Friday, March 23, 2018

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIES

What's better than a chocolate cookie? A chocolate sandwich cookie with a creamy filling. This is a simpler, homemade version of the all-time favourite chocolate cookies. Very quick and easy to make, these are fantastic with a tall glass of milk, or a cup of strong coffee, which is how I like them. The only waiting time is the chilling time for the dough, everything else can be done in under half an hour. One optional thing - if you want, you can add some cinnamon or even espresso powder, if you want to pair them with strong coffee.


Ingredients
For the cookies
120 grams salted butter, softened
100 grams granulated sugar
1 small egg
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
200 grams plain flour
30 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon baking powder
dash of cinnamon, optional
For the filling
200 grams icing sugar
50 grams salted butter, softened
1 ½ tablespoon double cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
First make the cookies. Sift the flour with the cocoa powder and baking powder twice and set it aside. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on high until creamy, about a minute. Add the sugar and reduce the speed to medium. Beat until creamy, lighter in colour and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and blend really well. Add the dry ingredients you sifter earlier and gently fold them in with a spatula, then blend start with the mixer on low and beat until the dough starts to form. If it gets too difficult for your mixer to blend, finish the dough with a wooden spoon. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
When the dough has firmed up, remove it from the refrigerator, lightly dust the work surface with flour and let the dough sit out for about a minute, so it warms up slightly. Roll the dough out to about 5 millimetres and cut out desired shapes. Make sure you have an even number of single cookies, because you need to sandwich them later. Arrange the single cookies on two baking sheets lined with baking paper and bake them in a preheated oven, at 180˚C (350˚F) for 10-12 minutes. They will seem very soft when you take them out of the oven, but do not be tempted to bake them any further. Let them cool for about 5 minutes on the sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You should get 50 single cookies.
While the cookies are cooling, make the filling. Place the softened butter in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until smooth and creamy. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat on low for about a minute, then turn the mixer on high and beat for 1 minute more. Add the vanilla and cream and beat for another minute on high. The filling should be smooth and thick, but easily pipeable. Take a single cookie, pipe out about half of a teaspoon of the filling in the centre, then place another cookie on top and press down slightly. The filling should hold the cookies together. Yields 25 finished sandwich cookies.

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