planet!

P.S. Spring for the black cocoa, too; it makes these cookies black as a moonless night, just like the supermarket originals.

Read our blog about these cookies, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.

Ingredients

Cookies

Filling

  • about 6 standard-size candy canes or 3 ounces peppermint hard candies*, optional
  • 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (omit if you're making the peppermint version)
  • 2 teaspoons cold water*
  • *If you're adding the peppermint candy, increase the water to 2 tablespoons

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, or more if you have them.

2) To make the cookies: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, and espresso powder. That's right; there's no leavening in this recipe, so don't worry that something's been left out.

3) Beat in the egg, water, and vanilla, then the flour and cocoa. The dough will be very stiff.

4) Roll the dough into balls about the size of a chestnut (about 2 level teaspoons). A teaspoon cookie scoop works fabulously here, as well as for the filling. If you don't have one, consider a purchase; you won't regret it. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2" to 2" between them.

5) Use the flat bottom of a glass, dipped in cocoa as necessary to prevent sticking, to flatten the cookies to about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. The end of a food processor's pusher tool works well here, too. Take a ruler and measure the cookies' thickness; you want to get pretty close to this measurement, for the best-textured cookies.

6) Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes. It's important to bake them just the right amount of time; too little, and they won't be crisp; too much, and they'll scorch. Watch them closely at the end of the baking time, and if you start to smell scorching chocolate before the time is up, take them out. When they're done, remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool completely, on a rack or on the pan.

7) While the cookies are cooling, make the filling. If you're making the peppermint version, break the candy canes into pieces, and process them with the confectioners' sugar in a food processor till they're pretty finely ground.

8) Beat together the sugar, shortening, and vanilla. It'll seem very dry at first, but will eventually begin to clump together.

9) Add the water, beating till smooth and spreadable. The filing should be stiff, but not so stiff that you can't flatten it when you sandwich it between the cookies.

10) Place one level tablespoon filling in the center of one cookie; again, a teaspoon cookie scoop, slightly heaped, is perfect for this task. Place another cookie atop the filling, and squeeze to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe summary

Hands-on time:
30 mins. to 40 mins.
Baking time:
20 mins. to 20 mins.
Total time:
50 mins. to 60 mins.
Yield:
about 27 sandwich cookies
Rate recipe
****+
Recipe comments (21) »

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Reviews

*****

01/31/2010

Yvonne from Ashburn, VA

I added about 1 1/2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter to the filling. OMG. Ridiculously delicious.

*****

01/28/2010

Charlene C from New Hampshire

I made thse cookies today for my grandson to take back to college with him tomorrow at the end of his winter break. I don't care for chocolate so didn't try the cookies but my husband and our daughter's family did. They met with rave reviews so, this one is a keeper. I plan on making the Reverse Faux Reos soon. Teri Sue mentioned that her cookies had cocoa on them from the bottom of the glass used to flatten them. My first pan of cookies was the same with the cocoa on them so before placing them in the oven I used my bristle pasty brush to "dust" them off. For the rest of the cookies after dipping the glass in the cocoa I used the brush to remove any excess cocoa from the glass. Worked great.

*****

01/27/2010

Gina from Plattsburgh, NY

These were great! I took them into work, and people raved about the "Oreos on steroids." LOL! I did make a few adjustments. First of all, I used 1/2 cup black cocoa and 1/4 cup natural cocoa (Scharffenberger), and it was still a little too dark/bitter for my tastes. Next time, I will pull back on the black cocoa a wee bit and use half of each (3/8 + 3/8). Also, I added 1/4 teaspoon baker's ammonia to the dough, and it made gave the cookies a great crispiness and snap. After pressing a tray's worth of cookies, I chilled them for up to 30 minutes. And finally, I made the filling with half shortening and half butter. That was a very good decision! The texture was still slightly waxy like a real Oreo, but smoother and with more flavor. Fun recipe!

*****

01/23/2010

Rebecca from home

The cookie is actually better. I usually suffer through the chocolate cookies to get to the filling but no more. I used transfat free organic shortening and it worked well too. I liked the butter flavor of the cookie too.

*****

01/21/2010

Deana from Alberta, Canada

We absolutely LOVE this recipe. I was thinking oreos were one cookie you could never duplicate at home....i was right these are better!! My husband even loved them and he is not an Oreo fan. I used Bernard Callebaut cocoa and the flavor is wonderful with a really dark cookie.

*****

01/03/2010

Cynthia from overseas

Delicious! I also used regular cocoa powder as I didn't have the black, and it turned out delicious! Thanks KAF for another wonderful recipe.

*****

12/22/2009

Liane from Arlington, MA

I loved this recipe - I made the icing completely in the food processor, and it came out just perfect. The chocolate wafer cookies would be delicious in an icebox cake, as well.

*****

12/17/2009

Katherine I. from Vermont

I tried both "faux-reo" recipes that KAF has published--the one on this website and the one in their (EXCELLENT) Cookie Companion--and I have to say, the cookie companion version, though by and large the same recipe, yields a much more oreo-like cookie. In that recipe, the dough (which I *think* is content-wise otherwise the same?) is chilled and rolled into "chocolate snaps" instead of just pressed with a glass. This makes the cookie much thiner and crisper, and much closer to the oreo consistency than when I used the glass method, which made a rather "cakey" and not at all crisp cookie. Also, I think the consistency of the frosting is a bit better with the addition of gelatin called for in the Cookie Companion--it also seems to make said frosting much more workable. Even the cookie companion version, though, didn't yield a cookie that was as crisp and cracker-like as the product it aimed to emulate. (I used regular dutch-process and not black cocoa, as I try to use only fair trade and black cocoa is not available in fair trade. I don't know if this would make a significant difference.) Maybe baker's ammonia...?

*****

10/20/2009

EVELYN from WASHINGTON

THE COOKIES WERE OK, BUT THE FROSTING MADE WITH SHORTENING, WAS NOT GOOD. WHY NOT USE MARGARINE OR BUTTER, AND GET RID OF THE GREASY TASTE. If you've been reading the blog, you'll see that we take on challenges from time to time to replicate mass market favorties. Feux-reos were one of those. Shortening was exactly what was wanted for the filling. If you would like a bit less heavy filling try using half butter, half shortening. Frank @ KAF.

*****

09/06/2009

terri sue from north richland hills, tx

these were wonderful! for those of you who dont have a cookie scoop, i tried a trick that really worked. i used the KAF yeast measuring spoon. just the right size. my husband had been studying all day. i interrupted him with one of these. his first bite, he slowly smiled and sid these but oreos to shame. i did spring for the black cocoa. i did what was suggested anddippid a glass in the cocoa to flatten them. be forewarned, it is going to make the cookies messy. the excess cocoa will get on your fingers while eating. just one more fun part of eating these. you will need to lick your fingers off at the end. heavenly.