Homemade Peppermint Oreos

These cookies are delicious!  I was a little skeptical if they could really be a replacement for Oreos, but figured even if they weren't, a dark chocolate cookie and peppermint buttercream filling sounded good anyway.  I had no need to worry.  The cookies taste exactly like the real thing!  Even better, they have fairly normal ingredients and mix & bake super fast.

Homemade Oreos
yield 28 sandwiches
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder (like Hershey's Special Dark)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients together in a stand mixer, then add butter.  Blend on low, then add eggs and beat until smooth.  Drop by a heaping teaspoon onto lined baking sheets - I used my small cookie scoop - and bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool.  Once cookies are completely cool, match up pairs of similarly size & shape cookies.

Filling
1 1/2 sticks butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
drop of red food coloring

Cream the butter in the stand mixer, and slowly add in the powdered sugar.  Mix until combined, add the cream & peppermint and beat on high for 1 minute.  I added the food coloring last and barely mixed in so I could get a swirl look to the buttercream.  Place buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a #10 or #12 tip and fill cookies.

Recipe barely adapted from Cate's World Kitchen