Old School Homemade Oreos
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Hello! Let’s talk about something that is charmingly old school and also VERY DANGEROUSLY DELICIOUS:
Homemade Oreos.
This is important to say right off the bat: there’s no crunchy cookie and no dry frosting here. We’re just borrowing the concept of all Oreo layering but swapping the dry stuff for a soft, buttery, moist, perfectly dense little chocolate cookie stuffed with cream cheese frosting. Oh my word they’re so good. They’re an easy holiday baking win, giftable, party-able, and a total gift to humanity.
It feels wrong and unholy to say these are better than real Oreos but honestly, these are better than real Oreos.
Give me a soft, moist, cakey-meets-fudgy-meets-cream-cheese-frosting situation over a dry cookie any day. Or every day.
Say Hello to Boxed Cake Mix (Yes)
Okay. Now. Please accept that this is a recipe which uses a boxed cake mix. If you need something more homemade than that, you’ll need to find another version on the internet.
This is old school, and old school means we use the box cake mix like the low-to-moderately ambitious home bakers that we are.
Trust.
A Fudgy, Dense, Buttery Miracle
What results from this mind-bendingly easy combination of ingredients is nothing short of a holiday miracle. Bless you, Homemade Oreos.
The fudgy cookie, the thick swirl of cream cheese frosting, the dense, soft, buttery texture of all of it together after chilling in the fridge (or sitting on your snow-covered Midwestern porch) for a few days is a specific brand of joyful moment that I wait all year for.
Put on the cozy sweater, get a mug of milk, or eggnog, or hot dark coffee (omg), and let the magic loose.
Watch how to make this recipe:
More Old-School Dessert Gems
Give us all the retro baked goods and desserts (like good Midwesterners). Some other favs from the blog:
- The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (classic of all classics!)
- The Best Easy Peanut Butter Pie (peanut butter, cream cheese, whipped topping, YES)
- Blender Lemon Pie (grandma’s favorite ❤️)
- Golden Grahams Bars (gimme all the cereal bars)
- Modern Scotcheroos (modern makeover on a classic)
- Fruit Pizza (more cream cheese frosting happiness!)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Saltine Toffee (yes, saltines – trust)
The sweet mom of the family that I babysat for in high school used to make these, which is why I’m calling these old school. ♡ Sometime in the early 2000s, I got the recipe from her and then gave it to my mom who went on to make these for all our swim meets. To this day, I have friends who make these every year as a Christmas cookie (myself often among them). They’re wonderfully basic, charmingly old school, and dangerously good.
Common Questions About Homemade Oreos
You can serve these at room temperature for a softer cookie or straight from the fridge for a more dense cookie.
Any brand of boxed chocolate cake mix should work as a substitute.
The cookies will freeze well, but we’d recommend making the frosting fresh.
Old School Homemade Oreos
Life-changing Homemade Oreos that are soft, buttery, moist, perfectly dense chocolate cookies stuffed with cream cheese frosting. SO GOOD. a
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
- Diet: Low Calorie
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
Frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Beat cookie ingredients together with an electric mixer until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll into small one or two tablespoon balls. Place on a baking sheet. (Chill the dough for about 30 minutes if it’s too soft to roll.)
- Bake for 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- Beat frosting ingredients together with an electric mixer. Using a plastic bag with the end cut off, or a pastry bag, pipe a swirl of frosting onto one cookie and gently press a same-size cookie on top. Voila! Store in the refrigerator – or on your cold porch if you live in Minnesota!
Want some more holiday cookie magic? Check out our 14 Must-Bake Holiday Cookies!
I absolutely loved these homemade oreo cookies. My late grandma used to make those homemade cookies every time when we visited her during Christmas and thanksgiving. Those were really great times.
What a wonderful memory! Thanks so much for the comment!
Wow.. these look amazing. Pinning it for later.
Is the devils food cake mix Betty Crocker? I reckon that’s all I could get in the UK
https://www.bettycrocker.co.uk/products/devils-food-cake-mix
Yes, that will work!
Cake mix for the win! These look so good, I will make them with my kids over Christmas break.
Just last weekend my daughter’s Daisy Girl Scout troop made German chocolate cookies, via Zoom, using a box of cake mix. They were so easy, 6- and 7- year olds could do most of the work themselves and 11 little girls and their families were eating cookies hot out of their ovens 30 min after we started meeting.
1 box German chocolate cake mix
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Stir the first 3 ingredients then mix in pecans, coconut, and/or chocolate chips. Form into balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes.
Sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing!
Box mixes just mean premeasured ingredients!
Right?
Here’s a link to the box mix that we typically use for this recipe. Here, you can find the ingredient list as well. https://duncanhines.com/classic/classic-devils-food-cake-mix
Can the whole cookie (with frosting) be frozen? Or would I be better off freezing the cookies and making the frosting at a later date?
We haven’t tried freezing the cookies with frosting! To be safe, we’d freeze the cookies and make the frosting at a later date! Enjoy, Megan!
One way is to do a test. Frost two or three cookies and freeze them. Then do a taste test when they thaw!
Is there hope for those of us who don’t live in a country where you can by devil’s food cake mix? These look so good T_T
Are any other types of chocolate mixes available? You could use those! If not, you could maybe try making your own chocolate cake mix, although we haven’t tested this recipe using a homemade mix.
This recipe sounds so easy! I cannot wait to try my hand at baking these. I have a feeling they would be a lovely treat for my kids.
We hope you and your kids enjoy them!
These were amazing! This recipe will forever replace any store bought Oreo cookies.
I did end up with about half the frosting left over. Maybe I’m just a monster who under frosts my Oreos ha! But for anyone who doesn’t use a lot of frosting, I’d cut the recipe in half.
Thanks for another great cookie recipe!
OMD’s these look absolutely looovelllyy…Can’t wait to try them.
I got sooo much satisfaction out of watching the part of the video where you pipe the frosting onto the cookie 😀 :drooooooolll:
We hope you love them!
Quick question please. Recipe says butter at room temperature. Video shows melted butter. Which should we use ? Thanks. Love all of the POY recipes and folks !
Seconding this – can anyone speak to the correct butter-ing? 🙂
We used softened butter like in the text and they turned out great!
Very good recipe – was a hit with everyone. I did chill the dough for 30 minutes as suggested and baked for 10 minutes. I wouldn’t make these with little ones as I think this could get messy. Reminded me of a really good whopper pie – a keeper for sure.
So glad everyone enjoyed them, Vanessa!
Made these with my 7 & 10 year old sons tonight and they were a delicious hit! So….kid friendly for sure. My 10-year old piped all the frosting. A little mess while baking together just adds to the fun 🙂
These look so delicious! I am dying to try, though can’t get boxed cake mix in France. Pinning for when we return to the good old US of A.
I made these, but turned them into “Christmas cookies” by rolling the edges (the “filling sides”) in crushed candy canes! Yum! My husband said “there is no reason to ever make any other kind of cookie.”
???????? Wow! Absolutely LOVE it!
Hello! For the devils food cake mix, is it only the dry cake mix ? We don’t have to make the cake using eggs and oil as it says on the back of the box right ?
Thanks !
Alyssa
Correct. Just use the cake mix, and follow the Pinch of Yum recipe!
Could not stop thinking about these until I got the chance to make them- and they turned out so delicious. I was totally prepared to used a store bought cake mix but then lost my nerve when I read the ingredient list at the grocery store. So in the end I did make my own devils food cake mix using another recipe off the web. They turned out pretty much picture perfect and taste is on point so I think you could get away with making your own cake mix if you’re too holy for store bought stuff!
So glad you enjoyed them, Claire! ?
Okay making these right now, for those wondering about melted butter (as in the video) vs. softened (as the recipe calls for) here’s the deal. Both will work. Softened butter will be easier to roll the dough immediately. Melted requires you to put the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. I melted my butter and also found it easier to put a small amount of flour on my hands to help prevent sticking. Currently baking, I am sure they will be perfect.
Okay some further follow up. I used a 2 tbsp cookie scoop and these bad boys are HUGE. I would definitely use a 1 tbsp scoop next time. Not only to make them more manageable but also to make the recipe go further. As it stands I will get ten completed sandwiches. Considering cutting each cookie in half and making half moon sandwiches to make it go further (trying to fill Christmas cookie tins). If you decide to go for gold and do the 2 tbsp scoops definitely only put 9 on a sheet pan, otherwise your cookies will spread and bake together.
Thanks, Allena!! I did softened butter and didn’t chill, and had some issues with spreading. Appreciate the feedback. Going to make these again, and agreed – they could be WAY smaller due to the richness of the cookie/frosting.
Thanks so much for reporting back, Allena! Super helpful!
These have been a family favorite for years. The recipe I have uses 2 boxes of cake mix and ingredients to approx the same amount of frosting. A fun thing to do with these is to use a mini cookie cutter and punch out a shape on the top cookie just after baking. We have a mini heart, pumpkin, star and pine tree. Then you put sprinkles in the mini cut out for color. Usually I tint all the frosting pink for valentine cookies.
These are transcendent!!! lol I made them tonight, and it was hard for us not to eat them all and save them for neighbor gifts!! They took about 10-11 minutes in my oven to not be too soft when cooled, but once I figured that out, it was game on.
So happy to hear that, Delena! Glad you enjoyed them!
These were very quick to make and soooooo tasty. My hubby had the idea to freeze them and OMG!! Total game changer. Soooooooo good!
So glad you enjoyed them, Shae!
These are awesome! My six year old was able to make them with only adult supervision. These will likely become a winter break tradition!
What a fun tradition! Love it, Rachel!
any thoughts on using a brownie mix instead of the devil’s food cake mix? It’s what I have in the house. Thanks
I added Bailey’s to the icing (skip vanilla and add extra 1/2 cup icing sugar). I am now going to eat these for breakfast.
Happy New Year!