Oreos DIY

I was killing a little time the other day before an appointment, browsing through a local bookshop's selection of food magazines (as you do...), looking for something to thumb for half an hour before an appointment. Local Australian magazines often dominate this area: Gourmet Traveller, Vogue Entertaining, Delicious, Donna Hay, alongside Kiwi imports Cuisine and Dish. American magazines appear and disappear a little more sporadically. Martha is usually available, but Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Saveur are much more hit and miss. Some editions seem to make it through to Australia; some don't. Last week I came across a new arrival: the Food Network Magazine, and while skimming through it, found a recipe that made me buy the magazine: do-it-yourself oreos.

For a long time in Australia, oreos were an exotic and unknown biscuit (cookie), mentioned enticingly on TV shows like the Brady Bunch, but completely unavailable. About five years ago, they turned up in supermarkets here, and were taken straight to the same place in my children's hearts where TimTams, Montes and Choc Wheatens also live. The chocolate wafers and creamy centre are a winning flavour combination, which has been widely adopted as cookies and cream for everything from ice cream to kitkats. This do-it-yourself recipe comes from chef Emily Isaac at Trois Pommes Patisserie. It is absolutely fantastic and makes an enormous number of biscuits. We had so many that I was sending friends away with boxes of them just to get them eaten before they had a chance to go stale. And how good were they? Fantastic - the biscuit more chocolatey than the original and the cream more vanilla-y. No surprises then that the grown ups liked them just as much as children did.

Do It Yourself Oreos from Emily Isaac in The Food Network Magazine

For the Dough:
1 1/3 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Filling:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (copha), melted and then allowed to cool
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the dough: Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a large bowl.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, incorporating each ingredient before adding the next. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Divide the dough into 2 pieces; place one piece between 2 lightly floured sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Refrigerate both rectangles, covered with the parchment sheets, until firm, at least 1 hour or up to several days.

Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut the dough into circles. (You can reroll the scraps.) Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets and chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake the cookies until they are set and slightly darker around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Using a mixer, cream the butter and shortening until fluffy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Flip half of the cookies upside down and top each with 1 level tablespoon of filling. Press the remaining cookies on top to make sandwiches.