Homemade chocolate wafer cookies: Ditch the store-bought Nabisco wafers and EASILY make your own for pie and cheesecake crusts, sandwich cookies, or icebox cakes.
Since scratch baking is such an important aspect of what I do in my kitchen, it’s really no surprise that I should find and fall head over heels in love with a version of homemade chocolate wafer cookies that perfectly mimics the packaged and hard-to-find Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers (especially if you don’t live in the US!).
You already know my feelings on making graham crackers, Wheat Thins, and Oreos (to name a few) at home so to that end, I knew I would love making chocolate wafers at home too.
What are Chocolate Wafer Cookies?
Chocolate wafer cookies are thin, light, crispy, and intensely chocolatey cookies. They are often crushed up into cookie crumbs to make crusts for cheesecakes and pies, or layered with fillings to make icebox cakes and ice cream sandwiches.
Ingredients for Chocolate Wafer Cookies
The ingredients for these cookies are just about as basic as basic gets for cookies. To make these cookies, you’ll need:
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- baking soda
- salt
- unsalted butter
- milk
- vanilla
If you have a gluten-free flour you like to use for baking, I’m sure that would work fine here too.
How to Make Chocolate Wafer Cookies
To make these delicious little cookies, you’re going to need a food processor. Here’s what you’ll do:
- Whir the dry ingredients around in the food processor until combined.
- Drop pieces of the butter in and pulse until large chunks of dough form.
- Drizzle a mixture of milk and vanilla in through the feed tube while the processor is running. Process until the dough comes together fully.
- Transfer the dough to the counter and knead it together for a few seconds.
- Shape the dough into a log, divide the log in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 2 months.
- When you’re ready to bake, slice the logs into 1/8-inch thick rounds, line them up on a baking sheet, and bake!
Slice and Bake Chocolate Wafer Cookies
These cookies are surprisingly easy to make into very thin cookies. Just like the slice and bake cookies you can buy in a tube in the grocery store, you will roll your homemade cookie dough into a log and chill it.
After 2 hours, the dough will be cold enough to slice into thin rounds. And it cuts like a dream! You’ll place the rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them off for just a couple of minutes!
Easy peasy slice and bake chocolate wafer cookies!
What can you make with chocolate wafer cookies?
Ground up in a food processor for a cheesecake’s cookie crust or the base of a peanut butter pie, you won’t be sorry you spent a few extra minutes making these slice and bake chocolate gems. I’ve also used them as a garnish crumbled up on top of a chocolate sheet cake.
Icebox cakes and cupcakes are usually made with chocolate wafer cookies too. And man do I love icebox cakes!
For an icebox cake or icebox cupcake, you layer the chocolate wafers with a filling like whipped cream or pudding. These crispy chocolate cookies soften from the moisture in the filling and turn into thin chocolate cake-like layers.
You need to allow these crunchy wafer cookies to soften so that you can easily cut through the cake without the cookies flopping all over the place around the knife.
You can also use chocolate wafer cookies to make ice cream sandwiches! YES!! Simply scoop some softened ice cream on top of one cookie and press another cookie on top of the ice cream.
Place the ice cream sandwiches on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze them for about 12 hours. Same as with the icebox cake, you want to let the cookies soften before you eat these ice cream sandwiches so the cookies don’t crumble all over the place.
What kind of cocoa is best for chocolate wafer cookies?
The best kind of cocoa to make chocolate wafers with is dark unsweetened cocoa. This cocoa helps to make the cookie richly flavored and it gives the cookies a deep and dark chocolate color.
Since there is a fair amount of sugar in this recipe, you want to make sure you use unsweetened cocoa and not sweetened cocoa or the cookies will turn out too sweet.
You can use either regular unsweetened cocoa or Dutch-processed. Either way, you want to use dark cocoa. I have used all of these cocoas and always have good results:
- Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
- King Arthur Flour Bensdorp Dutch Processed Cocoa
- Valrhona Cocoa Powder
The price points for these types of cocoa vary from lowest to highest on the list but I like them all equally for these cookies.
Freezing Chocolate Wafer Dough
One of the best things about slice and bake cookies is that you can make the dough and store it in the freezer for months and that goes for this chocolate wafer dough, too. Simply roll the dough into a log and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.
Allow the dough to thaw in the fridge overnight before you slice it.
Homemade Chocolate Wafer Cookies
Homemade chocolate wafer cookies are THE best cookies for chocolate pie and cheesecake crusts, sandwich cookies, and icebox cakes. Ditch the store-bought, hard-to-find version and EASILY make your own!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (2.4 ounces) dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 14 tbsp (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pulse the ingredients a few times to combine thoroughly. Dollop the butter around the dry ingredients and pulse a few more times until the butter starts to incorporate and large chunks begin to form. Mix the milk and vanilla together in a small bowl. With the mixer running, pour the milk mixture into the feeding tube in a slow and even stream until the cookie crumb mixture starts to form together and ball up on the sides of the bowl.
- Transfer the cookie dough to a work surface and knead it a couple of times to fully incorporate all of the ingredients. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a long and narrow log, about 1 ¼ inches to 1 ¾ inches in diameter. Depending on how large you want your wafer cookies to be will determine how thick to form the log. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a week.
- Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice the dough logs into approximately ⅛-inch thick slices and lay the dough rounds on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. I formed my dough into 1 ¼-inch diameter logs and was able to fit 24 cookies on each of my baking sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans from back to front and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. The cookies will be finished baking about 1 ½ minutes after the puffed-up dough deflates so try to keep an eye on them. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely – they will crisp up as they cool.
Storage: The cookies will keep for up to a week at room temperature if kept in an airtight container. Supposedly they freeze really well too but I haven’t tried it myself.
Notes
If you plan to use these cookies in place of store-bought chocolate wafer cookies for a chocolate cheesecake or pie crust, cut out 1 to 2 tablespoons of the suggested amount of melted butter in the crust recipe. These chocolate wafer cookies contain a fair amount of butter and too much added butter in the ground up cookies crumbs will yield an absurdly wet mass of crumbs. Trust me.
Nine ounces of these cookies (or about ⅔ of the recipe) will yield as much as 1 package of store-bought wafer cookies contain.
adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich via Smitten Kitchen
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These look perfect- better than the “real” thing! 😉
Love the simplicity to these. Yum!
Hooray for homemade!
These look great. I love a good chocolate cookie. Have you tried using Scharffen Berger or Valrhona cocoa? You might be surprised at the difference this can make.
I haven’t but only because I’ve had Hershey’s and KAF in the house to use up. I already have an overstocked pantry issue as it is. 🙂
Love the idea of homemade wafer cookies. I love to use them, and sadly they’ve been getting harder and harder for me to find.
I absolutely love that first picture! My stores have stopped carrying chocolate wafers so I have to make them when I need them. It’s not a totally terrible thing 🙂
Thanks Shawnda! No, it’s not a totally terrible thing but a totally dangerous one. lol
Ahhh these look delicious and I love that you can use them instead of store bought! Totally bookmarked and saving this!
i have made these B4 and they are amazing, and ALOT cheaper than the choc wafer ones in the box, you will not be disappointed…
Fantastic! These look so dark and chocolate-y…YUM.
I’m so excited to try these! My favorite cheesecake has a chocolate wafer crust and I just realized that the popular brand of wafers they I’ve always bought at the grocery store uses partially hydrogenated oil. Yuck! I wish I had thought to start making my own chocolate wafers sooner!
I think you’ll love these cookies for a cheesecake crust! I would suggest cutting the melted butter back that you would normally use in a cookie/graham cracker crust recipe since these cookies have a substantial amount of butter in them already. Let me know how they turn out for you! 🙂
I baked these cookies today to get them ready for my chocolate mousse cheesecake. I didn’t try any of them, but my mother ate one or two or three of them haha and declared them yummy! I told her not to eat too many since they are “work” cookies (i.e. their primary fate is to serve as cheesecake crust :)). I used only 12 Tbsp of butter and allowed them to cook a few minutes longer than 15 minutes so that they would be considerably hard, but not burnt. Thanks for posting this recipe!
I stuffed these with homemade whipped cream and froze them. So yummy.
Yay!! I love the photo!! I can only imagine what these cookies would be like as frozen whipped cream sandwiches!
I want to make a cheesecake but don’t feel like running out to the store so this is perfect. I’ll be making these now for a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.
Actually Chingobingo kind of answered the question I was going to ask. I pinned this recipe in hopes of using them for ice cream sandwiches. Can anybody tell me how they held up in the freezer? They have been called “not sweet” but slap some Moose Tracks between them and I think these will be great. Barb
do you think this dough be used as a crust ( remove some milk perhaps and press into a pie plate) without first baking it into a cookie?I’m in a time crunch here! thanks!
Hi Sam! Absolutely! I did just that with the cappuccino fudge cheesecake I made a few years ago. Here’s the recipe for that (crust recipe included): https://www.smells-like-home.com/2012/12/cappuccino-fudge-cheesecake/ I made the cookie recipe as written but I do recommend cutting back on the butter in the crust when you go to make it since the cookies themselves have a good amount of butter in them already. Please come back and let me know how this works for you and what you’re making!
It worked! I made half a batch (just the right amount for a 9″ pie pan) but with 5 tbl butter not 7, rolled it out between sheets of plastic wrap, patted it down into a greased 9″ pan, poked it thoroughly with a fork before baking, and baked at 350 for about 18 mins (tho my oven is straight from the fires from hell so I can’t give you any accuracy on temp/time) . It looked like it might stick, but did not. It’s a bit more ‘hard’ than Mr. Pie eater likes but I think more attention to rolling it out evenly would solve that as well as more time with the filling in it– we ate it right after filling– not a patient pair 🙂 It was chocolate cream pie. The only thing I’d do differently is be sure to keep the edges thick and maybe cover them so they don’t burn, however it was soft enough when I took it out that I was able to knife-off the burnt bits easily.Thanks much for the recipe, it’s a keeper and you saved a birthday! I’ll do it ‘properly ‘ next time to compare, but knowing me this will be my go-to from now on; no more expensive store bought cookies that frankly, are too crumbly anyway. Thanks again
YAY! I’m thrilled to hear how this went for you! Also, using this dough as a crust for chocolate cream pie sounds AMAZING! Big thanks for coming back to leave a review!
Do you think pressing these between a tortilla press would work also? Looking to make super thin crisp cookies.
Absolutely! This is a GREAT idea! Please let us know how this method turns out for you, Rachel!
Is there any reason it wouldn’t work to have a larger diameter for the log off dough? I’m thinking 2″ to be the base of mini domed raspberry mousses.
You could definitely make a 2″ log. If you need cookies that are bigger than that, I would roll the dough out flat and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter. Larger logs may become difficult to cut into even rounds. The log I made yielded cookies that were close to the size of Nabisco’s wafer cookies but sure, you could go bigger or smaller. You’ll need to adjust your baking time for larger/smaller cookies but not by much unless you’ll be baking really large cookies. And my gosh, I love the idea of raspberry mousses with these chocolate cookies! If you’re on Instagram, I would LOVE to see how they turn out! Please tag me @smellslikehomeblog and/or #smellslikehomeblog so I can see and share with others.
have made these before & they are wonderful, as are Alice Medrich’s recipes. Want to make them at my mom’s place in another country and she doesn’t have any food processor. Do you think it will work too with a stand mixer? Thanks….
Hi Serene! I love that you’re planning to bring this recipe to another country! Yes, I think you can make them without a food processor and with a stand mixer instead. I would follow the instructions as they are written and pour the slowly milk-vanilla mixer into the side of the bowl with the mixer on medium speed at the end of Step 1. You may need to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl during Step 1 to ensure the ingredients are not sticking too much. Please come back and let us know how making this recipe without a food processor worked for you! Happy travels!
I made these cookies after not being able to buy the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers in East Tennessee. I followed the recipe exactly (using Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa) and they are PERFECT!! Better than Nabisco!! And so much cheaper to make. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
So great to hear, Deana! I agree – so much cheaper than Nabisco and so much better too! Did you use them in another recipe? If you have a quick second, would you mind leaving a star rating on this recipe? This will help others to quickly know what a great recipe it is! The star ratings show on the blog and in Pinterest and Google, and they’re completely anonymous. Thank you!!
I have used the store bought brand crispy chocolate wafers many times to make a log of the cookies and home made whipped cream…. with whipped cream between each cookie standing up, then the whole thing covered with whipped cream with chopped walnuts sprinkled over the outside. The cookies softened making it a multi-(thin)-layered chocolate cake/log.
Can these cookies be used in the same manner? When arranged as described and in the fridge for a few hours, I’d need to get the same cake-like result.
Hi Janet! Yes, these cookies are a homemade version of the store-bought cookie and they will definitely give you a cake-like texture for your icebox cake, which sounds wonderful by the way! I used these cookies for my peppermint icebox cupcakes (https://www.smells-like-home.com/2012/12/peppermint-icebox-cupcakes/) a few years ago, I left them in the fridge overnight and the result was just as you would expect for an icebox cake. I’d love to hear how your cake turns out – please come back and let me know here! Happy baking!
I can’t wait to make these! How can I substitute melted dark chocolate instead of the powdered dark chocolate? I have an abundance of dark chocolate in the house (not for long, though! LOL) and would like to use it up (before we eat it up!).
Hi Denise, I’m sorry but I don’t have any idea how to swap melted chocolate for cocoa powder in this recipe. I’d suggest that you pick up a small container of cocoa (Hershey’s Dark works great here) and use the melted dark chocolate for drizzling over whatever you’re going to make with these cookies (cheesecake, icebox cake, etc.)! Happy baking and happy holidays!!
I don’t have a food processor or a mixer, so I used the same process that I would use for making pastry. Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients in a wide, flat bottomed bowl, cut in the butter till the mixture resembles coarse sand, then sprinkle on the liquid and mix until the mixture comes together. Takes a bit of muscle and time, but gets it done, and unlike pastry, I didn’t need to worry about over mixing!
Great tips, Evelyn!
Hi, can i use for pie crust?
Yes! If you pie crust recipe has melted butter in it, reduce the butter by 2 tablespoons. These cookies are very buttery on their own. Happy baking!
I haven’t had butter in the house for a long time. If I wanted to substitute vegetable oil how much would I use? Or would that be a disaster?
Hi Ruth, I’m leaning towards this being a disaster but I can’t be certain. I’d say give it a shot, maybe halving the cookie recipe the first time so you don’t waste a bunch of extra ingredients if the swap doesn’t work. Please let me know if you try it with vegetable oil!
Did I read the recipe right? 14 tbsp butter? Thank you
Yes, that’s correct!
These were a nightmare to make. I made than a couple times and each time was worse then the last. They kept getting squished when I tried to cut them from the log and stuck to my cutting board when I used cookie cutters. When I finally got them cut out and in the oven they started to kinda separate. And the edges were so crispy and crumbled. I only wish I hadn’t already purchased heavy cream. I’m gonna have to keep searching for the Nabisco ones.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble with this recipe. It sounds like maybe the dough log needed to be refrigerated for some extra time. I don’t think the dough is designed to be rolled and cut out with cookie cutters though, so that’s why they stuck to your board.
Hello. I am making these cookies for the first time today because I can’t find the ones I usually use at the store. I’m using them for an icebox torta for a 3″ x 6″ pan size, so I’m thinking, I could just roll out the dough and cut the five 6″ disks that I need. Now I’m wondering how much they will expand so I can make them the appropriate size. I’m making the dessert this afternoon and i would sincerely appreciate it if someone could give me feedback on this questions. Thank you so much. Linda
i made the recipe today, making the cookies instead of disks, and I was totally happy with the results. The flavor and texture of the cookies far exceeded what I wasn’t able to get at the store today. That was my good fortune, because now I know I can have a better product for just a little bit more effort. Thank you so much for sharing this outstanding recipe.
So great to hear how much you loved these cookies!! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review, Linda!!
I am ADDICTED to these cookies! They are absolutely delicious, with a rich, deep dark chocolate flavor. I can’t decide whether I like them better thin and crispy or a little thicker and chewier. They’re so satisfying both ways. Fortunately, I don’t have to decide because I can make some of each!
If I may, I’d like to recommend using fair trade cocoa. Many brands use child/slave labor to produce their chocolate so please look for that on the label when purchasing your chocolate products.
Love this, Julie! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review!
I am excited to make these wafers for an icebox cake, which is the birthday tradition in our house. (Last year, when the Famous Nabisco wafers were discontinued, I used Moravian Ginger Wafers and the cake was amazing. But chocolate is the tradition, so thank you for this recipe!)
I have pounds of salted butter at home. Could I use salted butter instead if I eliminate the 1/4 tsp salt in the recipe entirely? Of will this then be too salty?
Thanks for your help!
Yes, you can cut out the salt if you’re going to use salted butter. I think they’ll be fine! Happy baking!!
Hi! I’m thinking of using peppermint extract to turn these into a thin mint type of cookie. Do you think I’d need to change anything in the recipe if I added about 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract?
Nope! Nothing to change! I was just talking to my husband about doing the very same thing with this cookie recipe!
Can you use 1% milk instead of whole?
I think 1% would be ok!
Thank you for this recipe. They are crispy as can be for my Icecream Cake I am making for Fathers day and they taste so fresh and just homemade buttery baked. I just added more flour since I forgot to omit the butte if I wanted them to be crispy. They are fantastic.
Yay!! So happy these cookies were a hit for you, Nica! And thank so you so much for coming back to leave a review!
Those Nabisco wafers were on the very short list of processed foods I buy, and I went to three stores one day in search of them for ice cream sandwiches. No luck, but then I found this EXCELLENT RECIPE! Chilling the dough till it’s hard is key. Thank you, Tara, and ta-ta, Nabisco!
Woohoo! So happy to hear how much you loved this recipe, Naheed! And thank you for coming back to leave a review!
Can I reduce the amount of sugar and if so, what is the minimum amount?
Hi Dan, Reducing the sugar will alter the ingredient proportions and thus the outcome of the cookies so I don’t recommend it.
The dough freezes amazingly! I tested it by freezing it in a log shape and wrapped it up somewhat tight with parchment and stored in a freezer bag for several months.
Then to bake, I let it thaw but not all the way, (it thaws quickly too) so it’s easy to slice. And it baked like I made the dough the same day! Yummy!
I will be making more logs to freeze so I can bake it anytime!
Thank you very much for an EXCELLENT recipe!!!
Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review, Peggy! I’m thrilled you loved these cookies and I couldn’t agree more about how well the dough freezes!
I don’t have a food processor. Can I use the kitchen aide mixer to made cookies? I also live at 8,000 feet altitude, are there any adjustments I should make? I use King Arthur cup 4 cup flour.
Hi Bobbie, I’m sorry but I’m not familiar at all with high-altitude baking so I’m of no help here.
Tara:
I absolutely LOVE finding this recipe for thin chocolate wafer cookies!! You don’t know how long & hard I’ve been working to find commercial brands so I can make a pie crust for a refrigerated Grasshopper Pie for St. Patrick’s day. My question is this – do you have a subsequent recipe for using these wafers to make a crust for a refrigerated pie? If not, I’ll just make your wafers and muddle through while still appreciating your homemade version. Made from scratch is always better. TYhank you.
These worked perfectly with thr strawberry cheesecake I made. Decadent!
Now am looking for a vanilla version that I can add lemon extraxt to or whatnot. Any ideas?
Yay! So great to hear about using these cookies for your strawberry cheesecake crust! I bet it was delish!
Has anyone tried making these with gluten free flour? Any tips?
I’m making these tonight as I ❤️ Chocolate wafer cookies. No food processor but I made the dough as I would make pie dough. Mix dry. Cut in butter until course crumbles, add liquids and mix, knead by hand. Dough will come together. I added some espresso powder to bring forward the chocolate taste.
I love that you adapted this recipe to make the dough without a food processor! How did the cookies turn out for you?
Tara. They were fantastic! Made some fresh whipped cream with blackberries and made frozen sandwiches from some of them. I’m making a second batch today. 😂
Yay! So great to hear you loved these cookies, Cathryn!
Btw, Tara, thank you for this recipe. So versatile. I’m in heaven.
These were delicious! Our traditional zebra cake came out even more delicious using these than with the original store bought cookies. Thank you. You saved Christmas!
So great to hear this, Jb! Thanks for coming back to leave a review!
Have you tested this recipe with gluten free flour?
Hi Lynn, I don’t bake gluten-free so I have not tried gluten-free flour. I’d love to hear how the recipe turns out if you try it!
These were awesome!! I am going to be making large (double or triple) batches so I decided to try it in my kitchen aid stand mixer. I used softened butter and it worked perfectly!!!
I also needed a specific shape and size so I rolled the dough to 1/8 inch between two pieces of parchment and cut with a cookie cutter (I used 1 size smaller circle cutter due to the fact it spreads some). It worked fantastic! Then I put the rounds in the freezer before baking.
And they taste awesome!
Fantastic to hear all of this, Danelle! Thank you so much for telling us about your adaptation!
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that in March 2023 Nabisco officially discontinued their Famous Chocolate Wafers. I need them, found your recipe is ranking at the top and thought you might want to know there is now currently an opening/gap in the market for this item. Just FYI if adjusting your metadata or something might help people get here. I was sure glad to find it.
Thanks so much for the heads up on this, Kay, as I had not heard about them being discontinued.
I can confirm these are very good, and are indeed very similar to the Nabisco “Famous” chocolate wafers from the store.
Um… and this will be my go-to recipe from now on because as of a month or so ago (Spring 2023), the Famous chocolate wafers HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED.
I am very sad. But, I will survive as I’m a decent baker………………..
Hi Kent, Thanks so much for your note and review. It’s so sad to see such an institution of a cookie discontinued! Glad we have a fantastic home recipe though!!
I haven’t made this yet but I am worried about trying to cut the dough into 1/8 inch rounds. I don’t know if my knives are too thick for cutting. Any hints?
Make sure the dough log is really cold before cutting and you shouldn’t have any problems.
Thank you for the recipe, I tried it out last night and the chocolate wafers came out amazing!
So great to hear, Lori!
THESE ARE NOT NABISCO WAFERS.
It was a sad disappointing dinner with my father in law as we mourned the loss of Nabisco Chocolate Wafers. They are great cookies don’t get me wrong but they aren’t nabisco. They don’t make the ice box cake the same as Nabisco did.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. Just another thing ruined by corporate taking on the little fella. I’ll write to Mr. Nabisco and let him know how I feel.
Nope, they’re not Nabisco wafers. They’re a homemade version that is a fantastic replacement for Nabisco wafers. I’m sorry you didn’t feel these were for you.
Hi, I have a question, the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla. I made the dough but it was very dry. I came back today and watched your video and noticed that when you were pouring the milk/vanilla, it looked like more liquid than the above. Can you clarify? Thanks in advance!
The amount of liquid in the recipe on the site is correct. I’ve made these cookies many times with the amount as it is written. It sounds like you may have had too much flour in the recipe. Depending on your method for measuring flour (scoop and sweep, or sprinkle and sweep), you can end up with different amounts of flour. The more reliable way, especially weights are not included in a recipe, is to sprinkle from a spoon/scoop into the measuring cup and then sweep the excess flour to level it off with a knife (hence, sprinkle and sweep). This this helps!
OMG, I have been jonesing these cookies for YEARS. They got the taste perfect. I’m going to slice the second log a little thinner and mess around with the times, to get them as thin as I remember them. But this is def going in my rotation! Think I’ll have another … right … NOW.
Fantastic to hear this, Larry!
I’ll be making these for Christmas, since Nabisco has made the unusual decision to remove this holiday staple from their product line.( What were they thinking?!) These look much better anyway! 🎄
Agreed! I still can’t believe Nabisco discontinued the chocolate wafers. It just doesn’t make sense at all. I hope you love this recipe!
These wafer cookies are lovely and rich. I could eat them just by themselves! I think they’d be great for cream or ice cream sandwiches, or in crusts. However, from my experience making an icebox cake (wafer and whipped cream log) with them, they are not a great substitute for the discontinued Nabisco wafers. The texture when softened in the cake was all wrong, almost curd-like and rather off-putting, even though the flavor was very nice.
Thanks for posting this. Mr. Christie doesn’t make these anymore, and a traditional part of my family Christmas went down the memory hole with their (perhaps understandable) marketing decision. I’m grateful to at least have a chance to do some holiday ‘restructuring’ of my own. Thanks for the post. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Joe
Hope you love these cookies, Joe! Happy Baking!
I made the recipe as is. It turned out wonderful to make the chocolate wafer type cookies I can no longer find at the grocery stores. (Nabisco Famous wafers). I will continue to use this recipe for these cookies. And the house smelled wonderful while baking them! Thank you for sharing such an easy and terrific recipe.
So great hear, Kim! Thanks for coming back to leave a review!
Very disappointed. Made these and they were difficult to cut. Kept breaking apart.
I had them in the fridge overnight.
I never have trouble with baking but these just didn’t work out
Hi Beth, I’m sorry you had trouble cutting these cookies. It sounds like 1 of two things may have happened: 1) You didn’t press and roll the dough tightly enough, and/or, 2) You had too much flour in the recipe, which can happen from various flour measuring techniques.
Decided to try these cookies when Nabisco stopped selling their chocolate wafers. These are absolutely the best! I think they surpass the store chocolate wafers in taste. This will be my go-to recipe for Chocolate wafers in the future.
YAY!! So happy to hear this, Karen! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review!
I’m want to try this recipe but I do wish to say that I’m really frustrated at not being to look at the entire recipe without downloading more stuff. I already have more on this computer than I want.
Hi Mary-Ann, There’s no need to download anything in order to view this recipe. Scroll down to the green recipe cards towards the bottom of the page and you’ll find the full recipe there. I hope that helps!
Found and used this recipe to make the “refrigerator roll” that my mom used to make. My grandkids love it! The Nabisco Wafers that we always used are no longer on the market so I gave this recipe a try. They turned out great and are very close in flavor if not exactly like the Famous Wafers. A few comments, tho:
Rolling the log of dough to “1 1/4” to 1 3/4” as instructed will give you tiny discs of cookies, not much bigger than a quarter. Way too small and not the size of Famous Wafers. I thought they would spread on the cookie sheet but, no, not at all. Luckily the second half of the dough was still in the fridge so I re-rolled it to about 2”-2 1/2” and ended up with the size I was looking for.
Cutting back the number of Tbsps. of butter to just 12 Tbsps. also worked well. They were easy to slice when chilled as instructed. This morning I will fill with whipped cream, cover the entire cake and present it to my granddaughter tonight! Thx!
I made these today. OMG! They are amazing.
I used my Kitchenaid professional stand mixer instead of dragging down my food processor.
I whisked all the dry ingredients together thoroughly. I beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using the paddle attachment. Added the dry ingredients and mixed until combined. I whisked the vanilla and milk together and slowly poured it into the mixer with it running on low. Once it started to incorporate, I increased the speed until it all came together.
I didn’t have any dark cocoa powder, so I used Ghirardelli Dutch processed. I added 2 more heaping tablespoons to the 1/2 cup.
I also used salted butter and omitted the salt.
The dough is so yummy, it’s tempting to just grab a spoon and the mixing bowl and go sit down. Lol.
I let the logs sit in the fridge for 4 hours. The dough was nice and firm and easy to cut. I made them on the smaller side. I wound up getting 63 cookies out of 1 log. I have the other log in the fridge.
My hubby thinks they are delicious also.
I’m so glad I found this recipe. My stepson wants an ice cream cake with lots of crunchies. I know they are made with oreos, but they are crap. These cookies are going to be perfect. Crunchy and delicious. Thank you so much
Now that Nabisco has stopped making their wafers I’m at a loss for our family ice box birthday cake. I found your recipe and it tastes exactly the same! The only problem I’m having is how to get the cookies sliced thin and even so they are all approximately the same size. Any suggestions?
I have a question: Has anyone tried baking these and then freezing them? I am wondering if they keep their crispy texture after being frozen. I wanted to make an icebox cake while I was away on vacation and would transport the cookies frozen and then assemble the cake when I arrive.
Thanks for this recipe, Tara, but where is the video?
If you have an ad blocker turned on in your browser, you won’t see the video.
When my son’s 13th birthday rolled around this year, he asked for his favorite Ice Box Cake. I searched everywhere for the Nabisco Famous Wafers, only to find out they were discontinued. Then I came across this recipe and had to try it. I’m happy to report that these wafers made an even BETTER ice box cake than the Nabisco ones!
I used Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder and rolled the dough logs into 1.5-inch rounds. After chilling them overnight in the fridge, I sliced them as thinly as possible without cracking—about 1/4 inch thick. I made sure each slice was evenly thin and, if any side was thicker, I gently pressed it between my fingers to even it out.
I baked the cookies as directed, rotating and turning the pans halfway through. I noticed the edges were cooking faster (hard to tell with dark cookies, but they got slightly darker), so I didn’t want them to burn before the centers were done. I lowered the oven to 325°F and baked them for a few more minutes. This recipe made a lot—probably about twice as many as a package of Nabisco wafers.
After baking, I let the cookies rest on cooling racks, then set the oven to 215°F and put the cookies back in (still on the racks) to dry them out completely (maybe another 10-20 minutes). The result was nicely crisp wafers, perfect for the ice box cake—and they were delicious on their own, too! I’m definitely saving this recipe.
It would have been nice to know before baking about leaving some of the butter out
If your making a crust….
Please remember that it helps tremendously to read the full recipe at least 1 time before starting to make it. There is a long note about reducing the butter for a crust directly after the recipe instructions.
Family tradition is chocolate roll, these cookies iced with whipping cream. We have missed it and was so thrilled to find this recipe!
Your recipe makes the best chocolate wafers. Just like the original store bought ones but even better I made them myself. Thank you for saving our traditional Christmas Dessert.
Woo hoo! So happy to hear this, Maggie!!
Hi. Thank you for your beautiful recipe. I make desserts all the time, but when I need “chocolate wafer cookies” I get in a bind, bc they are nearly impossible to find at my grocery stores, locally. In the past, I have had to purchase them online, however, I just found your recipe and they look perfect!!! I love the tip at the close of the recipe telling us about decreasing the melted butter-if making a crust. Thanks again and Cheers!!!
Whew! I promised my ex-coworkers (I’m retired) a chocolate cheesecake tomorrow. I searched for Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers in 4 stores to no avail. When I found this site, I learned they are no longer available. No problem because I have my Kitchenaid mixer handy along with this recipe. I just mixed up the dough, rolled it into logs, and placed in fridge. In 2 hours I will slice them, bake them, cool them, and turn it into the crust. Will have the cheesecake to its destination by 9:30am tomorrow. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi James! So happy these cookies worked great for your cheesecake! Nabisco is no longer selling the chocolate wafers. The cookies were discontinued a couple of years ago.
Oh, these are wonderful! They have a nice chocolate flavor and are easy to make. They are crisp and I’ll use them for a chocolate icebox cake. Thank you for a great recipe!
You’re so welcome! Glad you loved them!
Very good, crisp chocolate wafers that snap after cooled.
I needed to make chocolate wafers to cut down on ingredients for a cookies and cream fudge that I typically made with crushed oreos to make my ingredients list shorter for selling it, and with a few minor alterations these turned out wonderfully.
I used 200g flour (recipe calls for 191g), and 200g sugar (recipe calls for 225g). Decreased the butter to 12 Tbsp (168g) as noted below the recipe, but I feel like maybe next time I will decrease it to 10 Tbsp (140g) as the cookies ended up being a little wet still for my use after crushing.
I used a stand mixer to combine the dry ingredients, and then placed room temp pats of butter in the mixer to combine. Once combined, I slowly added the milk and it came together fast. I just did one log in a long sheet of saran wrap, and rolled the dough out after wrapping it in the saran wrap – made it very easy to shape with minimal mess. I got about 80 cookies out of this recipe, or roughly 600-650g of cookies (maybe a little more – my husband stole some while they were still on the cooling rack!!)
I can see myself using this recipe or variations of this recipe in the future for other recipes as well. Thank you for this great recipe!