Oreo's 100th birthday

Tuesday, March 6th marked the 100th birthday of the Oreo cookie.  In honor of this milestone birthday, Oreo came out with a special edition cookie, the Birthday Cake Oreo. 

And as a (belated) tribute, I decided to make homemade Oreos.  Besides the normal activities that deterred me from baking these cookies in a timely fashion (school, work, my "social life"), I had 35-40 chocolate lollipops to make for a friend's sister's theme birthday party and treats for another friend's sister's bridal shower.  Needless to say, I got around to these cookies a little bit after the date.  But I honestly don't think that Oreo minds all that much...

As I've mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of Oreo cookies.  Not that you'd know that based on the number of Oreo-themed treats I've made recently.  I assume some of it stems from the insanely high number of Oreos that we ate on vacation, and my body must be going through some sort of Oreo withdrawal.  The other reason is that I realize I am the minority, and that most people like love adore Oreos.

I found this recipe for homemade Oreos, it looked simple enough, and I liked that she talks about the amount of sugar in the cookies.  See, I think the best part of the Oreo is the cookie, while I think most people would say they like the filling better.  The best part of the cookies is that they aren't too sweet.  So I followed the directions and decreased the sugar for the cookies so that they'd be similar to the original Oreo cookie...

Homemade Oreos (from SmittenKitchen)

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetend Dutch press cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar (if you're going for the not-too-sweet Oreo cookie, 1 1/2 cups for a sweeter cookie)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg

Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stikc) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used the real stuff, which is brown, and so the filling turned tan...but worry not, once you beat it and whip it, it looks white again)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F
In a food processor or the bowl of a mixer, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients for the cookies. On low speed, add the butter and then the egg. Continue mixing until the dough becomes a big ball.
Take rounded tsps of batter and put on a parchment lined paking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. I made mine a little smaller, and baked for about 5 minutes.
Cool cookies on a baking rack.
Make the filling - mix butter and shortening in a mixing bowl and gradually add the sugar and vanilla, beat to incorporate. Turn to high and bear for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Assemble to cookies - fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip with the filling. Pipe teaspoon sized dallops of cream into the center of one cookie and top with another cookie approximately the same size. Lightly press the top cookie to work the filling evenly to the outside of the cookies. Repeat until all cookies are made.