Cookie Dough Oreos

Homemade Cookie Dough Oreos® start with rich and fudgy chocolate cookies loaded up with cookie dough frosting. The frosting combines edible cookie dough with a simple vanilla buttercream. This smooth and luxurious frosting makes the best filling for these homemade Oreos!

Try our Original Homemade Oreos recipe next time (or if you’d rather not make the cookie dough frosting for this recipe).

Cookie Dough Oreos

Oreos are clearly one of my favorite treats — as evidenced by the ridiculous number of recipes that make their way in (like this Oreo Fudge, Brownie Oreo Ice Cream Bars, Oreo Ice Cream Cake, Oreo Fluff, Oreo Balls, and so many more.)  And then there’s my obsession with edible cookie dough…

So when Nabisco came out with Limited Edition Cookie Dough Oreos®, you know I seriously stocked up. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t last too long in my home. (even the  boxes hidden in my closet!)

And so I decided to make my own! While these Oreos are fairly different than standard Oreos, we’re obsessed with them. These cookies aren’t the crisp, crunchy, chocolate cookies like store-bought Oreos. Instead, these cookies are soft, chewy, and deeply chocolatey. They’re rich, fudgy, gooey, sweet, and best when slightly under-baked! These “Oreos” are more of a chocolate whoopie pie type of cookie with the most luxurious cookie dough frosting ever. And, since Nabisco doesn’t sell double-stuffed Cookie Dough Oreos, when you make your own you can double (even triple?) stuff them with this cookie dough frosting yourself!

The frosting is a bit of a process to make, but worth every second — it is the best cookie dough frosting I’ve ever tasted! It starts with my “famous” edible cookie dough, and we mix that into a simple vanilla buttercream. The result is gorgeously smooth, ridiculously sweet, light, and fluffy cookie dough frosting — no grainy frosting in these Cookie Dough Oreos!

What Cake Mix To Use

Cookie Dough Oreos begin with a cake mix and only require four other ingredients. With so few ingredients, the cake mix is very important to the end flavor and texture of these cookies.

We’ve tried several different cake mixes, and truly none even come close to Betty Crocker’s® Super Moist Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix. (Not sponsored, just our favorite in this recipe).

We love the rich flavor this cake mix contributes to these cookies, plus it also has miniature chocolate chips that ripple throughout the cookies — yum! Grab the box, but don’t follow any package directions for preparing the cake; we’ll add our own ingredients.

What Pudding Mix To Use

Beyond the cake mix, the other ingredient to pay close attention to in these Cookie Dough Oreos is the pudding mix. While it would be nice if any boxed pudding worked in this recipe, this part of the recipe is very specific.

We’re looking to use chocolate instant pudding mix and not the cook-and-serve type. We also want to ensure the pudding mix is not sugar-free or reduced-calorie — those varieties won’t work the same.

The other thing to keep an eye out for is the pudding box size. There are typically two sizes — a larger and smaller one. We want to get the small 3.9-ounce (111g) box.

When using the pudding mix in these Cookie Dough Oreos, use the dry mix — don’t prepare it according to package directions.

Other Ingredients In Cookie Dough Oreos

Beyond the cake mix and pudding mix, there are three other ingredients which I describe below:

• Eggs. Be sure to use large eggs.
• Butter. It’s important the butter is at room temperature and not melted for this recipe. If the butter is too soft or melted, the cookie dough will need to be chilled before baking to make sure the cookies don’t spread too much.
• Vanilla extract. This is a nice flavor enhancer — it’s also in the edible cookie dough and the frosting.

Let’s talk edible cookie dough frosting

This frosting has two parts to it — edible cookie dough and vanilla buttercream. Once the cookie dough is prepared, we mix it into the frosting to make the most unforgettable cookie dough frosting. Let’s talk about these two parts a little bit more:

• Edible cookie dough. Regular (raw) cookie dough isn’t considered safe to eat because of health concerns revolving around both the flour and uncooked eggs. So the edible cookie dough portion of the frosting is specially formulated to be safe while also tasting just like regular cookie dough. There are no eggs in this recipe and we heat treat the flour to ensure everything is up to safety standard for consumption. (Read more in the section below what heat treating flour entails.)
• Vanilla buttercream. This frosting is a fairly standard buttercream, but a few ingredients take it to the next level — salt and vanilla. Both work wonders in enhancing and balancing flavors. Once we’ve got a wonderfully flavorful and creamy frosting, we make it even better by adding in cookie dough.

Heat treating flour

A lot of people are surprised to find that flour can cause sickness in unbaked cookie dough (or the frosting in these Cookie Dough Oreos). Flour doesn’t look like raw food, but it actually is. This means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs (think e. coli) which can cause food poisoning (source). Normally, flour is sterilized (so to speak) when it is baked in a recipe. So, when making cookie dough that is edible, we need to first cook the flour (or heat treat it) to ensure we kill any potential bacteria. There are three options for heat-treating your flour.

• Purchase flour that has already been heat treated.  Check the label for this information.
• Heat treat it in the microwave: Add the flour to a microwave-safe bowl. I recommend heat treating more than the recipe calls for (1/2 to 1 cup extra) just to ensure you have enough. Microwave on high in bursts of 30 seconds, stirring in between each burst. Take your time stirring well to make sure none of the flour burns. Use a thermometer to test the flour in a few places to make sure it has reached 165 degrees F throughout all the flour. (If you get less than 165 degrees, return the flour for one more burst of 30 seconds). 
• Heat treat it in the oven: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a large sheet pan (with sides) with a nonstick liner or parchment paper. Spread the flour on the pan (treat more than you’ll use; 1/2 to 1 cup extra). Bake the flour, removing and stirring it, every 1 and 1/2 minutes. Every time you remove the flour to stir, test it with the thermometer. As soon as it reaches 165 degrees F, it’s safe.

Leftover Cookie Dough Frosting

Even with these cookies generously frosted, there is a bit of leftover frosting. The recipe works best in the quantity written, so use leftover frosting in one of the following ways:

• Frost a small batch of cupcakes.
• Use as a dip. We love dipping real Oreo cookies in the frosting! We also like graham crackers, fresh strawberries, and bananas dipped in it.
• Top sugar cookies with it. Cookie dough frosted cookies? I mean, the only answer here is yes!
• Make a graham cracker sandwich. And if you want to get even fancier, dip that cookie-dough-frosting-loaded graham cracker sandwich in melted chocolate.

Storage

• Store leftover Cookie Dough Oreos in an airtight container in the fridge. We like these best the same day they are made, but they’ll last for up to 2-3 days. Unfortunately, these cookies become harder, and firmer every day they aren’t eaten; the frosting also tends to change texture a bit.

More Cookie Recipes

• Cookie Brownie Bars with a layer of caramel
• Soft and Chewy Butterscotch Cookies
• No-Bake Healthy Breakfast Cookies
• Cookie Bars with chocolate chips
• Frosted Honey Graham Cookies with a cream cheese frosting