Healthier Homemade Oreos

These Oreos are much healthier than the store-bought version and contain no artificial flavors, high-fructose corn syrup, or ingredients you can't pronounce. When I asked my peers about these cookies they said they tasted like a "grown-up" version of the original sandwich cookies because the flavors we much more complex and rich compared to the artificial chocolate flavors of the original cookies.

This concept is from another Instructables made by Frenzy. You can see his version here. He made Oreos with a box of cake mix and he had also used shortening, but I was craving Oreos and I didn't have any of those ingredients at home. After some browsing on the Internet I found a recipe for Healthy Oreos by Chocolate Covered Katie which you can view here. I slightly adjusted the recipe and the cookies tasted great!

Let's get started!

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (can use spelt/gluten-free)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. Dutch cocoa powder (regular won't taste as authentic)
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar substitute (can use cane sugar/coconut sugar/xylitol)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (vegetable is fine)
• 5 tbsp. milk of choice

Filling:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (sugar-free powdered sugar is fine)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (coconut butter/non-hydrogenated shortening is fine)

As you can see there are very many different ingredients you can use as substitutes, so use what you have at home. Also, this Oreo recipe is just the base. Feel free to add some mint extract to the frosting to make mint chocolate cookies or take out the chocolate all together and make vanilla Oreos, the possibilities are endless!

1. Mix the first five ingredients together in a bowl (aka the dry ingredients).

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl until smooth.

3. Knead the two mixtures together with your hands to create ball of dough. My dough was slightly dry so I added a splash of water to make it more pliable. Place your ball of dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes. You can freeze the dough too, just make sure to let it thaw before using.

1. Either grease a baking tray or cut a square of parchment paper to fit a baking tray. I like using parchment paper because it's easier to clean up.

2. Sprinkle some flour onto a flat surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into the thickness of an Oreo.

3. Using a cookie cutter (I used an apple corer), cut circles out of the dough and place them onto the baking tray. You don't have to make circle shapes, I bet unicorn shaped cookies would taste great too! You can also use a greased cupcake tray if you don't have a circle cutter, as shown in the second picture. I just smushed some dough to the bottom.

4. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes at 300 degrees F. When they're done they will still look a bit underdone but that's ok. The time it takes to finish baking the cookies depends on how large/thick they are so baking time can vary. I ended up baking my cookies for 15 minutes.

5. Let the cookies cool down for ten minutes before frosting.

1. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and coconut oil in a bowl and mix until it is the consistency of frosting. If you want to make a different flavored filling, swap out the vanilla extract for some other extract like mint. You can also add some gel food coloring now if you'd like.

2. Place a small drop of frosting on one cookie and press another one on top to finish the cookie sandwich. You can use a piping bag for this step but I thought it would be easier to just use my hands. Repeat this step with all of the cookies.

3. Eat right away or keep in the refrigerator to make sure the filling stays hard.

These cookie sandwiches taste great dunked in milk and are a much healthier alternative to the kinds you can buy in stores. If you enjoyed this Instructable please take a second out of your day to vote for me in the Remix Contest!

Eat your Oreos responsibly,

Thederpyninja.