There. I’ve said it.

We were introduced by our good friends before an Astros game last spring and now rarely a day goes by when I don’t think about those cookies. I think our friend said it best when he said, “I’d hate to be the person responsible for scraping all the Oreos for this recipe,” because that’s what the cookies taste like – like they’re made with ground Oreos (enter Dutch-process cocoa, stage right).

“You could probably make these at home, you know.” Yes, I know. My husband has turned me on to all things DIY. While his projects usually involve power tools and sawdust, my DIY projects usually taste much better.

Before you jump to the wrong conclusion about me, let me say that I unapologetically whip up a batch of broccoli & cheese casserole with Cream of Mushroom soup and Velveeta every Thanksgiving and Christmas and I microwave steam-in-bag Asian Medley veggies once a week. I have, however, learned that occasionally building a common ingredient (say, hamburger buns) from the ground-up can be incredibly rewarding and it exercises baking and cooking muscles that I might not often work out.

The real truth is that most of my DIY projects are born out of laziness (not wanting to drive to the store and get hamburger buns) and necessity (the need to eat that ground beef before we leave for the weekend). This particular project was born out of obsession. The fact that I can make a $2-per-cookie at home, all with ingredients I have on hand is just a bonus

The texture of this cookie is less cake-like than the variety you’ll find in your mall food court. It’s chewy and it stays this way for at least 2 days (probably longer, but there’s no way they’ll last any longer around here for me to make any other claims).

Not-from-a-cookie-company Chewy Chocolate-White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup dutch-process cocoa*
1/2 cup butter, cubed and room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chopped white chocolate

*Don’t substitute with natural cocoa. The Oreo-like flavor comes from the richer dutch-processed cocoa. I used Hershey Special Dark Dutch-Process but I’ve used their dutch/natural blend in this recipe in a pinch. It yields a lighter-colored and slightly less Oreo-like cookie.

Preheat oven to 325 and place oven racks in the upper and lower middle position.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa, and set aside. Beat the butter on medium-high until light and add sugars, creaming well. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternately with the milk in one batch, mixing well. Chill dough for 15 minutes.

Scoop the dough onto a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet (however you bake your cookies) and bake (see note below). Let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet and store in an air-tight container.

Let’s talk about the size of of this cookie. I use a No 12 scoop to drop a well rounded scoop of chilled cookie dough (a little less than 1/2 cup of cookie dough) onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 24 minutes. I get 8 or 9 cookies with a diameter of 6 inches using the No 12 scoop. Perfect if you’re going for the “real bakery” look, perhaps less-than-perfect if it’s just you and 8 of your new chocolatey friends over a weekend. If you scoop a more normal sized cookie, I’d estimate 12-16 minutes in the oven.

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