Chocolate Sandwich Cutout Cookies

I'm done Christmas baking.

My freezer is stuffed.
My kitchen is covered with a layer of flour dust.
My blood sugar is through the roof and my teeth ache.

Despite all that, I don't think I can stop.

It's an addiction.

An unhealthy one at that.

Hello, my name is Jesse and I'm addicted to baking.

Just the other day I was making up a platter (from my 20 containers of baked goods) to take to a function and all I could think of was how I haven't made anything with red and green sprinkles.

Sure, I have these beautiful chocolate sandwich cookies, filled with minty green and raspberry red icing. 

They're festive, right?

Pretty to look at, great to eat, but they still don't fit the bill.

They lack a certain holiday tackiness.

But don't worry. 

I'm going to find something to make. 

It'll be red and green and white and tacky to the max.

Meanwhile, you can try out these chic sandwich cookies.

The chocolate cookie part is really good; in fact, you might even want to forgo the icing and just eat these as is. The dough is easy to work with, it's very forgiving and can be rolled and re-rolled as much as you want. I found the raspberry icing lacking in flavour but the mint was minty good.

Chocolate Sandwich Cutout Cookies

Makes: about 15 sandwiches

Adapted from Martha Stewart

For the cookies:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup dutch process cocoa powder

⅛ tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup icing sugar

1 large egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

For filling:

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar

Mint:

½ tsp peppermint extract

2 drops green food coloring (optional - but you know you want too)

Raspberry:

½ cup raspberry jam, heated and strained (like I said earlier, I didn't find this very flavourful so you may want to use more jam or some raspberry flavouring to enhance the taste)

Directions:

1. For the cookies: Whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating to combine. Divide dough in half; form into disks, and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days. (Dough can be frozen up to 2 months; thaw in the refrigerator before using.)

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, lightly coat with cooking spray. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using a 1 1/2-inch square biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out shapes, transferring to prepared sheets (1 inch apart) as you work. Chill in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. Brush off excess flour. Gather together scraps; roll, chill, and cut out more shapes.

3. Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer cookies, on parchment, to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the fillings. Beat butter until smooth. Add icing sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Divide the icing among 2 bowls. To one bowl stir in the mint ingredients and to the other stir in the strained raspberry jam.

5. Spread a small amount of mint filling on one quarter of the cookies and raspberry filling on one quarter of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, gently press to adhere. Refrigerate in an airtight container for 4 days or freeze for up to 1 month.