Friday, December 7, 2012

Chocolate & Peppermint Cookie Sandwiches

Hello Christmas season!  My mom's office Christmas party was today so last night I baked these super festive cute holiday cookies for her to bring.  The chocolate cookies have a true wafer taste - chocolatey, but definitely not to sweet.  This evens out well with the sweet peppermint middles, giving the whole cookie sandwich a good balance.

Chocolate & Peppermint Cookie Sandwiches
(Adapted from the Chocolate Mint Wafer recipe in The Taste of Home Baking Book)

For the wafers:
2/3 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend
1/2 cup packed Splenda brown sugar blend
1/4 cup skim milk
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (of course you can use 2 cups of all purpose, I just wanted to add some fiber)
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup half-and-half cream
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 tsp salt
About 5 drops of green food coloring

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars.  Once this mixture is fluffy, mix in the milk and egg.  Gradually add in the flours, baking cocoa, and other dry ingredients.  Mix until well combined.  Cover and refrigerate for two hours or until firm.


After the two hours have passed, remove the dough and let it warm just a bit so it's not frigidly cold.  If it's too cold, it can be hard to work with.  On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut with a cookie cutter that is approximately 1.5 inches.  Place cookies on a greased baking sheet about an inch apart.  Bake for 5 minutes.  Let cool for several minutes on the pan and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.  This recipe should make around 75 wafers.

Combine all of the filling ingredients and mix until everything is very well combined. 


Once the cookies are completely cooled, ice the inside of half of the wafers and top with the remaining wafers.  As an added bonus, I added red sprinkles on the outside of the icing to make them extra festive!

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