Ah, Valentine’s Day. That once somewhat-minor religious observance turned Hallmark cash cow that strikes feelings of romance or abject dread, or sometimes both, in the hearts of singletons and couples alike. And forget about going out, regardless of the state of Covid – getting a reservation at any restaurant with so much as a white tablecloth is an absolute nightmare.
I personally love Valentine’s Day for the simple reason that it is associated with all things chocolate. Omar and I usually gift each other chocolate – Cadbury assortment for him, assorted truffles for me – and really that is all I want to mark the holiday. I’m also a sucker for the obscenely large, genetically overengineered chocolate-covered strawberries that pop up in grocery stores around February 1 – which leads me to the subject at hand today. As my Valentine to you, I present a homemade, fancified Oreo with a pink strawberry Swiss meringue filling.
I first made these cookies before the holidays. The recipe comes from the Great British Baking Show cookbook accompanying season 9 and the name had nothing to do with Oreos – they were billed as “Sparkly Chocolate Sandwich Cookies” and involved a worrisome amount of edible glitter, which I skipped entirely. The recipe was a a basic, very chocolatey cookie dough, baked to deep crinkle, sandwiched and filled with what the authors deemed “marshmallow fluff”. But in appearance, taste, and texture, they were pretty darn suggestive of the black-and-white cookie everyone knows and loves – albeit a fancified, gourmet version you’d be quite at ease serving to guests on your nicest platter.
My favorite part was, of course, the marshmallowy filling, soft and sweet and oh so squishy, a far cry from the bland and sticky “filling” that passes as “creme” in Oreos. It’s essentially a swiss meringue, made with tempered egg whites whipped to a pillowy cloud. I couldn’t resist giving it the freeze-dried strawberry treatment to make a striking pink-and-black Valentine’s day-appropriate cookie with the flavors of a gourmet chocolate dipped strawberry. Finely ground freeze-dried strawberries are my secret weapon for pastry and frosting – they give a lovely pink color and natural flavor. If yours are a but muted in color as mine were, feel free to punch it up with a few drops of food color gel.
May your Valentine’s Day be filled with love in all it’s many forms, including and most especially, chocolate.
Homemade Oreos with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Filling
Adapted from The Great British Bakeoff – Get baking for friends and family
Ingredients
- 75g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temp
- 150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 egg whites, divided, room temperature
- 100g (scant 1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 40g (1/3 cup) good-quality cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- salt
- demarara or other coarse sugar for decoration
- 1/4 cup finely processed and sifted freeze-dried strawberries*
- 50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar -85g (1/4 cup) light corn syrup
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
- pink food gel or coloring, if desired
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat mat.
- Using the paddle attachment in a mixer, cream the butter with the sugar and beat until fluffy and well-combined, 5-8 minutes. Add the egg white and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl, then slowly add to the butter mixture. Dough will be stiff.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal portions and roll into balls (a food scale is helpful here to ensure the cookies are the same size and will “sandwich” evenly).
- Place the demarara sugar in a small bowl. Roll each ball in the sugar and place on the baking sheet, leaving 2-3 inches between (you should be able to fit 12 on one sheet, baking in two batches)
- Bake for 9-10 minutes. Cookies will look dry and cracked on the top.
- Remove and immediately use your palm or a flat-bottomed glass to very gently flatten the cookies just slightly to take out the domed appearance, being careful to keep cookies about the same diameter – cookies will continue to flatten as they cool. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second batch of cookies.
- While cookies cool, make the filling. Put the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan, along with 2 tbsp of water, and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture looks homogenous. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until temperature reaches 241F (I usually have trouble getting mine past 230 and it always works out fine).
- Place the remaining egg white in a clean mixer bowl along with the cream of tartar and beat with the whisk attachment on low speed until very foamy.
- Turn the speed to high, and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites in a consistent stream. Continue whisking until the mixture has tripled in size and is very thick and glossy.
- Reduce speed back to low and sift the strawberry powder over evenly, mixing until just incorporated and no streaks remain. If you desire a “punchier” pink as seen in my pictures, add food gel or color until desired shade is reached.
- Place meringue in a piping bag and cut off the tip. Pipe a generous amount** of meringue on the flat side of one cookie and top with another. Enjoy with someone you love.
- *Freeze-dried strawberries can be found online, and in many grocery stores with the dried fruits and nuts. To make a fine powder that will blend in easily with the swiss meringue, I blitzed them in a food processor until very fine, then passed through a fine-mesh sieve to remove larger pieces and seeds. You will probably need to process a cup or so of dried whole strawberries to produce a 1/4 cup of fine powder.
- Recipe will make way more meringue than you need – but you can use the remainder to frost cupcakes, a small cake, or even use as a dip on a dessert board with cookies and candy. Straight from the piping bag into one’s mouth is completely acceptable as well.
