Sweet and spice and everything nice... the opposite of me.
We’re eating chewy ginger spice cookie sandwiches with a honeyed mascarpone-chevre filling.
The one time every year I could count on my mom baking was around the holidays. Pretty much the rest of the year my mom stayed as far away from the kitchen as possible. (Love you mom! but you know it’s true. 😉 ) Several weeks before Christmas she would go into hyper cookie baker mode and would bust out dozens upon dozens of different cookies that she would give to our teaches, bus drivers, church going friends, etc. I remember red and white candy cane shaped cookies, mexican wedding cookies, bourbon balls and of course her favorite – spritz cookies, dyed green to really look like Christmas trees. (at least in my child’s mind’s eye they looked a lot like xmas trees!) I don’t remember her ever making gingersnaps or any kind of ginger cookies, and I know she sure as hell wouldn’t have filled them with chevre anything as she doesn’t like goat’s milk, but whenever I make holiday cookies it floods me with tons of memories of being in the kitchen with my mom and all of the excitement of Christmas for a child comes rolling back. Maybe that’s why, even though I am not really big cookie eater, this time of year I love to make and share cookies with my friends and family.
So far I only have feedback on these cookies from two people – Tyler (of course) and our neighbor, Rob, who gets a sample of pretty much every sweet thing I make. Both of them gave these cookies really high ratings so I think all in all they are a success. If you are looking for a slightly out-out-of-the-ordinary holiday cookie to share with your friends and loved ones this holiday season, I suggest giving these chewy ginger cookie sandwiches a try! P.S. – If you try them out we’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below!
A Cookie Sandwich Recipe, by Amanda
Print Recipe
Chewy Ginger Spiced Cookie Sandwiches w/ Honeyed Mascarpone-Chevre Filling
For the cookies:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 packed cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
For the filling:
5.5 oz chevre, at room temperature
8 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack positioned in the upper third of the oven. Prepare a baking sheet with parchement paper or silpat.
Sift together the first 7 ingredients for the cookies into a bowl.
Using a stand mixer or hand-mixer in a separate bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and molasses and continue to beat again until fully incorporated.
Finally add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl with the sugar-butter mixture. Beat until the all of the flour has just been incorporated.
Place granulated sugar into a bowl.
Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough. Roll into a ball. Place the ball into the bowl with the sugar. Roll the ball around to coat with sugar. Place the cookie ball onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this process, placing the cookie balls at least 2-3 inches apart as they will spread significantly. Will make about 3 sheets of cookies. Bake each sheet separately.
Once the sheet is full, place on to the rack in the upper third of the preheated oven. Bake 10-12 minutes until the cookies are flattened and the edges are slightly more golden. Place parchement paper with cookies onto a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process two more times with next two sheets of cookies. Cool all cookies for at least 1 hour before filling.
While the cookies are cooking make the filling. Cream together all ingredients for the filling. Set aside until cookies cool.
Once the cookies have cooled evenly distribute the filling over half of the cookies. Place a second cookie onto top of each filled half to form a cookie sandwich. Serve immediately or store at room temperature for upto 24 hours or refrigerated for upto 4 days. Enjoy!
