Now I have been on a langue de chaat fix ever since I came back from Japan. I love how thin and light those tuile-like biscuits are(they are so feather-like that I almost don’t feel guilty eating 20 of them in one sitting), while the creamy filling is just melts on your tongue, and with how light the cookie and filling are, the experiencing of biting into one makes you question if you even ate anything. Since the langue de chaats in Japan are usually sandwich cookies(the name of the cookie usually refers to the cookies themselves without the filling), I wanted to bring in another iconic sandwich cookie, being the Oreo. If I have to explain what an Oreo is to you, and you aren’t older than the age of 2, I might have questions. Namely, was the rock you lived under really cozy? And is the rent there free? Living in Southern California is expensive. Jokes aside, Oreos are my childhood. I would eat them by the sleeves whenever we would go to back to Taiwan, drowning them in that delicious Taiwanese milk that had no business tasting that good – I don’t know what it is about dairy in Asia, but it really hits differently than here in the states. Something about the milk having this pleasantly sweet aftertaste. Anyways, my fixation of Asian dairy products aside, I love Oreos. So I wanted to make Oreo-like langue de chaat. That’s kind of about it.

For the cookies, I made with them with essentially a batter, quite similar to a tuile batter, in that the cookies were formed by being spread over a stencil, then the stencil is removed, and the cookies are baked. I used black cacao in the cookie batter, since a. that’s what traditional Oreos use to achieve that rich, dark color, and b. because it is alkalized/Dutch-processed, the black cacao has this aromatic, fruity flavor to it that regular cocoa powder lacks. The cookies, being so thin, can burn quite quickly, so do not try baking them for any longer than 8 minutes at 400 degrees F. With the filling, this is where I will admit 90% of my R&D went into. I went with a white chocolate-cream cheese filling. The challenges with that kind of filling would be the white chocolate. Because of how much sugar and fat exists in white chocolate, it has difficulty firming up/freezing solid(which is what you need in a langue de chaat filling so that they retain a flat, square shape that makes assembling these cookie sandwiches way easier). When I first attempted to make the filling, which also involved me spreading it through a stencil, and freezing squares of the filling solid, they stayed solid for maybe 1 minute before turning soft. I found that adding a lot more butter ended up emulsifying with the white chocolate, and allowing it to freeze more solid, which I adjusted for in this recipe. I also used silpat originally for the fillings, but cooking spray-lined parchment worked way better for transferring the frozen squares of filling between each cookie. With those tips in mind, if you are craving an Oreo-flavored sandwich cookie that isn’t an Oreo, you should totally try this recipe out!

Makes 20-24 sandwich cookies:
For the white chocolate-cream cheese filling:
2oz white chocolate
4 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4oz cream cheese

In a heatproof bowl over a double boiler set to medium-low heat, melt the white chocolate, butter, and salt together. Once everything is fully melted, transfer the white chocolate to a mixing bowl with the vanilla and cream cheese. Whip until combined. Refrigerate the cream cheese filling for 20 minutes before spreading it using the square stencils onto a nonstick surface(I used a silpat in my first run, but parchment lined with a thin layer of cooking spray works way better for getting the fillings off faster). Freeze the square-shaped fillings for at least 2 hours before attempting to use in the cookies.

For the cookies:
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
a pinch of instant coffee
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whip the butter, sugar, egg white, vanilla, and salt together until combined. Fold into that the cocoa powder first, then the all-purpose flour to form your batter. Allow your batter to rest for at least 1 hour – this will help the batter from contracting when you are spreading it. Spread the batter onto a parchment or silicone-lined sheet tray using a square cookie stencil. Repeat this process until you have used up all your batter. Bake the cookies, one sheet tray at a time, at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. Allow the cookies to fully cool before attempting to use.