Spiced Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Some friends of our were getting together for a Sunday evening get together, nothing fancy, but of course we wanted to bring something tasty. Since it’s technically autumn (even though it’s 85 & humid here in SC), spiced cookies sounded delicious and with chocolate, you can’t go wrong, right? Spiced desserts are fun to make because we get to bake with some of our favorite spices like cardamom & cinnamon. Cardamom is used quite often in Turkish desserts, coffee, and chai, imparting a distinctive aromatic flavor that reminds us of being in Turkey a couple of years ago. Here’s a little piece of culinary trivia: cardamom is the 3rd most expensive spice behind vanilla and saffron.

The cookies themselves aren’t super sweet, but once you put that chocolaty goodness between two of them, lookout, they’ll go fast. Consider baking these and bringing them to Thanksgiving or Christmas, we know they’ll work well for either one. Also, have fun with cookie cutters, especially for holiday cookies. We don’t have any so instead we used the rim of a small wine glass.

Spiced Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 6oz unsalted, room temperature
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 jar chocolate almond/hazelnut spread (or any other delicious spread you prefer – ie Nutella)

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients, except for sugar (flour through allspice) and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Next add the vanilla, followed by the 2 egg yolks.
5. Then slowly, add the dry ingredients.
6. Once well combined, form into a big ball of dough. Knead briefly, then divide into four equal portions.
7. Roll each into a ball and then flatten into a pancake, roughly 1/2 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (You can refrigerate as a ball, but may need a little longer to cool completely.)
8. Using a rolling pin, roll out to 1/6th of an inch thick.
9. Using cookie cutters or the mouth of a glass, cut into individual cookies. [We made fairly small cookies, given that once they were sandwiches, you’d really be eating two cookies! Our were 2 1/4 inches in diameter, but you do you!]
10. Bake, on a silpat or parchment paper on a cookie sheet, for 7 minutes.
11. Remove to a drying rack and allow to cool completely.
12. While cookies are cooling, boil a few cups of water. Remove from heat once boiling and then set the jar of chocolate-almond spread (still in the jar!) into the pot. Don’t submerge the jar entirely! Let it sit for a few minutes until the spread warms a bit and is more easily spreadable.
13. Once cookies are cooled and spread is warmed, spread a generous dollop of the chocolate almond spread in between two cookies. Set aside to cool again.

Makes 2-3 dozen sandwiches, depending on size