I don't think I can articulate how flipping excited I am for Fall. I love every single thing about it and am bursting with excitement that it's here. It was a crisp 70 degrees and sunny in Philadelphia today. Football is happening. Not preseason, but real deal, regular season football. And I'm wearing a sweatshirt. It's all just perfect and wonderful. You know what else are perfect and wonderful? Oreo cookies. Let's make some!


Make your own Oreos? Yes, this is happening. But "Oreo" is trademarked, so we won't call them that. We're calling them Emmanuel Sanderswich Cookies and making them black and gold. Done and done. 


I found a great homemade Oreo cookie recipe over at My Kitchen Addiction. When I try others' recipes, I usually end up tweaking at least a few things just to suit my own taste, but in this case, all we're changing is the color of the frosting. (You can go nuts and frost little hypocycloids on top too, if you like - or Sanders' jersey number, 88! The Creative Director gets full credit for this idea.) 


You may recall my Ice Cream Emmanuel Sanders-wich recipe from a few months back. These cookies are pretty similar, but much more biscuit-y and less chewy than those. Equally delicious, I think. I recommend sticking these little guys in the fridge for an hour or two before eating to help the frosting firm up and reach the same consistency as their store-bought counterparts. Good luck on Monday night, Sanders!!


Emmanuel Sanderswich Cookies
Recipe (slightly) adapted from My Kitchen Addiction

For the cookies:
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

For the filling:
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
25 drops yellow food coloring
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

yellow, red and blue writing gel (optional)

Cream 8 oz butter and sugar together in large mixing bowl until fluffy. Mix egg in thoroughly, scraping down sides of bowl. Mix in vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add to wet ingredients in three additions, mixing on low speed, until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl and form into a large ball. Split dough in half, wrapping both sections in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove one wrapped dough ball from the refrigerator and place on lightly floured surface (I used a sheet of parchment paper on my counter top). Roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Cut cookies from dough using a small, round cookie cutter (I didn't have one small enough, so I cleaned and used a lid from a spice jar). Place cut dough on parchment lined baking sheets. Continue cutting the dough until only scraps remain, form into a ball, re-roll, and cut until the dough is gone. Repeat with remaining dough in refrigerator. Bake each batch for 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to cooling rack.

In medium mixing bowl, beat 4 oz butter, half and half, vanilla, salt and 12 drops yellow food coloring until combined. Add confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add remaining food coloring in between additions of confectioners sugar. Spoon filling into pastry or Ziploc bag. (I typically use my pastry bag for frosting cupcakes, etc., but in this case, I found a plain old Ziploc with the corner sniped off a little easier to maneuver when assembling the cookies.)

Pipe a large dollop of frosting onto the bottom-side of a cookie, then place another cookie on top and press together. Repeat until all cookies have been "sandwiched" ("Sanderswiched?"). 

Once all cookies have been assembled, decorate with writing gel as you like! Refrigerate cookies for up to 1 week.