My favourite treat was these Chocolate Espresso Sandwich Cookies with White Chocolate Filling that I’ve had my eye on forever from Joy the Baker. I added orange food colouring for the Halloween effect, but not orange flavouring, because chocolate and citrus repulse me. The cookie dough is quite sandy, and a bit of a mess to roll out (Update! See recipe below for details), but the result is a crispy cookie – there’s no danger of any puffiness happening, which is what happened the last time I tried to make Homemade Oreos.

Alexis and I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and ended up with something very soft and cakey, which is not what I was looking for. I always meant to try that recipe again, making the cookies thinner and baking for longer to get them crispier, but now there’s no need. Joy made another version of this cookie and added peppermint extract to the filling; this is the first contender on my Holiday 2011 Cookie list!

I also made these Pumpkin Spice Sugar cookies, which were kind of gingerbread-like. They would have been even better with icing, but I ran out of time. I also made these little peanut butter things from this month’s Everyday Food, but something was off about them. Not enough sugar or something? But they sure are cute! Finally, I cut up a bunch of apples from my Chudleigh’s adventure with Aoife & Brad, and put them on a plate with some warm butterscotch sauce for dipping (no picture). I brought my co-worker the leftover sauce and she was freaking out over it.

Lastly, a trick I learned from Lydia, who learned it from her friend Jen. Pour a litre of apple cider into your slowcooker, add a few cinnamon sticks, and some orange slices. Set it to low, and serve warm to your friends. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween, whatever that entails for you 🙂

Chocolate Espresso Sandwich Cookies with White Chocolate Filling

Source: Joy the Baker

Ingredients

Cookies

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp flour

3/4 cup + 1 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp instant espresso powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature

Filling

1/2 cup whipping cream

8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder. With an electric mixer, slowly add the butter until it is all incorporated. The mixture will have a loose, sandy texture. Use your hands to form the dough into two balls. *Update 7/7/12:  Make this dough in the food processor if you have one. Just add all the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Then add the butter and process until the dough comes together in a ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill for a while until the dough firms up a bit*.
2. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, to about 1/8″ thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your rounds, and place them on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, then cool completely.
3. For filling, heat the whipping cream in the microwave for 2 minutes until piping hot. Place your chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, and pour the hot cream overtop. Let sit for a couple of minutes, then stir until smooth. Add food colouring and flavouring if you want. Place the filling in the fridge until it’s cool and has thickened. (I left mine in the fridge overnight.
4. Using a squeeze bottle or just a knife or offset spatula, spread the filling on the bottom of half the cookies and assemble.