In the event that any of you forgot that it’s Valentine’s Day, I’ve got a recipe that may just get you out of the dog house.  (By the way, I totally just typed “god house” instead of “dog house.”  That’s a totally different thing.)  Anyhoo, I’m assuming that none of you are on the outs with your sweet, given that you’ve still got roughly 14 hours to get business in order for V-day; so perhaps the recipe below can be a little Valentine’s treat to yourself for being such an awesome partner.  Or you can hand them out to friends and neighbors just like those “I choo-choo choose you” cards in elementary school.

Homemade Heart-Shaped Oreos

adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living

• 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt (I used sea salt)
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• cream filling (recipe below)

1. Whisk or sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugar, then whisk in egg.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, using a spatula to combine until a dough forms.
3. Place dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment, then roll out until 1/8 inch thick.  (You may want to divide dough in half to make it easier to roll out.)
4. Place dough in fridge until firm, about 30 min.
5. Remove dough from fridge.  Peel parchment from both sides of dough (so it doesn’t stick when you cut out your cookie shapes).  Use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut out an even number of cookies, re-rolling scraps once.
6. Transfer cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, then place in freezer until very firm, about 15 min.
7. Preheat oven to 350°, placing racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
8. Bake until firm and fragrant (I used medium-sized heart cookie cutter, and baked the cookies about 9 min), rotating once halfway through.  Let cool on baking sheets.
9. When completely cool, spread every other cookie with cream filling (recipe below) and top with another cookie.

Cream Filling*

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (I’d use superfine if you have it)
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4  tsp salt**
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract***
• 1-2 tbsp. whole milk or half and half, if needed

1. Combine butter and granulated sugar in a bowl.  Using a hand mixer, mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (2-3 min).  Slowly add in powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla, mixing until fully combined.  The mixture should be thick, but spreadable; if it’s too thick, add in milk or half and half, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached (I used 1 tbsp. half and half in mine).

Notes:

* I found that using a butter knife to spread the filling was the easiest option, but if your filling is less thick, you could pipe it on with a pastry bag as well.

**The original recipe does not call for salt in the cream filling, but I found the filling to be sickly-sweet without it.  I mixed in a couple pinches until I felt the flavor was right, which I judged to be about 1/4 tsp.  As an alternate option, you could top half the cookies with some coarse salt before baking (so the top cookie of the sandwich is salted), which I think would also be delicious.  (And so fancy to tell people that you made Salted Homemade Oreos.)

***Replacing 1/2 – 1 tsp. of the vanilla extract with peppermint extract would be delicious in these — and would make a great treat for the holidays as well!

I hope your Valentine’s day is full of lovey feelings and more sweets than you could ever consume.  XOXO