Smores Sandwich Cookies

Eric loves sandwich cookies--Golden Oreos to be exact. We have to buy some every time we hit the grocery store so he can have them in his lunch. As I was making my Smores Cookie Cups, I realized that I could easily transform the same recipe into sandwich cookies for Eric!

Like the Smores Cookie Cup, this recipe calls for refrigerated sugar cookie dough. While I love refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, I don't really like refrigerated sugar cookie dough; it just doesn't taste right to me. I used my sugar cookie recipe (see below). But if you like the store-bought stuff, I say use it! It makes these cookies so much easier!

Ingredients:
1 package Ready to Bake Pillsbury Sugar Cookies (or this sugar cookie recipe, halved)
8 tablespoons chocolate spread (I used Hershey, but Jiffy makes one too)
8 tablespoons marshmallow fluff
3 graham crackers, crumbled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using refrigerated cookie dough. (If using my sugar cookie recipe, preheat to 375 degrees). Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Place crumbled graham crackers in a bowl. You can crumble them as fine or as coarse as you like.

Separate the refrigerated cookie dough (if using the scratch recipe, roll out dough to about 1/4 to 1/8-inch thickness and use a shot glass to cut out little circles) and pressed each piece into the crumbs. Place cookies on cookie sheet.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 350 or 7-8 minutes at 375 (for scratch).

Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, spread about 1 teaspoon of marshmallow fluff on 12 of the cookie bottoms. Spread 1 teaspoon of chocolate spread on the bottoms of the other 12 cookies. Place the cookies with the marshmallow fluff back on the cookie sheet, marshmallow side up. (You DO NOT want the chocolate spread to go into the oven--it doesn't melt, it burns. I learned this the hard way with my first batch. Make sure to put the chocolate spread and marshmallow fluff on separate cookies!)

Set oven to broil and pop the cookies back into the oven to toast the marshmallow. This only takes about 30 seconds so don't walk away or even look away from your cookies or else you risk burning them. When the marshmallow reaches the desired shade of golden brown, remove from oven.

Immediately assemble your cookies, matching up a chocolate spread cookie with a marshmallow cookie. 

Serve or store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Smores Recipes:
Smores Wontons 
Smores Cookies!
Smores Pie
Peep Smores 
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Smores

Smores Cookie Cups

So after I made Cinnamon Toast Crunch Smores, I kind of had smores on the brain and ended up making two different types of smores cookies: Smores Cookie Cups and Smores Sandwich Cookies. Both made with the same ingredients, both completely addicting. Seriously, I couldn't eat just one.

This recipe is also super simple. However, I made it a little bit more difficult. The recipe calls for refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Now, I love refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, but I'm not a huge fan of refrigerated sugar cookie dough; it just doesn't taste right to me, so I used my sugar cookie recipe (see below). But if you like the store-bought stuff, I say use it! It makes these cookies so much simpler!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 package Ready to Bake Pillsbury Sugar Cookies (or this sugar cookie recipe, halved)
4 tablespoons chocolate spread (I used Hershey, but Jiffy makes one too)*
4 tablespoons marshmallow fluff
3 graham crackers, crumbled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using refrigerated cookie dough. (If using my sugar cookie recipe, preheat to 375 degrees). Grease a two mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

Place crumbled graham crackers in a bowl. You can crumble them as fine or as coarse as you like.

Roll each section of refrigerated cookie dough (approximately a tablespoon of cookie dough from scratch) into a ball. Roll each ball into the graham cracker crumbs and place in the muffin tin.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 350 or 7-8 minutes at 375 (for scratch).

As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, press the centers in gently using the end of a wooden spoon. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, spoon 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate spread into each cup. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon marshmallow fluff on top of the chocolate spread. Place cookie cups onto a cookie sheet.

Set oven to broil and pop the cookies back into the oven to toast the marshmallow. This only takes about 30 seconds so don't walk away or even look away from your cookies or else you risk burning them. When the marshmallow reaches the desired shade of golden brown, remove from oven.

Serve or store in an airtight container at room temperature.

*I can't wait to try these with chocolate-hazelnut spread!

Right out of the oven. Pure heaven.

Smores Cookie Cups and Smores Sandwich Cookies

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Smores Recipes:
Smores Wontons 
Smores Cookies!
Smores Pie
Peep Smores 

Stained Glass Cookies

Stained glass cookies are just so pretty and unique. I was fascinated by them the very first time I saw them on Pinterest. Well, this year I decided to give them a try. I used my own sugar cookie recipe instead of the one I commonly saw attached to stained glass cookie recipe because: a) my sugar cookie recipe is the best and b) I read some reviews that said the other recipe didn't taste very good. However, I will confess that my sugar cookie recipe dirties an awful lot of dishes, but the cookies are worth the mess.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
Jolly Ranchers, crushed (or any other hard, transparent candy)

Directions:
Medium Bowl: Combine flour, tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Small Bowl: Stir together eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Large Bowl: Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Alternating, add a little bit of the flour mixture then a little bit of the egg mixture to the butter mixture while beating. Once ingredients are combined, wrap the dough in wax paper and chill for 2 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. {I like to roll out dough between two lightly floured pieces of waxed paper}. Use cookie cutters to make cookies. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper {cookies are hard to transfer if you cut out center before placing them on the pan, I learned this the hard way}. Use second, smaller cookie cutter to cut out center of cookies. Completely fill the center of the cookies with the crushed candy. Be carefully not to get any candy on top of the cookie; the candy will color whatever it touches.

Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are a light golden brown. The candy in the center will bubble but that is okay. It will flatten out once it begins to cool.

Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for at least five minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. {I found it best to transfer the sheet of parchment paper with the cookies on it to the wire rack, cool for about 5 to 10 minutes, then reuse the parchment paper for the next batch of cookies, but this isn't necessary.}

Tip: To crush the Jolly Ranchers, place them in a ziplock baggie and hit them with a meat mallet or a hammer.

UPDATE: Well, lesson learned. Store the cookies in the fridge or a cool place. I had mine in an airtight contained on the dining room table (which tends to be a very warm room) and the centers melted.

Blue raspberry, red cherry, and green apple

A little star cut out of my snowflake.

Crushed candy in the centers.

Snowflake Stained Glass Cookie

Mixing Candy Flavors

Candy bubbling in the centers.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Christmas 2013 Baking List
Dark Chocolate Cover Cranberries
Michigan Cranberry Brownies
Honey Cake
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Men Cookies 
Christmas Kiss Cookies 
Gingerbread House 2013
Three Chocolate Truffles: Mint, Rum, and Orange
Cherry Snowball Cookies 
The Best Sugar Cookies

The Best Sugar Cookies

I'm not going to lie, this sugar cookie is a little bit of a pain to make, but it's so worth the sink of dirty dishes. For that reason I haven't made them for the last few Christmases. However, Eric loves his sugar cookies something fierce. And I wanted to use my delicious sugar cookies to make stain glass cookies. I turned the leftover dough into regular cookies.

This recipe comes from my mom, but because it dirts sooo many dishes, she has been on the search for an easier one that is just as good. She tried the store bought cookie mixes and I don't even know how many other recipes--she tested out yet another one for Thanksgiving. I ate one cookie and that was more than enough. Since I don't make sugar cookies often, I'm sticking to making the best sugar cookie recipe when I do, no matter the mess it makes.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

Directions:
Medium Bowl: Combine flour, tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Small Bowl: Stir together eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Large Bowl: Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Alternating, add a little bit of the flour mixture then a little bit of the egg mixture to the butter mixture while beating. Once ingredients are combined, wrap the dough in wax paper and chill for 2 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to 1/4- to 1/8-inch thickness. (I like to roll out dough between two lightly floured pieces of waxed paper). Use cookie cutters to make cookies. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are a light golden brown.

If desired, frost with royal icing.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Christmas 2013 Baking List
Dark Chocolate Cover Cranberries
Michigan Cranberry Brownies
Honey Cake
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Men Cookies 
Christmas Kiss Cookies 
Gingerbread House 2013
Three Chocolate Truffles: Mint, Rum, and Orange
Cherry Snowball Cookies
Stained Glass Cookies