GINGERSNAP VANILLA BEAN SANDWICH COOKIESfeatured

I think I’ve already established that my Mom was one of those everything from scratch, why buy it when you can make yourself kind of Moms. I get that this is awesome. But man, as a kid, sometimes it just sucked.

As soon as I was old enough to dictate what I wanted to be for Halloween, I was always a princess. It wasn’t up for debate. Halloween = princess costume. End of story. Except one year when Mom got “creative.” Here’s how it typically went down. About 3 weeks before Halloween, Mom would pick me up from school and I would see a bag from the local fabric store with pink fabric inside. Honestly, I didn’t even really want that. Every year I would beg for one of the plastic costumes from Kmart. But nope. Every year I would see that bag of fabric. Whatever, it was pink so I was cool(ish) with it. Until the year she picked me up and I didn’t see pink in the bag. I saw purple satin. Um. What? Apparently I was going to be a witch. But not just any kind of witch, a purple witch. This was the worst. I just wanted to be normal and wear a plastic princess costume from the store. And at the very least if I HAD to have a homemade witch costume, could I please just be a black witch like everyone else? The struggle was real people.

In hindsight, that costume was rad and my Mom was awesome for thinking of it and forcing me to do something different. Kind of like these cookies. These are technically an Oreo, but why make them the standard way? Who said an Oreo has to be chocolate? Nope, they can be whatever you want. Two cookies with some kind of filling in the center? Works for me. And this time of year, give me all the spices.. ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg.. all good. So yeah, moral of the story? Break the rules and rad things happen; even if it means being a purple witch among pink princesses.

Recipe: Gingersnap Vanilla Bean Cream Sandwich Cookies  |  Soundtrack: Dave Barnes

• INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 3 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• TOPPING
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• FILLING
• 2 pkg cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 6 tbsp room temperature butter
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla paste (or extract)

Directions
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, molasses, honey and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the mixer and beat to make sure everything is completely blended.

Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Mix well. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Mix the topping cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl.

Form dough into 1 inch sized balls. Roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and place on a cookie sheet. Once you’ve filled the entire sheet, place it back in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. If you have room, I actually like to put them in my freezer to make sure they are hardened.

Bake for 6-9 minutes. The tops will be slightly cracked when they are done. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes on the sheet. Remove cookies and place on a wire rack to completely cool.

To make the filling:
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla until it’s smooth.

When cookies are cool, turn half of them over, place 2-3 tsp of cream cheese frosting in the middle and place another cookie on top, slightly squeezing to create a sandwich.

Keep the cookies in the refrigerator.

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