Homemade Oreos

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Homemade Oreos are made simple, thanks to some store-bought short-cuts -- a cake mix and pudding mix! Two deeply chocolate, thick, soft, and chewy cookies sandwich a creamy frosting reminiscent of the creme inside Oreo cookies.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, Vegetarian

Keyword Homemade Oreos

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 38 minutes

Servings Homemade Oreos

Calories 315kcal

Author Chelsea Lords

Cost $5.84

Ingredients

Cookies:

1 package (15.25 oz.; 432) Super Moist Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (Betty Crocker brand) (don't prepare according to package directions)
1 package (3.9 oz. 111g) instant chocolate pudding mix (dry, do not prepare) 4-serving size package
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (8 tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

2 cups (221g) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons white, granulated sugar
1/4 cup (42g) plain shortening
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons hot water

Instructions

Cookies

PREP: About an hour before starting, pull out 1 stick of butter to get to room temperature for these cookies (See Note 1). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking liner and set aside.
COOKIES: In a very large bowl, add the cake mix, pudding mix, room temperature butter, eggs, and vanilla. Using a hand mixer, beat until just combined. It may seem crumbly at first, but it will come together. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Stop mixing as soon as a thick dough is formed.
BAKE: Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, measure out dough balls. Each ball of dough should be exactly 1 full tablespoon (20 grams). (You'll get around 34-36 cookies.) (If the dough balls are at all soft, pop them in the freezer to chill for about 15 minutes so they stay nice and thick while being baked.) Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes (we like them best at 8 minutes). You want to slightly underbake these cookies to keep them soft, fudgy, and flavorful! Remove from the oven and let stand on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before using a spatula to transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Repeat to bake all the rest of the cookies.

Frosting

COMBINE: Combine the powdered sugar, white sugar, shortening, salt, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed (it will likely still be crumbly.) Add in the hot water, starting with 1-1/2 tablespoons and beat until you have a thick frosting. Add an additional 1/2 tablespoon if needed. (This is supposed to be a very thick Oreo-like creme filling -- almost dough-like). Frost the cookies right after the frosting has been prepared. The longer the frosting sits, the more it thickens and becomes harder to spread on the cookies.

Putting it together

PUT 'EM TOGETHER: Once cookies are cooled (it's okay if they're ever-so-slightly warm), divide the frosting evenly among the 17-18 cookies. Frost generously and then sandwich with the remaining 17-18 cookies.
STORAGE: These are best enjoyed the same day they're made! These cookies are the softest on day 1 and get harder every day after that.

Video

Notes

Note 1: If the butter is at all melted, you'll need to chill the cookie dough. I recommend setting it out for about an hour before making these cookies.

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