CHOCOLATE ORANGE SANDWICH COOKIESfeatured

My Mom is a big believer in etiquette. On birthdays or Christmas, we had to write our thank you notes before we were allowed to play with our new toys. Napkins went on our laps at mealtime and we made sure to say please and thank you whenever appropriate. These things, and so many more rules, were drilled into our heads as children.

And my Mother walks the walk. She has amazing manners. Except in one area. Chocolates. She isn’t a big fan of chocolates in general so we usually only have them around the house if they are gift from someone. However, if she gets to the box of chocolate first, we all know it. When we open the lid, all of the chocolates have one bite out of them except for the one or two that are missing. She only likes a few flavors and so she tastes each one and puts it back into the box if it isn’t one of the few flavors she likes. It still annoys all of us. Not cool Mom.

One of the accepted flavors she likes is orange and chocolate. In fact when she was pregnant with my brother, rumor has it all the weight she gained was due to the orange chocolate marshmallow pumpkins sold at the local Hallmark store. I think she bought out their entire inventory. No judgement, just stating the facts.

So it’s no surprise that we all love this flavor combination. Not because any of us have the chance to taste it often since Mom always seemed to get to the box of chocolates first. But still. We dig it.

Recipe: Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies  |  Soundtrack: Fitz and the Tantrums

• COOKIES
• 1 1/4 cups salted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp orange zest (approx 2 medium oranges)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• FILLING
  
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 5 tbsp orange juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp orange zest (approx 3 medium oranges)
• 5 cups powdered sugar

Directions
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until it’s completely blended and light yellow. Beat in the eggs and add the vanilla and orange zest. Mix until well blended.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Mix well. Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until well combined.

Chill dough in the refrigerator for a couple hours.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Lightly grease /spray a baking sheet. Once chilled, remove dough from the refrigerator. Using a spoon, roll dough into quarter sized balls and place on the baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place cookies on a baking sheet to cool.

To make the filling:
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter together until well blended. Make sure there are no chunks of butter remaining. Making sure both the cream cheese and the butter are at room temperature will help with this. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well until combined. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

*Note, add in more powdered sugar if you want the filling to be more stiff. Additionally, depending on how big or small you make the cookies and how much filling you like, you may have some left over.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, take 2 cookies of similar size, turn one over, place a spoonful of the orange filling and place the second cookie on top. Repeat until all the cookies are assembled. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

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