Homemade Oreos

Okay, one more recipe while I'm at it. Yep, something homemade that Sherrie would say, "Can't you just buy it at the store?" Of course you can, but I happen to enjoy creating delicious food, and the more I try it the better cook I'm becoming. I don't remember what website I found this one from, but I really like it. And no, this one's no where near healthy.

Homemade Oreos
This is the paragraph the author of this recipe had written (sorry I don't know who it was): "Let's talk about the sugar for a minute, shall we? This is a sweet cookie. A good, sweet cookie. Yet, if you think of an actual Oreo, the wafers are fairly un-sweet and actually on the slightly salty side, which contrasts with the super-sweetness of the filling .... If you want your cookie closer to that original, you can take out a full half-cup of the sugar. If you want to make the cookie by itself (as I did to use for ice cream sandwiches), go ahead and use the full amount."

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. Mixing on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two 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.

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.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip (or a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off), pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cooke. 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.