Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Blue Ribbon Cookies

These Mini Cream Filled Delights recently won me a Blue Ribbon from the Just a Pinch Recipe Club and I couldn't wait to share it on the blog. I haven't felt this passionate about a recipe since my Asian Green Bean Salad for Cooking Light. These little morsels are really that good.

They're decadent, creamy and crowd pleasing. If you like a cakey, brown sugar cookie, filled with a creamy, yet crunchy, chocolatey filling, go directly to the ingredient list, get what you need at the market and make these cookies now.

Mini Cream Filled Delights
makes 45 delectable sandwich cookies

Filling:
8 oz neufchatel cheese softened to room temp
1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

Cookies:
3/4 cups butter softened to room temp
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs room temp if possible
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

To make the filling: In medium size bowl combine all ingredients except the mini chips. Mix until combined. I use a hand mixer. Add the chocolate chips and fold to evenly incorporate. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge while you prepare the cookies.

To make the cookies: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In medium size bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


In large bowl, with hand mixer, combine butter and sugar and mix until smooth and airy (about 2-3 minutes). Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix, remembering to scrape down the sides of the bowl. When mixture is smooth, add half the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on low. Add the rest of the dry ingredients until dough is smooth. Don't be surprised if dough is sticky, it's supposed to be.


Using a teaspoon or small cookie scoop, form dough into small balls about 3/4 inch each. Place on baking sheets, flatten slightly with a spoon and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly on cooling rack, then remove to paper or kitchen towels to cool completely. You will get about 90 cookies.

Remove filling from the refrigerator and when cookies are cooled, take a teaspoon of the filling and place it on the flat side of a cookie. You can see I pile it pretty high.

Take a second cookie and cover the filling to make a sandwich. Now you only have 44 more times to do this. It is worth it.

Dust with confectioner's sugar. Now if 90 cookies seems a bit daunting, make the cookie balls a little bigger, about 1 to 1-1/4 inch in diameter and bake them for 12 minutes. I made them this way last weekend, and the work does go faster and the end result is just as delicious. I got 40 individual cookies and 20 sandwiches. And the portion is almost equivalent to 1 cupcake.

I store the cookies in the refrigerator wrapped in an air tight container and take them out about 20-30 minutes before I serve them. Try these, you'll be ever-so happy!

2 comments:

Courtney Wager said...

Alright, what am I doing wrong? Cookies always taste delish, but they dont rise like yours do, they fall flat. Same thing happens when I make whoopie pies....i've tried new baking soda, same thing. Anupy suggestions?

Linda said...

That's kind of odd Courtney, except I noticed one of the gals on Just a Pinch posted a picture of her cookies and I thought they looked a bit flat and not as pretty as mine. The only thing that I do a little bit differently, is I sometimes use Splenda brand brown sugar, which calls for half the amount of brown sugar. Also, if you'll check the recipe, it calls for baking powder too. Get new baking powder and try it again. And let me know if that helps.