Peanut Butter Oreos

When I found a recipe for Homemade Oreos from Smitten Kitchen, I had to try them. Since I usually add a dollop of peanut butter to the center of my store-bought Oreos anyway, I decided to save myself the effort and make a peanut butter center. The filling is super sweet but it can be made slightly more salty the addition of another 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1 tsp of water.

Here's my personal version of this recipe for sweet and peanut buttery oreos. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

Peanut Butter Cream Oreos

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

Cream Filling Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp water

To make the cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
3. Add the butter, then the egg, while continuing to mix until dough forms a ball.
4. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or a generous coat of cooking spray. Use only one rounded teaspoon of batter for each cookie and space them two inches apart (I'm infamous for baking cookies that run together because I use too much batter on each cookie... and these cookies spread more than most! Needless to say, my first attempt produced one big cookie rather than 20 separate cookies.) Flatten each cookie slightly.
5. Bake for 7-8 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once in the middle of baking.

To make the cream filling:

1. Put peanut butter in microwave on defrost for 1-2 min to increase creaminess and make for easier mixing.

2. Use a mixer to combine butter and peanut butter.

3. Add in the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Then beat in vanilla and water.

4. Mix on highest seating for 2 to 3 minutes to achieve a light and fluffy cream filling.

To assemble the cookies:

1. Scoop filling into a pastry bag or gallon sized freezer bag. Use a 1/2 inch round tip on pastry bag or simply cut of a small corner

of freezer bag to pipe out filling.

2. Pipe filling onto cookies, a little more than one teaspoon of filling per cookie. Top with an equal sized cookie and give a little squeeze to spread the filling.

3. Repeat this process for all cookies. Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies.