O-R-E-oh.
This past weekend I made Thomas Keller Oreos (AKA TKOs). They're apparently from some fancy schmancy east coast bakery. Being a loyal Midwesterner, I don't generally have a lot of use for fancy schmancy east coast anything (yes, in fact, I do still call it Marshall Fields), but these looked good when they showed them (as bats!) on The Kitchn, so I thought I'd give them a try. I was going to do black cats instead of bats, though.
Unfortunately, the recipe they gave was all in ounces, but it didn't specify whether they were by weight or volume, so the recipe was really not much use. The people who commented on the post after having made them said it was not a good recipe, so I guess I'm glad I didn't just go ahead and figure it was by volume (which seemed to make the most sense to me of the two, given what the measurements would have come out to be).
Luckily, it turns out that lots of people have a recipe for them. The one I chose was from Curiously Ravenous, who apparently got it from a cookbook called The Essence of Chocolate, by John Scharffenberger. (Whatever else, that cookbook has a killer title.)
I didn't find this out until November first, and I didn't feel like making black cats anymore, so I just made round cookies. I used a very special cookie cutter, AKA Thing Two's Buzz Lightyear cup. I bet they don't have one of those at the fancy schmancy east coast bakery!
Now, my cookie cutter was probably larger than whatever most people would use (except, I imagine, when they make them as bats), and I didn't use parchment paper on my cookie trays (I hate how wasteful that is, and I don't think I would have had any less breakage if I'd used it), but other than that I followed the recipe pretty faithfully. Okay, so I was impatient and didn't let the filling sit for six hours. I followed the cookie recipe faithfully.
I don't think they were a total knockout (AKA TKO). They weren't really much like Oreos at all. They're good, just not so fantastic as I had hoped. (I'm using past tense here because while they weren't utterly fantastic, they're all gone.)
Some things I would do differently if I felt like making them again (and I might): refrigerate the dough for a half hour to an hour; use a quarter-cup less flour and then flour the rolling surface instead of using parchment paper (again, more ridiculous waste); don't roll them out so thin, go for closer to 1/4" than 1/8"; use a smaller cookie cutter, like the juice glasses (AKA the little four ounce glass jars that Kraft cheese spreads come in); use something other than the filling in the recipe, maybe seven minute frosting instead, or even just buttercream.
Unfortunately, the recipe they gave was all in ounces, but it didn't specify whether they were by weight or volume, so the recipe was really not much use. The people who commented on the post after having made them said it was not a good recipe, so I guess I'm glad I didn't just go ahead and figure it was by volume (which seemed to make the most sense to me of the two, given what the measurements would have come out to be).
Luckily, it turns out that lots of people have a recipe for them. The one I chose was from Curiously Ravenous, who apparently got it from a cookbook called The Essence of Chocolate, by John Scharffenberger. (Whatever else, that cookbook has a killer title.)
I didn't find this out until November first, and I didn't feel like making black cats anymore, so I just made round cookies. I used a very special cookie cutter, AKA Thing Two's Buzz Lightyear cup. I bet they don't have one of those at the fancy schmancy east coast bakery!
Now, my cookie cutter was probably larger than whatever most people would use (except, I imagine, when they make them as bats), and I didn't use parchment paper on my cookie trays (I hate how wasteful that is, and I don't think I would have had any less breakage if I'd used it), but other than that I followed the recipe pretty faithfully. Okay, so I was impatient and didn't let the filling sit for six hours. I followed the cookie recipe faithfully.
I don't think they were a total knockout (AKA TKO). They weren't really much like Oreos at all. They're good, just not so fantastic as I had hoped. (I'm using past tense here because while they weren't utterly fantastic, they're all gone.)
Some things I would do differently if I felt like making them again (and I might): refrigerate the dough for a half hour to an hour; use a quarter-cup less flour and then flour the rolling surface instead of using parchment paper (again, more ridiculous waste); don't roll them out so thin, go for closer to 1/4" than 1/8"; use a smaller cookie cutter, like the juice glasses (AKA the little four ounce glass jars that Kraft cheese spreads come in); use something other than the filling in the recipe, maybe seven minute frosting instead, or even just buttercream.