Oreo White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you heard the term “pantry loading?” “Pantry loading” means buying things you don’t need immediately – but think you might want someday. Maybe you see ketchup on sale and buy two extra bottles, or you notice a new brand of crackers you’ve been meaning to try and throw them in your cart for that cocktail party you plan to host… eventually. Pantry loading is heavily inspired by promotions and bulk sales. It can be an awesome money-saving strategy, or a money-wasting strategy if you tend to “load” up on things you’ll never use.

I am a pantry loader by nature. When I had a bigger apartment, you’d find all sorts of “backup” foods and toiletries in my cabinets. But now I live in a tiny studio with very little storage. So when I moved in, I remarked “well, this is the end of my pantry loading days!”

Alas: old habits die hard. I no longer pantry load regular food, but I still pantry load baking supplies! In my cabinets right now: 3 bags of sugar, 2 bags of flour, 4 bags of brown sugar, 9 bags of chocolate chips… etc. I just can’t resist stocking up on that stuff when it’s on sale. I also can’t resist buying “specialty” ingredients when I see a good price. Things that I don’t use often, but would totally use in a recipe if I did have them on hand.

Enter these Oreo cookies.

I bought Oreos a bit ago when they were on a great sale, and I knew I’d bake with them eventually. They ended up in the storage bin where I keep my packaged food, along with a box of toffee, a bag of marshmallows and some butterscotch bits. All destined for baked goods sometime, someday.

I was grateful for my stash when I started craving Oreos recently, and decided it was time to use them in a recipe. I’d bookmarked this cookie recipe a while ago, and really liked how simple it was. I’m actually not a big fan of white chocolate on its own, but I liked the idea of combining white chocolate chips and Oreos in one tasty cookie. There’s nothing complicated about the premise, nothing complicated about the execution – and sometimes that’s just what you need, right?

By the way, I pantry loaded Oreos again this week: I bought those new Choco Chip Oreos, intending to bake with them. Stay tuned for what happens next!

Original recipe:  Coastal Kitchen. I’ve rewritten things a bit and added commentary. 

Yield: ~30 cookies 

Suggested equipment: Mixer makes it easier 

Total Time: ~30 minutes 

Cook Time: ~7-8 minutes 

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Half a pack of Oreo cookies, crumbled into small pieces that will blend into cookie dough (adjust as you’d like for your preferred mix-in ratio)
• Half a package of white chocolate chips (adjust as you’d like for your preferred mix-in ratio)

Step by Step Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set this bowl aside.
3. Use your mixer to cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. You’ll want to cream them until the mixture is fluffy; this will take ~2 minutes.
4. Beat in your eggs and vanilla.
5. Slowly pour the dry flour mixture into the wet ingredients in your mixer. Mix slowly, just until combined.
6. Mix in your crushed Oreos and white chocolate chips. You can eyeball this so it reaches your preferred mix-in level; I personally prefer fewer mix-ins per cookie.
7. Line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper.
8. Roll your dough into small balls, and place the balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
9. Bake about 7-8 minutes. The tops will be a light golden brown when the cookies are done, and the edges will look set. Remember, they firm up more as they cool!
10. Let them cool on their sheets for a couple minutes, then transfer them over to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mixing the dry and wet ingredients together

Adding in the Oreos and white chocolate chips

Ready to scoop!

All lined up and ready to bake

Perfect!

This is why you have to put your cookie dough balls 2 inches apart: otherwise, they meld!

Letting them cool off a bit