30 January 2011

Spicy Sandwich Cookies with Lemon Frosting

It's the weekend and that means I've got time for experimenting with recipes and making special dinners. I've been busy!


Look at these beauties! Isn't this just the prettiest little Leaning Tower of  Pisa pile of sandwich cookies?  I am thinking so. Lynne, over at milk n cookiezzz , made the most gorgeous little spicy star cookies back at the beginning of January and I have been waiting for a chance to try a little add-on. I love the flavors of ginger and spices with lemon and I have been fixated on finding a good rolled cookie recipe that incorporates those spices plus five-spice powder in a slightly crispy cookie that is rolled and cut so that two layers can be put together with a lemony cream cheese and butter icing.



Lynne's cookie recipe gave me enough cookies to have close to three dozen sandwiches, which I thought was a goodly number to finish off with the icing. They won't last long, but I already have another idea for frosting - what do you think of an apple butter icing made with cream cheese and apple butter? It sounds pretty yummy to me! I'm getting the cart before the horse, though!


I started with this old cookie cutter that's been bangin' around in the cupboard for a good long time. I like the shape because it just screams 'tea cookie' ! I also started with a really clean drainboard ... my cold rolling surface.



The dough is rolled with minimal flour ... and it's thin. Between 1/8 and a 1/4 inch thick. I used my trusty icing spatula to run between the cookies and the drainboard to bring them up and over to the cookie sheets.



As you can see, I jammed as many into a roll-out as humanly possible ... the dough was gathered, smushed and rolled out again to cut more. It kept its malleability and didn't get dry and yucky ... because I'd kept the drainboard flour to a minimum. Didn't waste (read eat) much spare dough.



So, while the last batch baked, I cleaned up one mess and started getting ready to make another. I used half a block of cream cheese, three tablespoons of butter, two cups of confectioner's sugar, lemon zest, and about a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice to make a really citrus-y frosting.


Just as an aside, what on Earth did we EVER do without Microplane graters ? I ask you.



Okay. I had a system for this part of assembly, so that my entire kitchen countertop wasn't one big layer of spice cookies. I matched the thicknesses of the finished cookies and paired them off with the sandwich center facing up and its mate under it. I thought I was clever. What can I say? Well, maybe not clever, just more organized than I usually am.



The beauty of this system was such that it allowed me to divvy up the frosting evenly among all the cookies before I started putting them together. I used all the frosting and got it distributed really well. Like I said, I was organized!



When the spice cookies were assembled, it was all about finding pretty platters and taking pictures ... and oogling them! I only ate one while I was doing all this oogling. I chilled the others to get the frosting to the point that I could snap off a bite and not have the frosting gush out from between the layers. Sooo yummy!



Just sayin ...




Psssst! Last year on this day - When the Moon Hits Your Eye - Pizza!






8 comments:

  1. Oh I envy your patience! These cookies are so gorgeous (they came out perfectly!) I wish I enjoyed making rolled cookies more. There's something about rolling out dough, whether it's cookie dough or pie dough that I just don't like. Too bad you don't live next door, I'd take half of these off your hands. :o) They really are beautiful and I bet they taste heavenly.

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  2. Those are beautiful cookies. I love adding lemon to spice...like a lemon sauce over gingerbread. It's always a winning combination in my book.

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  3. They look like they could be in a bakery. Anything with lemon in it I love.

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  4. @ Susan, Kristen, and Brenda - Thanks so much folks! The baking Gods have been with me over the past couple days! I must admit. I giggled at how these cookies came out ... pretty and delicious!

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  5. These look so lovely and delicious. Do you think a non-citrus based filling would work?

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  6. @Paula - Yes! I think that apple butter and cream cheese-based frosting would be awesome! If you try it OR come up with something better, PLEASE get back to me!

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  7. Thanks Susan! - I will let you know!

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  8. Yum! These sound delicious! I will have to bake a new batch of cookies to try this!

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