Homemade Oreo Cookies

This week has been a blur of cookie baking. Not cake, not pie...just cookies. Thumbprint cookies, key lime pie cookies...and now homemade oreo cookies. Phew! 

Why so many cookies, you ask? Because just as I was pondering what to get everyone at the office for Christmas, the good people at HR sent out an email last week reminding us that while it's holiday season and everyone is full of good cheer, there are rules for gift giving. No bribes. No gift/job offer exchanges. Nothing expensive. Luckily, nobody wants to bribe a law clerk, I have a job, and I can't afford to buy expensive gifts anyway. What I can do is make lots and lots of cookies. Cookies for everyone!

Festive thumbprint cookies for the nice courtroom clerk and deputy US marshals; key lime pie cookies for the judge's administrative assistant (KL pies are her favorite dessert); and Oreo cookies for the Judge himself (he's always eating packets of weird-looking oreo knock-offs at lunch...yuck).

I have to confess, I've never been a big fan of Oreos. What's so great about crispy cookies anyway? All they do is dry out your mouth and leave you craving a glass of milk. And don't even get me started on how little love I have for milk. What I'm saying is, I'd take a big gooey brownie over an Oreo any day, even if it's kind of really fun to twist apart the cookies and try to guess which side the frosting is going to be on...

Anyway. These homemade Oreos are amazing! I thought they were going to be soft and chewy like Oreo Cakesters, but they really are exactly like regular Oreos...only better. The chocolate cookies themselves are crispy with just a hint of chew, and the vanilla cream filling (the best part of every cookie sandwich) is light and sweet, and not at all artificial-tasting. These would be perfect alone or...sigh...dunked into a tall glass of icy cold milk.

Recipe can be found here.