Let’s be honest for a second – yes they taste amazing, but look at the crap they put in these little circles of heaven:
SUGAR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), HIGH OLEIC CANOLA AND/OR PALM AND/OR CANOLA OIL, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CORNSTARCH, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, VANILLIN–AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CHOCOLATE.
Yeah… gross right? Drives me crazy that some of the ingredients are legal. Hence the reason I wanted to make some homemade healthy Oreos!
Most homemade Oreo recipes that I found are pretty cakey which I didn’t want. I wanted to get as close to an Oreo as I could. I had many failed attempts
My first experiments with the cookies spread out and were burned so bad they were literally ash. Other cookies were so chocolatey you couldn’t even swallow, and trust me I love my chocolate! I mean chocolate is seriously healthy for you if you get the right kind.
Finally I got the cookies to where they were crisp and just the right amount of chocolate and sweetness. They’re not super-duper crunchy like a true Oreo, but I think it’s pretty dern close for not having any of the additives and chemicals Oreo uses.
We were all grateful in the Eat Real Stay Sane household when I finished these. We ate dozens of sub-par test cookies (and we don’t eat much sweets in our house) and we had double the dishes for a week.
Even Cameron (the hubby) was starting to get sick of these cookies by the end!
Next came the filling. Most recipes that I found just did a simple buttercream frosting. I didn’t want cake circles with frosting in the middle. I wanted OREOS!
I knew that Oreo used to use lard for their filling so I gave that a try.
Apparently, there is something called leaf lard that’s great for baking because it doesn’t have much flavor. I didn’t know that was a thing until the first filling attempt came out TERRIBLE. I mean vanilla, sugar, bacon flavor… wait, that doesn’t sound too bad actually! But trust me it was terrible. The best part was telling my husband to try these, and then him staring at me like “You know these are awful, right?”
Yes, I knew.
The filling I eventually came up with has grass-fed butter, organic powdered sugar, real vanilla, and organic cocoa butter. I used cocoa butter because it’s hard at room temperature. That made my filling nice and firm like a true Oreo.
I hope you enjoy this recipe (and let me know if there’s some secret to make them extra crunchy, although I’m not sure this recipe needs it). You can also check out my gluten-free Oreo recipe here.
Cameron said that he actually likes this recipe better than regular Oreos. Yay!
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
- 1/2 Cup raw honey
- 1 Cup pastured butter (room temperature)
- 1 Teaspoon real vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon unfiltered apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
- 1 Cup cacao powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon unrefined salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
For the filling:
- 2 Ounces organic cocoa butter
- 3 Tablespoons grass-fed butter
- 1 1/2 Cups organic powdered sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift together whole wheat flour, cacao powder, salt, chili, and baking powder.
- Mix honey, butter, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar until just combined (may need to heat your raw honey over stove top). Mix-in dry ingredients until just combined.
- Divide dough in half, cover with plastic wrap, and push flat so it is easier to roll out later. Place dough in the fridge to soak and chill for about 6 hours.
- When it is almost time to take the dough out, melt cocoa butter and combine with butter and powdered sugar to make the filling. Mix with electric mixer until mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Place filling mixture into a sandwich bag or piping bag for frosting and place in the fridge to harden a little.
- Roll dough out onto floured wax paper (trust me, this dough sticks!) until about 1/8 – 1/4 inch. Cut out cookies with desired cookie cutter (I used these cookie cutters).
- Place on cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes until the edges just start to darken. They won’t spread very much so you don’t have to worry about putting them too far apart.
- After baking, let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes. They are pretty fragile at this point but will harden up when they are cool.
- After cookies are cool take the filling out of the fridge, cut a small hole in the corner (if you’re using a sandwich bag), and pipe filling onto one side of a cookie. Take another cookie and twist them a little bit to make the filling stick.
- Store in air tight container.
Thank you to EatRealStaySane.com for generously contributing this recipe! Drop by their site for more delicious recipes.
