I am in LOVE with these sandwich cookies, they are so adorable and easy to make, not to mention super delicious!! I had a blast piping the little hearts, and matching them and filling them, and of course eating them. These are perfect for Valentines day, a perfect family treat or in a decorative box for the one you love. I think this is one of my all time favorite recipes, I thought the cookies needed a little something extra, so I added semisweet mini chocolate chips, they were perfect. The cream cheese filling is so light and creamy, and the touch of semisweet chocolate chips are a great compliment to the very rich flavor, the cookies are very soft and cake-like, I love the light cocoa flavor of the cookie as well as the deep rich, red, color. They were also very easy to pipe into hearts, just trace little hearts onto parchment paper and pipe, or you can just leave them round, either way, still very cute!
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| Mix dry ingredients |
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| Mix sugar and butter |
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| Sugar heart |
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| Mix until fluffy |
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| Add the eggs, and vanilla |
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| incorporate the dry/wet ingredients until will mixed |
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| Add the food coloring |
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| Mix until fully incorporated |
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| Add dough to piping bag |
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| Pipe onto parchment paper |
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| Mix the butter, cream cheese until smooth, the the vanilla and powdered sugar |
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| until nice and smooth |
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| And the chocolate chips |
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| Turn half the cookies flat side up |
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| Pipe filling onto flat side |
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| Smushhhhhh, and eat :) |
Ingredients: Makes about 16 cookies
For the cookies:
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 oz. red gel food coloring
For the filling:
2- 8 oz. cream cheese
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 F
Using a heart template, trace hearts onto cookie 2 cookie sheets fitted with parchment paper, set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in each egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about 1/4 of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition until just incorporated. Do not overbeat. Blend in the food coloring.
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag, cut about 1/2 inch or so, (mine was about a pinky finger width) Pipe the dough onto the parchment paper just inside the trace using it as a guide. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the tops are set. Let cookies cool about 5 minutes,then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with any remaining dough. Allow cookies to cool completely before filling.
To make the cream cheese filling, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract Then on low speed gradually add the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Add the chocolate chips mixing on low until fully incorporated.
Match all cookies to size, turning half of them facing flat side up, transfer filling to a pastry bag cutting 1/4 off the tip, pipe the filling onto the flat side of each cookie leaving some room on the edges, sandwich the cookies, flat sides together and press down a little until the filling comes to the edges, serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 2 days. If they'll last that long. :)
Recipe adapted from Annies Eats
