Oreo Cookies and Cream Cookies

Oreo Cookies and Cream Cookies - made dough December 19, 2015 from My Kitchen Escapades

The main impetus for trying out this recipe is I wanted to use up the cookies and cream instant pudding mix I had bought in a pack of 4 from the last time I made a similar recipe. They don’t sell this flavor in my local stores so I had to buy the 4-pack from amazon because that’s the only size they came in. I also wanted to use up my snack packs of mini Oreos that I had bought to try out another earlier recipe. You see the pattern here? I’m on this revolving cycle of buying ingredients to try out certain recipes then trying out more recipes to use up the rest of the ingredients I had bought for the previous recipes.

Which would be all well and good if the cycle was perpetual as my baking has in the past. But since I was trying to end date my baking spurts for awhile, I had to keep using them up without replenishing them. It’s harder than you think. Fortunately, making this cookie dough was easy. Unfortunately I got a little lazy with chopping up the mini Oreos which would entail washing another knife and chopping board. After making 5 cookie doughs in a row, I didn’t have it in me to take what I deemed unnecessary steps. That might’ve been a mistake because it did make for some serious chunkiness in the cookies since the mini Oreos were mostly whole. But that was okay as they did provide a nice crunch when you bit into the cookie without needing nuts for crunchiness.

If you’re a cookies and cream fan, these are good cookies. I added both semisweet and white chocolate chips as well as the mini Oreos so these cookies have a lot going on. But the flavors all complement each other and make the cookie a little more fun. I was packaging them up in for foodie gifts to give out at work and wanted something a little different. Keep an eye on these when you’re baking them. The edges appear to brown fairly quickly but the middles still looked raw and shiny. You know I despise an overbaked cookie so I erred on the side of taking them out sooner rather than later. If I hadn’t, I think these would have a more cakey texture. And I simply don’t do cakey when it comes to cookies.

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
4.2-ounce package instant Oreo pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup mini Oreos, roughly chopped

1. Cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the dry pudding mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
2. Add the salt, flour and baking soda; mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips and Oreo pieces until combined. Portion into golf-ball-sized dough balls, cover and chill or freeze until firm, several hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space frozen dough balls on baking sheets and bake cookies 9-10 minutes until just set. Do not overbake. Remove to wire cooling rack to cool completely.