Chocolate and Coconut Cream Sandwich Cookies
Soft and rich dark chocolate sugar cookies, filled with fluffy coconut cream frosting.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ - 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp coconut extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp coconut cream (see note)
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Cookies
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt until combined.With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at a time. Pulse a few times until evenly distributed.Add the vanilla and milk. Process just until the dough comes together and sticks together in a ball.
- Note that if you don't have a food processor, you can make the dough in a bowl, using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Then use your hands to work in the liquid until it comes together into a dough.
- Turn the dough out, and knead a few times, just to fold in any floury bits. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal portions. They should be as close in size as possible, so it's helpful if you have a food scale, to weigh the dough, then weigh each portion so they're uniform in size.Roll each portion between your hands to shape a ball, and lightly dust each ball of dough in flour.Place the dough balls on several large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Dip a cookie stamp in flour, then tap off the excess. Center the stamp over a ball of dough, then firmly press down on the dough, until it flattens and spreads out all the way to the edge of the stamp. Carefully pull the dough off the stamp and set onto the baking sheet.Use a round cookie cutter that's slightly smaller than the cookie stamp to cut the pressed cookies and trim off the uneven edges. Save the scraps.Repeat pressing all the cookies, dipping the stamp in flour and tapping off the excess in between each.
- Gather up all the scraps from the trimmed edges, roll into 2 more balls, dust in flour, and press 2 more cookies, for a total of 26 cookies.Place all the pressed cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Set the baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill the pressed cookies for 1 hour. Chilling the dough prior to baking ensures that the dough maintains its shape in the oven and doesn't spread.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for 11 1/2 minutes.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling with the buttercream.
Frosting
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth. Add 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and the extracts, and mix on low to combine. Add 2 tablespoons of the coconut cream, and the salt.
- On medium speed, whip the frosting for about 5 minutes, until very light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar or more coconut cream for desired consistency. This should be a bit thicker than what you would want for frosting a cake, since you want the buttercream to be soft, but stiff enough to not slide out of the cookie sandwiches.
- Turn half the cookies over. Generously spread or pipe the frosting onto the cookies, and then top with another cookie to make the sandwiches.
Notes
- Rolling the Dough: If you're not using cookie stamps to press the cookie dough, you can skip those steps. Instead, simply roll out the dough to between 1/4-1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface, and use a round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Follow all other instructions for chilling, then baking the cookies.
- Storing Cookies: Leftover cookies should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
- Bake in Advance: They can also be baked in advance, wrapped well, and frozen for 3-6 months.
- Coconut Cream: Canned coconut cream is available on the ethnic food aisle next to the coconut milk at many grocery stores. You can also use the solid cream from a chilled can of coconut milk (draining off the water). Let the chilled cream warm up to room temperature again before adding to your frosting.
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