Chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies… or ‘homemade Oreos’

I’ve never attempted this sandwich cookie before, I’ve tried jam sandwich cookies and the like, but the call of the chocolate sandwich cookie was beckoning.

So, as I was searching through recipes for the cookie I noticed that the majority of the recipes were similar. I have to be honest, I improvised a little bit on this recipe, but I’m so glad I did! I think I may have discovered my own little signature sandwich cookie. They are divine, and I’d like to share the recipe with all of you so you can fall in love with them as well.

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

1 and 1/2 cups of plain/all purpose flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
8 ounces of butter
3/4 cup of caster sugar
1 whole egg
2 tbs milk

For the vanilla filling:

2  ounces of butter
1/4 cup of vegetable shortening **
2 cups of icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence

** Okay, so the reason I wanted to talk a little bit more about the vegetable shortening is that here in the UK, it is not commonly heard of/ used. When I read the recipes for the cream filling, most of them used this: so i decided to give it go. In the UK you can find vegetable shortening in the majority of major supermarkets; Asda, Sainsburys etc. The brand I used is called ‘Trex’ and comes in a box – it can be found in fridges with the butter.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (c) or 375 degrees (f)
2. Cream the butter  and the sugar together
3. Add the whole egg and milk
4. Mix together until smooth and well combined
5. In a separate bowl, put the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder – combining thoroughly.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/egg mixture – stirring well after each addition.
7.  Once the dough begins to form into a doughy ball – use your hands to combine it and mix it into a smooth ball.
8. The dough should now assemble a pastry dough (but be a little wetter).
9. Let the dough chill in the fridge for 5-10 minutes whilst you line a couple of baking trays with baking parchment/ grease-proof paper.
10. Retrieve your dough from the fridge and lightly flour a work surface.
11. Combine the dough and knead it shortly in the bowl to ensure it is thoroughly mixed.
12. Take off small amounts of the dough  (they are a lot easier to handle as it is still a sticky dough)  and roll them to about this thickness of a pound coin.
13. Use a 2 inch cookie cutter (or whatever you have at hand) to cut your cookies out, and place them immediately onto the lined trays. You don’t need to leave too much space between cookies, they don’t expand a great deal when baking.
14. This recipe should make 40 individual cookies: 20 sandwich cookies.
15. Once you have cut out all of the cookies, place them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, (check them towards the 12 minute mark).
16. Don’t worry if they are a bit soft when you take them out – they firm up as they cool.
17. Cool them on a wire rack (to ensure the air gets all around them) until completely cooled.

Filling the cookies:

1. Add the butter and shortening to a bowl.
2. Mix them carefully, ensuring they are completely combined.
3. Add the vanilla essence and stir again.
4. Add the first cup of icing sugar and mix well.
5. Add the second cup of icing sugar to the mixture and combine.
6. Ensure all of the components are thoroughly combined.
7. Take one cookie and apply the frosting to the flat side (what was once the bottom). I found that using a simple dinner knife worked well – but if you have a palette knife that will work well too.
8. Grab another cookie (as similar to the shape as the first as you can) and place it on top. Giving the cookies a little squeeze to get the frosting to the very edges.
9. Repeat steps 7&8 until you run out of cookies!
10. Leave the cookies in the fridge for a little while to set up the frosting.

Et voila! Delicious homemade sandwich cookies that will impress everyone!