Tastes Just Like Oreos: Wienerstube cookies

With Oreos celebrating its 100th anniversary today, I’m brought back to last year’s cookie exchange with the Geek Girls of San Diego. Among the brightly colored cookies, which included the venetian cookies I baked, were these black as coal cookies. Despite appearances (some attendees mentioned the cookies looked like coal), they tasted almost exactly like the black part of the infamous Oreos cookies, but with a tiny bit of savory spice.

As with all cookie exchanges, recipes are usually included and I noticed that this cookie included a pinch of cayenne and black pepper. The black tint to the cookie comes from the dutch-process cocoa in the recipe (use anything else and it bakes dark brown like the ones shown above, not black).

While fine on their own, these cookies taste exactly like Oreos stripped of the creamy center, which can easily be added with a basic white frosting.

This recipe makes approximately 3 dozen cookies but can vary depending on how thick the cookies are cut.

Wienerstube Cookies

11/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne (optional)
3/4 cup dutch-process cocoa
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Sift the dry ingredients.

Cream the butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, sugar and egg and beat well.

On low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing only enough until well blended.

On two pieces of wax paper, distribute half the dough on each and shape into a log by rolling in the paper. When cylindrical, tie up the end of the wax paper on each log and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Unwrap log and cut into discs approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place sliced cookies on a tray lined with parchment and bake for 10-12 minutes.