Tag Archives: Sandwich Cookies

Blonde Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies

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Cookies are my love language. It’s how I show those nearest and dearest to me that I care. I think the ultimate cookie needs to be both beautiful and delicious. While I admire cookies artfully decorated in royal icing, I have no desire to eat them. Too sweet and lacking depth of flavour.

These are the cookie equivalent of conversation hearts. Remember those awful chalky candies? These are much more delicious. Who wouldn’t want to receive a box of these?

We don’t really celebrate Valentines Day in our house, but I’m helpless when it comes to buying baking gadgets. These fondant alphabet stamps work beautifully on cookie dough too. The most challenging part of making these was arranging the letters onto the handle, because you need a mirror image of what you actually want to spell. The part of my brain that understands directions and left and right is significantly underdeveloped, so I struggled with this. I had to arrange the letters and then hold it up to the mirror to make sure it was correct. (I can hear the laughter from my family!)

The filling in these sandwich cookies is a ganache made with blonde chocolate. A ganache is essentially hot cream poured over chocolate and sometimes some butter. It is stirred until the chocolate melts. A warm and fluid ganache can be poured over cake. If you let the ganache firm up, it can be rolled into little balls and dipped in melted chocolate to create truffles, or you can do as I did here, and pipe the ganache onto cookies.

My chocolate of choice here was blonde chocolate. For the uninitiated, blonde chocolate is caramelized white chocolate. You can buy it already caramelized (Valrhona Dulcey), or you can make it yourself by roasting white chocolate in the oven. Buttermilk by Sam has an amazing tutorial on her blog. You could also make a milk or dark chocolate ganache.

Blonde chocolate is less sweet than white chocolate and has an amazing toasted almost caramel flavour. Even white chocolate haters like it!

For the cookie, I used Alice Medrich’s recipe for butter cookies. They are plain, in the very best sense of that word. “Plain” was the ultimate compliment from my dad. These tender yet crunchy cookies perfectly showcase the creamy blonde ganache.

Click here to print recipe for Blonde-Chocolate-Ganache-Sandwich-CookiesDownload

Coffee Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

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There are over 100 cookie recipes on my blog. To say that I am passionate about cookies would be an understatement. I think that cookies are the perfect way to end a meal. Just a small bite of something sweet. I’m always puzzled why more restaurants don’t put cookie plates on their dessert menus.

Of the more than one dozen cookie cookbooks on my shelf, the one I reach for more than any other is Cookie Love by Mindy Segal. If you’re looking for quick one-bowl, stir and scoop cookies, this is not the book for you. This book is filled with cookie projects. Multi-layered and textured cookies that are a labour of love and a work of art.

These are an intensely coffee flavoured cookie. The recipe calls for instant coffee crystals, like Folgers. It’s important to use instant coffee crystals and not powdered instant coffee You want those specs of coffee to be visible in the dough. Powdered coffee would just dissolve. The cookies are sprinkled with a touch of turbinado sugar before baking. They add a lovely crunch to the cookie.

The buttercream filling is made with a mix of dark and milk chocolate, butter and sour cream for a hint of tang to balance out all the chocolate richness. The buttercream gets piped around the border and the centre is filled with a dollop of Nutella.

Because we’re fancy around here, I dipped the end in melted chocolate and then studded them with chopped toffee bits and chopped toasted hazelnuts, for crunch. We are team texture here at saltandserenity.

Click here to print recipe for Coffee-and-Hazelnut-Chocolate-Sandwich-CookiesDownload

Wedding Cake Cookies

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One of the only silver linings of COVID is that weddings during this time have become more intimate. You’re forced to pare down your guest list to those that are truly nearest and dearest to you, and I think that makes for a very special day. Plus, with only 10 guests, a huge wedding cake is not needed!😉

My oldest son got married this past weekend and we were indeed an intimate group of 12, including the bride and groom. My son and daughter-in-law planned the entire day and it was perfect. They rented a charming stone coach house in rural Guelph Ontario. They held the wedding outside on the lush grounds surrounding the house. Everything was in bloom and it was an overcast day, which, if you’re a photography person, is ideal. Clouds are nature’s diffuser and make for the dreamiest, softest light.

As a family of mostly introverts, we were secretly (well maybe not so secretly) happy with the small guest list. I was thrilled that my 85 year old mom was able to attend. Of course she cried! It’s a standing joke in our family that it’s not a successful family gathering unless Moppy (that’s what her 14 grandchildren call her) cries. The groom is her very first grandchild and the first of the bunch to get married.

I did not volunteer to bake the wedding cake. I have made one wedding cake in my life and it was a very stressful experience that is best left to the professionals! I did offer to make wedding cake cookies as favours for the guests.

The cookies were my favourite chewy brown sugar cookie recipe. I filled them with blackberry buttercream and a dollop of tart blackberry jam. I used royal icing to stack the sandwich cookies and glue on the sugar flowers.

I packaged them up in these adorable clear little boxes and made labels to match.

They were really yummy, so delicious in fact that my daughter, who is getting married in August, asked if I could make them for her wedding guests. It will be my pleasure!

Click here to print recipe for Wedding-Cake-CookiesDownload

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Malt Chocolate and Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies

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When I saw these cookies on nytcooking.com, created by recipe developer and food stylist Yewande Komolafe, I knew I wanted to recreate them. I love using malt powder in baking. Stella Parks calls it the umami bomb of dessert.

These are like a grown-up version of Mallomars. A pillowy marshmallow filling, sandwiched between two chocolate malt shortbread cookies and topped with a bittersweet chocolate ganache. Each cookie is garnished with a sprinkling of edible gold flakes and coarse sea salt. I love to make delicious and beautiful cookies. It satisfies my deeply strong sense of aesthetics. These cookies are fancy AF, but that’s how we roll here at saltandserenity!

Making marshmallows is not difficult, as long as you have a candy or instant read thermometer. I give very detailed instructions in the recipe. The marshmallow mixture sets up fairly quickly, so have your cookies baked and ready to fill before you make the marshmallow mixture.

Although I called these adult cookies, don’t skip the glass of milk!

Click here to print recipe for Malt-Chocolate-and-Marshmallow-Sandwich-CookiesDownload

Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

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These are one of the most beautiful cookies I have ever baked. But physical beauty aside, they are also very delicious. Sometimes beautifully decorated cookies end up disappointing in taste. Too sweet and lacking in flavour complexity.

If you’re looking for fast holiday cookies, these are not for you. These take time, but you will be rewarded with intensely flavoured and beautiful cookies. These cookies were inspired by a recipe from the November/December Holiday issue of Chatelaine magazine. In the original recipe, the top of the sandwich cookies were dipped in melted white chocolate, dyed pink with food colouring. They were filled with raspberry jam. When my husband tasted them he said that they were good, but they needed more raspberry flavour.

I needed to figure out how to boost the raspberry flavour. Sandwiching more jam in the middle would not work. It would just ooze out. Adding a border of buttercream would act as a dam, holding in more jam.

I made a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream and flavoured and coloured it with freeze-dried raspberries, ground up into a powder. Freeze dried fruits are a great way to flavour buttercream. I used about 3/4 cup of freeze dried raspberries to the buttercream. If I added 3/4 cup fresh berries to the buttercream, it would be way too wet.

The second way I boosted the raspberry flavour was to mix some freeze dried raspberry powder into the melted white chocolate, for dipping the top of the sandwich cookies into. Natural food colouring with flavour!

Start with a vanilla sugar cookie dough. I like to roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper as soon as I make it, rather than chilling first and then rolling. I find it very difficult to roll cold dough. After rolling the dough, chill for at least an hour.

Once the dough has chilled, cut out your shapes. A fluted square cutter is very pretty for these.

Dip half the baked cookies into the raspberry white chocolate and pipe the other half with a border of raspberry buttercream. I used a small French star tip to pipe the buttercream. Fill in the centre of the buttercream with jam. Top each sandwich cookie with a chocolate dipped lid.

Store cookies in an airtight container in the fridge. They should be fine for 4-5 days. Let come to room temperature before serving. You could also freeze them for several weeks. A little box of these gems would make a beautiful holiday gift.

Click here to print recipe for Raspberry-Sandwich-CookiesDownload

Pistachio and Sour Cherry Linzer Cookies

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Martha just told me that it’s National Bake Cookies Day! There’s actually a special day for that? In my kitchen, everyday is bake cookies day. My Instagram feed is flooded with cookies this month.

Today’s cookie is a Linzer cookie. I have long been an admirer of these pretty jam filled treats, but until this week, I have never baked them. The talented food photographer Bea Lubas frequently bakes and shoots Linzer cookies and her work is so inspiring.

While they may look like just another pretty jam filled sugar cookie, the addition of ground nuts to the dough turns them into a cookie so tender that it just about melts in your mouth. The dough for a traditional Linzer cookie is made with ground almonds. Since I happened to have a surplus of pistachios on hand, from a greedy shopping spree in Sicily, I used those instead. 

The classic filling for linzer cookies is raspberry jam, but I went with sour cherry. The sweet-tart flavour is a perfect complement to the rich tender crumb of the pistachio cookies.

Here are a few tips for success when baking these cookies:

The dough is quite sticky. Make sure to roll it between 2 sheets of parchment and dust with flour. 

Chill the dough well before cutting out shapes. The cookies will keep their nice crisp edges and won’t spread too much if they hit the oven cold.

Dust the tops with icing sugar before covering the sandwiches. That way you won’t hide the pretty jam filling.

If you want to make these ahead, bake the cookies and freeze. Thaw, fill and dust with icing sugar the day you plan to serve them. 

Click here to print recipe for Pistachio-and-Sour-Cherry-Linzer-Cookies-1Download

Maple Sandwich Cookies

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sandwich cookies 3While maple might not be the first flavour that leaps to mind for holiday baking, these cookies might change your mind.  Like many Canadians, I grew up eating maple sandwich cookies, so I have a certain nostalgic fondness for them. One of these and a paper cup filled with apple juice takes me right back to nursery school!one cookie 2It’s been a while since I’ve snacked on a maple sandwich cookie, but as soon as I saw them being made on The Great Canadian Baking Show, I couldn’t stop craving them. While Canada’s version of the British original is a bit staid, at least we weren’t pulled from the air after the first 2 episodes for inappropriate behavior from one of our judges. Another fallen culinary hero. Mostly, I feel sad for all the contestants on the U.S. show that never got to showcase their talent.

Just reread that last paragraph and realized that my guilty pleasure for reality TV has been exposed. Not all reality TV though. Only shows that showcase actual skill or talent, such as Top Chef and Project Runway. The less drama and conflict between the contestants, the more I love it. Have any of you caught Masterchef Australia? Completely addictive.

The cookies are a simple shortbread dough, using unsalted butter, icing sugar, all-purpose flour, salt and a bit of maple extract. Do yourself a favour and roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper as soon as you make it. Then chill the sheet of dough.dough ready to roll outCut out shapes from chilled dough. cutting out maple leavescookies on baking sheet with fondant tool If you want to get really fancy, you can draw the veining of the leaf with the tip of a paring knife. Or, if like me, your drawing talents suck, invest in one of these fondant cutters. It works best if you let the dough soften up a bit before you try to stamp the vein imprint on the cookie. fondant toolBefore baking, I sprinkled each cookie with coarse sanding sugar and just a touch of flaky sea salt. ready to bakeThe filling for the sandwich cookies is made from unsalted butter, icing sugar and maple butter. jar of maple butter I have tried a few different brands of maple butter and they were all pretty amazing. This one is from Vermont, this one is from Quebec. topping sandwichesIf maple is your jam, these cookies are for you. The maple flavour is intense and rich. They are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.  pouring tea

Click here for the recipe for Maple Sandwich Cookies.

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Smoked Almond Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

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dipped 1cookies with jar of caramelized white chocolateI’m not going to lie. One of the reasons I wanted to make these cookies was that they gave me an excuse to buy one of these. I have always wanted a pastry docker. They look like so much fun to use. Of course the docker is not mandatory. You can always poke the dough with a fork to prevent it from puffing up. But a docker is so much more amusing. Plus, it doubles as a great back scratcher. DockingThe recipe for these comes from the brilliant mind of cookie wizard, Mindy Segal. I wrote about her book, “Cookie Love”, a few weeks ago.

I strongly urge you to bake these cookies very soon. My lame-ass description of these cookies can’t possibly live up to just how delicious they are. A filling of caramelized white chocolate buttercream and raspberry jam is sandwiched between two smoked almond shortbread cookies. To further embellish them, Mindy asks us to dip them  into bittersweet chocolate. I have learned to do exactly what Mindy tells me to. She has yet to lead me astray. circle 625 sqIf you are a passionate cookie person, you owe it to yourself, and your loved ones, to make these cookies. Admittedly, in typical Mindy style, there are a few recipes required to produce these cookies, but you can spread the work out over 2 days if you like.

Start with the dough. You will need to grind salted smoked almonds with some all purpose flour in the food processor.Cookie IngredientsGround almonds and flourDo yourself a favour and roll out dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper while the dough is still soft. Then, chill dough and cut into shapes.Cookie Dough 1Divide dough into 2I drew a rectangle on my parchment paper, so I would know exactly how much to roll it out. rolling dough 1
rolling dough 2cutting cookies into squaresThe caramelized white chocolate filling begins with roasting good quality white chocolate in the oven for about 20 minutes. Give it a stir and continue roasting and stirring until it looks like peanut butter. You can buy caramelized white chocolate if you wish to save some time. White ChocolateCaramelizing 1Caramelizing 2Caramelizing 3About 1/4 cup of the caramelized white chocolate is incorporated into a butter and icing sugar frosting. To make your life easier, put frosting into a piping bag, fitted with a round tip. Mindy also gives a recipe for making your own raspberry preserves, but I decided to use a good quality store bought raspberry jam.

Start by piping a W on half the cookies. Piping buttercream 1Piping buttercream closeupDollop on a scant spoonful of raspberry jam and swirl with the buttercream. Raspberry jamjam closeupswirling jamTop each frosted cookie with a lid and chill just until filling firms up. Then dip in chocolate and chill to set the chocolate. dipping

Click here to print recipe for Smoked Almond Shortbread Sandwich Cookies. Smoked Almond Shortbread Sandwich Cookies.

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