Homemade Oreos

Chocolate Ice Box Cookies
Makes about 45 cookies
 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but cool
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 ounces melted and cooled semisweet chocolate
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars at a medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the yolks, melted chocolate, and vanilla and beat until incorporated, 15 to 20 seconds. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients and mix at a low speed until a dough forms and is thoroughly mixed, about 25 to 30 seconds.
3. The dough will be soft but should not be sticky. If the dough is sticky, chill for 10 to 15 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough on a clean work surface into a log measuring about 6 inches long and 2 inches thick. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days (Dough can be frozen up to 1 month, wrap logs in plastic and and then foil before freezing).
4. Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
5. Unwrap the logs one at a time and with a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place the slices on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1/2 to 1 inch apart.
6. Bake until edges begin to brown, about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack with a wide metal spatula.

Filling
12 Oz. White chocolate
1/4 cup Sour Cream

1. Completely melt White Chocolate on a double boiler on the stove.
2. Add in sour cream and stir until combined.
3. Let icing cool, can place in the refrigerator for faster cooling (about 20-30 min).

Filling the Cookies
1. Using a small spoon, add a dollop of frosting to the center of one cookie. (too much filling will cause the Oreos to overflow).
2. place another cookie on top of the cookie with the filling. Gently press the two together.

(Recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated Sandwich cookies.)

Notes: I found that one recipe of filling was waaay more than I needed to fill one recipe of Chocolate cookies. I would suggest either making 2 batches of chocolate ice box cookies or halving the recipe of the filling to avoid having extra.

Lemon/Orange Meringue Swirls

Lemon Meringues

(Recipe from Martha Stewart Living)
Active time: 20 min
Total time: 2 hrs
Makes 25
3 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
Large pinch of salt
Large pinch of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange OR lemon zest
Gel-paste food coloring, in orange

1. Preheat oven to 200. Combine egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl. Add vanilla bean seeds. Set bowl over pot of simmering water, and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Add Cream of Tartar.

Egg Whites, Sugar and Vanilla in a simmering pot of water

2. Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 7 minutes. Beat in zest.

Stiff Meringue

3. Using a small paint brush, paint three vertical stripes of food coloring inside a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip (Ateco #805). Fill bag with meringue and pipe 1 3/4 inch circular shapes (they don't need to be perfect rounds) 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. As you finish piping each shape, apply less pressure to pastry bag, and swirl the tip off in a circular motion.

Vertical Stripes of food coloring in piping bag with Meringue

Piping Meringues

4. Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but the soft inside, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes: When I made these I thought that 1 teaspoon of zest would be too little, so I added more Orange zest. Although the cookies tasted good, they were too Orangey. If I were to make these again I would stick to the 1 teaspoon. I made the lemon version of these cookies using 1 teaspoon and it had a really delicate yet prominent lemon flavor that was really delicious.
Also When painting the stripes in the pastry bag, I found that painting the stripes too close together resulted in only one swirl in the cookie. Painting them farther apart and even on different sides of the pastry bag give you nicer, more distinct swirls.
This Recipe was really easy to follow and the cookies come out really well. Additionally these cookies can be made in all different flavors by using different zests or extracts.
 I Branched out and tried to make rose meringues substituting lemon/orange zest with half a capfull of rose water. The cookies tasted great. The only issue I noticed with using an extract was the meringue seemed to have a more slightly liquidy texture when piping. If I made these again I would use a little less than a half a capfull of rose water.

Rose Meringues

I painted vertical lines farther apart, and on different sides of the pastry bag for these. The swirls look better.

Raspberry Cupcakes with Meyer Lemon Buttercream

Raspberry Cupcakes
 22-24 regular cupcakes /375-350 degree oven

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup raspberry puree
24 raspberries
1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Add the milk and vanilla. Mix to combine.
5. Puree raspberries in a food processor. Add Puree to the batter and combine.

Raspberry puree in batter

6. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to two-thirds full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes).
7. Place whole raspberries in the center of the cupcake.

Raspberries in Cupcakes

 8. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Note: These cupcakes tend to rise quite a bit and will overflow if you put too much batter in the cupcake paper. Keep it under two-thirds full. They also tend to pull away from the papers as they cool. It should be minimal if the cupcakes were baked enough and shouldn’t be an issue.
(Recipe adapted from cupcakeblog.com)

Meyer Lemon Buttercream
 2 sticks unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 medium sized Meyer lemon

1. Beat butter in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined.
2. Add vanilla and salt. Beat until combined.
3. Add lemon juice and beat until combined.
 Notes: If the buttercream is too soft or liquidy, add 1/2 a cup more of powdered sugar.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes about 14-16
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 bag of semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine
6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
7. Add the chocolate chips.
8. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Scooping batter into Cupcake tins

Notes:
Using high quality cocoa powder will enhance the cupcakes flavor.
One thing you must be careful of is over-filling the cupcake paper. Stick to 2/3’s full and don’t be tempted to squeeze that last bit of batter into one of the papers.
(Recipe adapted from cupcakeblog.com)

Salted Caramel Filling/Buttercream
1 Stick non-salted butter
1 Stick Salted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups powdered sugar
4 table spoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. In a mixer beat butter until soft, slowly add powder sugar and sea salt until well combined.
2. Combine cream and vanilla nd set aside.
3. In a sauce pan combine sugar, salt and water, and heat on medium high without stirring until the mixture is dark amber. Remove from heat and add cream and vanilla mixture, stirring. Let caramel cool for at least 20 minutes.

Caramel heating on stove

4. Take a small pipping back with a metal tip and fill with some of the caramel. Insert tip into the middle of cupcakes and fill Cupcakes with Caramel. (You do not need very much caramel for this step.)
5. Add remaining caramel to the the butter and powdered sugar mixture. Beat to combine. If the buttercream is too soft to frost, put it in the refridgerator for 10-15 minutes, then frost cool cupcakes.

Caramel added to buttercream