This week I visited a friend who happened to be baking Oreo cookies stuffed into chocolate chip cookies and baked in muffin cups. She got the idea from a cookie her son brought home from a high school bake sale. Because they were cookies within cookies, they were named after the movie Inception, which is about dreams within dreams. Never mind that the word inception has an entirely different meaning and doesn’t make sense unless you’ve seen the movie, the cookies were really cute, and I think the name is kind of catchy. Plus the muffin pan idea was new to me, so I decided to make a batch for myself using some newly acquired vegan margarine. Update: I also added a new non-vegan version.
This vegan cookie dough worked very well, though I do recommend chilling it a bit so that it’s easier to handle. I used oats, but accidentally left them out of one of the cookies and it baked up just fine. So if you’re out of oats, no problem. The Earth Balance butter sticks were okay, but they do have a very distinct flavor which comes across in the cookies. If you don’t like the flavor of the Earth Balance, use another brand of margarine or just make the cookies non-vegan.
For non-vegan cookies, use 1 egg in place of the applesauce and regular butter in place of the Earth Balance or make the second recipe, which makes 20 cookies. If you’re in a hurry, just use refrigerated cookie dough, which is what the cookie in the photo directly above is made with (it’s the one my friend made).
- 56 grams (1/4 cup) drained applesauce (from 114 grams or ½ cup)
- 1 stick (114 grams) Earth Balance stick
- 1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup (126 grams/4.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 scant teaspoon salt
- 40 grams oats, quick cooking or old fashioned
- 1/2 cup vegan approved chocolate chips
- 6 Oreo Cookies
- Drain the applesauce if you haven’t already. To do that, just spread ½ cup on a stack of paper towels and let the towels soak up the extra moisture. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the Earth Balance until creamy. Beat in the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla, then beat in the applesauce.
- Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl, then add to the batter and stir until mixed. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Chill the dough until it’s easy enough to handle, then divide it into 6 parts and wrap each part around an Oreo.
- Spray 6 paper muffin cups with cooking spray or use the foil type and skip the spray. Put the dough wrapped cookies in cups, set the cups in a muffin tin and bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes or until cookies appear set and the edges are nicely browned. Let cool completely. I actually like cooling and chilling briefly before removing the muffin paper.
- 8 ounces (two sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (13.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups extra dark chocolate chips or miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- 20 Oreos
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla, then beat in the eggs and vanilla, beating only until blended.
- Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl, then add to the batter and stir until mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough until it’s easy enough to handle.
- Spray 20 paper muffin cups with cooking spray or use the foil type and skip the spray. Put the dough wrapped cookies in cups, set the cups in a muffin tin and bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes or until cookies appear set and the edges are nicely browned. Let cool completely. Remove muffin papers.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Those are cute and the cupcake liner in the photo is really attractive too.
Sue, those are the new (or slightly new) Reynold’s cups. They’re usually in the baking aisle.
So fun looking! This reminds me a of Katrina’s chocolate chip cookies with truffles inside. I like that you made a vegan attempt. I’ll go with the real butter, but leave out the eggs.
I love those new foil-lined paper wrappers! I just got some recently and they worked great with peanut butter cups and brownies.
Cute cookies! Like the cross section..kinda of smiling at us!
These cookies look awesome. Love the muffin tin thing. The only problem is that you only get one (or at least you should only eat one
). And man, Inception is a good movie 
.
Trop gourmands !
Was the texture of these different than when you just bake an Oreo between two cookies?
Very cool!
Haha. I love the name! Inception cookies… very catchy.
They look awesome. I love how it just kind of floats. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Yay for vegan cookies!
How do you cook them if you just use regular store cookie dough?
Hi Stephanie,
What I’d do is wrap the cookies in the dough just enough so that they are covered, set the cookies in greased muffin cups, then bake at 325 or 350 F until the edges are lightly browned and the cookies appear done. Times will vary depending on the brand of dough, so I recommend doing a test cookie by baking one cookie first.