Since discovering Oreos, I regularly have to steer myself away from the cookie aisle just in case I buy another pack but now I can make my own – and so can you.
I love to make the things I love from scratch though so, of course, I had to try to create the classic chocolate cookie myself. These homemade oreo cookies taste just like the real thing. This recipe makes the perfect crisp chocolate cookie, filled with a simple vanilla buttercream.
Ingredients you’ll need
Homemade Oreo Cookies contain all the usual chocolate cookie ingredients;
- Butter
- Sugar
- Flour
- Corn flour (cornstarch)
- Cocoa
- Baking soda
Try to get a really dark dutch processed cocoa. This is what traditional Oreos are made with and gives them their signature colour. For me, I found they still weren’t quite dark enough so I also added the tiniest bit of black food colouring. This is totally optional, however.
You can see these cookies without the black food colouring sitting atop these Chocolate Cookies and Cream Cupcakes and I’ve also used them to make my Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.
How to make Oreos from scratch
- Start by creaming together butter and sugar.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Also add the milk and the food colouring if using at this point.
- Stop mixing once it comes together into thick clumps of dough.
- Roll the dough out until it’s about 3-4mm thick (imagine how thin oreo cookies are – these cookies will rise just slightly in the oven)
- Use a 4cm circle cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough,
- then space them out on a lined baking tray, about 1 inch apart.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the “top” of each cookie – these gives you a pretty pattern to use as the texture on the cookie which is actually the underside of the baked cookie.
- Top it with another cookie “bottom up” and you’re done.
Substitutions
You can really have some fun substituting flavours here.
- Flavours: How about trying mint or strawberry extract in place of vanilla.
- Chocolate: Try dipping them in chocolate
- Buttercream: Want to make your homemade oreos even easier? Just cut out circles of rolled fondant to use as the filling.
The cookies will soften over time, so the best way to store them is in an airtight container with a small dish of baking soda with them. The baking soda helps to absorb excess moisture, keeping the cookies as crisp as possible. They longer they are store, though, the more they will soften.
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So there you have it, folks. This Homemade Oreo Cookie recipe will surprise in how simple yet how perfect they are. Get a glass of milk ready, because these are that classic chocolate cookie made from scratch.
Other recipes you might like
- Chocolate sugar cookies
- Chocolate Easter Egg Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Chocolate Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
- No Bake Oreo Cheesecake
- Nutella Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES
- 130 g plain (all-purp) flour (1 cup / 4.6oz)
- 35 g corn flour (cornstarch) (¼ cup / 1.2oz)
- ⅓ cup dutch processed cocoa (35g / 1.2oz)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarb)
- 135 g granulated sugar (⅔ cup / 4.8oz)
- 95 g unsalted butter, softened (3.4oz), (notes)
- 1 tablespoon milk (notes)
- 1-2 drops black gel food colouring (optional)
FOR THE EASY VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
- 113 g unsalted butter, softened (½ cup / 1 stick)
- 1 ½ cups icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar (195g / 6.9oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or to taste)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- circle cookie cutters
Instructions
FOR THE CHOCOLATE COOKIES
- Preheat oven to 180C / 350F /160C fan forced. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
- Sift together the flour, cornflour, cocoa and baking soda and whisk to thoroughly combine.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until lightened and fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add half the flour mix. Beat until just combined. Add the milk and food colouring (if using), and remainder of the flour. Mix until it starts to clump.
- Pull the dough together with your hands. Dust a sheet of baking paper lightly with cocoa, then the top of the dough. Roll the dough out to about 3-4mm thick and use a circle cookie cutter to cut out small circles (3-4cm or not quite 2 inches round). Re-roll as necessary.
- Sit on baking trays an inch apart. Bake for around 10 minutes, turning the trays halfway through.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the trays for a few minutes before using a spatula to help to transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Once cool, they will firm up and be crispy all the way through (notes).
FOR THE EASY VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
- Add the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and colouring (if using) to a bowl and beat with a handheld mixer (or in a stand mixer) until pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Spread or pipe some buttercream onto the flat side of half of the cooled cookies, then top with another cookie (underside pointing up so that you get a textured looking cookie top).
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (= 4 teaspoons worldwide)
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- I use corn starch a lot in my baking. Cake flour is a combination of all-purpose and cornstarch but in Australia is not so readily available. I use this combo in my recipes a lot instead of using cake flour.
- To keep the individual cookies crispy, store them in an airtight container along with a small bowl filled with a couple of tablespoons of baking soda (bicarb).
- These cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to a week.
- If you don't have scales, the butter in this recipe is equal to 1 stick less 4 teaspoons.
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39 Comments on “Homemade Oreo Cookies”
*Cornstarch
Hi Kat, this recipe just does not use eggs as we’re after a more crisp cookie, not a soft one. The cornstarch gives a more melty texture.
Why no eggs, and what the con start do to the cookies? Thanks
Suiiiiiiiiiiper good Oreos!
So happy you love them, Cristiano.
Can you provide better measurements? A cup is not 4.6oz! And 3.4oz of butter!? We don’t measure things like that in the US.
Hi Lisa,
1. Firstly, I don’t create my recipes just for the US, and I provide a range of measurements – both imperial and metric plus cups where I can – so that everyone, worldwide, can make my recipes.
2. To your second concern, 1 cup of flour is most definitely 4.6oz. You can’t weigh flour the same as you weigh butter as their density is completely different, hence, 1 cup of butter might weigh 8oz, while 1 cup of flour weighs only 4.6oz.
3. For the 3.4 oz of butter (which is just another way to say roughly 3 1/2 oz), keep in mind your sticks of butter are 4 oz. Therefore, cut your stick into 4 even pieces – 3 of those = 3oz. Cut the last one in half and you have your 1/2 oz. Now you have 3 1/2 ounces.
Finally, I always, always recommend, as any baking blog will, to use a kitchen scale to get the best results. If you use a digital scale, it will work it all out for you.
Can I leave out the black food colouring? I don’t have any at home and I was wondering if it would alter the taste or consistency at all or is it just for a blacker colour cookie?
Hi Maya. Yes, you can, it’s only there to get the nice dark oreo colour.
These were so good crewy and I misread the instractions so I had to add water and icing sugar but still good
I’m so happy you love them, Luna.
Great recipe – I followed everything except I accidentally used a whole stick of butter (1/2 cup) for the dough instead of the 95g (I was trying to hurry and misread). I also added a tablespoon of milk to the dough. My cookie dough came out a bit dry though, do you think this was because of the extra butter or where do you think I went wrong? Thanks!
Hi Jenna. The butter wouldn’t make them drier. The dough is a little drier as I was aiming for that oreo crisp texture here but it should still come together. Did you weigh out your flour? It could just be that it’s drier or hotter where you are. A little milk added is just fine.
Taste just like Oreos!
So happy you love them, Taryn! Thanks for dropping back to comment 🙂
Yum! These were soooo good. Even though I am gluten free still tastes the same! Yum and easy treat!
So happy you enjoyed them.
do we need to add any eggs?
There are no eggs in this recipe.
It says no sugar in the batter
Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. Where are you seeing that?
These are amazing! I love them. At first I didn’t see that a tablespoon wasn’t 15 ml so the dough was too dry, but with 20 ml the dough is workable
So happy you love them, Henri. Thanks so much for trying my recipe 🙂
So delicious. I’d run out of vanilla so made peanut butter butter cream filling.
So happy you loved them Emmy. I think I’ll have to try that peanut butter buttercream too. Yum
Icing directions say to add the milk but the ingredients don’t include milk.
Hello David, sorry about that. You shouldn’t need any milk, however, you can add a touch if you need to thin the consistency of the buttercream a little.
Awesome! Thanks for the recipe! I just finished making it, and only have to put them together. But I tried a little, and they taste great! Better than store bought!
So happy you love them 🙂
Does the icing ooze from the cookie when you bite into them?
A little. It’s not as firm as an oreo cookie but you can make it firmer by using more icing sugar.
I was wondering if using splenda could be used instead of sugar. I am diabetic but cant resist oreos once in a while!!!!!!
Thanks for this recipe!
Hello Lynn, I think this would work although I haven’t tested it myself. If you try it, I’d love to hear how they turn out
Marie, I love Oreos and these look irresistible! So delicious!
Thanks so much, Kelly 🙂
I didn’t really grow up with Oreo cookies either. We actually even didn’t have them in Russia, and I tried them once we moved to Canada. Honestly, I cannot say they’re my favourite – store-bought oreos are way overly sweet. But I think that can easily be adjusted in a homemade version. Also, these bad guys look delicious!
Thanks Ben. One of the wonderful parts about making things from scratch is being able to cater to your own tastes.
OMG I absolutely love Oreo cookies, store bought or homemade. It would be so fun to make these at home tho, plus knowing exactly what go into your cookies is certainly a plus. I’ll still eat the store bought stuff by a mouthful hahaha
I could too but I do prefer knowing exactly what’s going into my food 🙂