I {HEART} You

Before I learned how to make these, I used to search for them at potluck meals with friends. I secretly hoped that someone will bring homemade oreos to share. This is one cookie that I have never been able to turn down; The whipped cream cheese frosting with the soft chocolate cookies is my kind of delicious! One of my favorite things about this recipe is that they freeze perfectly. Just assemble them with the frosting inside, freeze and pull out anytime you need a little pick-me-up. When they return to room temperature, they are just as soft and moist as when you put them in.

Homemade Oreos

–Ingredients–

Oreo Cookies

• 2 Boxes Cake Mix
• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup Oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 Tablespoons Butter, softened
• 4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar

–Directions–

Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together by hand. Take a heaping 1/2 tablespoon of batter and roll into ball, or use a cookie press to cut out heart shapes, to create a 2″ round cookie. Place on greased cookie sheet. (I put 20 cookies per cookie sheet.) Cook for 5-9 minutes until the cookies are just set, they will harden once cooled. Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool. Allow cookies to completely cool before frosting. Makes about 160 cookies, or 80 oreos.

Frosting

Whip together butter and cream cheese. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and vanilla, mix together well. Add the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar gradually while mixing. Whip together until frosting is thick and creamy.

Detailed Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients together by hand. 

Take a heaping 1/2 tablespoon of batter and roll into ball, or use a cookie press to cut out heart shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet. (I put 20 cookies per cookie sheet.)

Cook for 5-9 minutes until the cookies are just set, they will harden once cooled. (Notice that where the cookie has “split” it looks underdone. This is what you are looking for.) Remove from oven. When will notice that a few of my hearts lost their shape as they expanded in the oven. Immediately after pulling out of the oven, use a toothpick to indent the top of the heart. The cookies must be very hot or it won’t work correctly.

Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool. Allow cookies to completely cool before frosting.

Now for the cream cheese frosting:

Whip together butter and cream cheese. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and vanilla, mix together well. Add the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar gradually while mixing. Whip together until frosting is thick and creamy.

Frost the cookies by hand or place into pastry bag and pipe onto cookies. Note: I use a ziplock bag and cut a hole into the end and attach my piping tip (very inexpensive from IKEA). This way I can seal the ziplock bag and store in the fridge until I need it. I also like to use ziplock bags because it simplifies my clean up; No more washing piping bags. Just remove your tip and throw away the messy ziplock bag.

The best way to pipe the frosting onto the heart shaped cookies in like the picture below. Then place a cookie on top and press them together.

I tried the method below in the beginning, but when I pressed the two cookies together it squished out and looked awful.This recipe does make quite a bit of cookies, but I figure if I’m going to go to the trouble of making them I might as well make a whole batch and freeze the rest. As I mentioned above, one of my favorite things about this recipe is that they freeze perfectly. Just assemble them with the frosting inside, freeze and pull out anytime you need a little pick-me-up. When they return to room temperature, they are just a soft and moist as when you put them in. I label a bag and place into the freezer. This also works if you need to take a treat somewhere, but don’t have time to make something right before. Just make these a few days before and freeze.

Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!