Molasses Spice Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Categories: cookies, christmas, edd kimber

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, melted
• 175g light brown sugar
• 75g black treacle
• 1 large egg
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground clove
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• --- Cream Cheese Frosting
• 50g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 125g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 50g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
• pinch salt

Steps:

To make the cookie dough add the butter, sugar and molasses to a large bowl and beat together with a Wilfa Smooth Mix - Hand Mixer, for a couple minutes until pale. Add the egg and beat together for a couple minutes until smooth and combined. Add the flour, spices, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a stiff dough is formed. Refrigerate the dough for at least four hours or until firm. At this point the dough can be refrigerated for up to 5 days before baking. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Roll into tablespoon sized balls, I like to use a small tablespoon sized cookie scoop to portion the dough and then roll by hand to make neat round balls. Roll the balls in granulated sugar and then set onto the prepared baking trays. Bake for 10 mins until the cookies are crinkly and flattened but still a little domed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. When removed straight from the oven the cookies will be very soft so don’t try and more them until the 10 minutes are up. The cookies will flatten slightly more as they cool leaving you with a chewy edge and a soft centre. Kept in a sealed container they’ll keep for 2-3 days. To make the cream cheese frosting add the butter to a bowl and using the Wilfa hand mixer beat until soft and creamy. Add in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat on low speed until the frosting is smooth. Once all of the sugar has been mixed in turn up the mixer and beat for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla, cream cheese and salt and mix briefly just until a smooth mixture has formed. Spoon or pipe the cream cheese frosting onto the base of half the cookies and sandwich together with a second cookie. Once sandwiched together the cookies will keep for up to 3 days but will slowly soften as they sit.