Chocolate Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Frosting

My friend, Micah, concluded the other day that if I ever have a significant other and fight with him, our fights will go something like this "No, insert name, you're not frosting those cookies right". I didn't dispute his claim then and I certainly can't dispute his claim now because that's exactly what happened to Micah when I was making these cookies. Poor Micah, he was just trying to help. But I, as always, wanted my cookies made exactly according the the recipe, down to the round cookies which are shown in the picture. The idea of making round cookies with few kitchen supplies brought up yet another kitchen gadget I need to invest in. Cookie cutters. Oh well, I got by anyway using the round top of my newly purchased vanilla bean paste and a knife to cut circles around it. To my shock and pleasure the cookies came out pretty well, nice and round. And I filled them with frosting just the way I wanted them. And I must say, it looks a little better to have piped the frosting into the middle of these cookies than to have spread it. Plus it was more fun. For me at least. Sorry Micah.

A note on the frosting, though it calls for just a small amount of butter and if the butter is not completely melted, this will not turn into frosting. Just chunks of butter and confectioners sugar. Normally, I would have added a bit of milk to it to make it work but having no milk in the house I had to add some extra melted butter.  (I know I know, more butter, not good) But, after that, it turned out just fine.  Also, aside from using the top of the vanilla paste I recently bought, is used it to make this frosting amazingly delicious and vanilla-y.  It also lent flecks of vanilla to the frosting which are hard to make out in the picture but looked really nice, and gives the impression that you used a real vanilla bean.  I highly recommend it.

I also want to add that the perks of working for a winery just never end, I found this recipe on the website of another winery which I wouldn't have know about otherwise. On their website they have all kinds of delicious looking gourmet recipes with beautiful pictures and selections for wine pairings, though you should really try to pair your creations with our Kingston Family Vineyards wines! (Shameless plug)

Chocolate Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Frosting (adapted from Robert Sinskey)

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup Dutch processed or natural cocoa powder, sifted (I think we may have just used Hershey's)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, or just using a regular hand mixer, ream the butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy again. Add the vanilla extract to the mixture and then the cocoa powder. Beat until combined.
3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour and salt and mix gently until incorporated. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky. Knead the dough two or three times on a lightly floured board to incorporate all the ingredients. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 40 minutes or until no longer soft. 
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator.  Place the dough on a floured surface and roll 1/8 thick.  (Though this may seem extremely thin, it's important because the cookies will puff up and if you make them too thick you'll end up with super fat sandwich cookies instead of the thin, delicate ones pictured here)  Using a round cookie cutter, punch out shapes.  Transfer to a parchment lined sheet pan.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes . Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool on a rack.
6. Make sure the shortbread is thoroughly cool before filling. To fill, put the vanilla cream filling into a pastry bag with a number 6 plain tip or a plastic bag with the tip of a corner cut off so that the opening is 1/2-inch wide.
6. Line up 16 cookies so that the side that was baked against the pan is facing up. Starting with one cookie, pipe a thick ring about 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the cookie. Fill in the center of the ring with a dot of filling and place another cookie on top of the filling. Press lightly until the filling oozes almost to the edge of the cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Vanilla Cream Filling
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used some vanilla paste)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
2. Start on slow speed to combine the ingredients, and then increase the speed to high and beat until the filling is very white and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Place the filling in a piping bag or plastic zip lock bag with the corner cut off to pipe into cookies. The leftover filling may be chilled and reused again. Wrap very tightly and store in the refrigerator. To reuse, bring to room temperature and then whip until fluffy again.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Finally, something not a dessert!)

The other day, Dan sent me a message and a link for making these flaky fried pancake things that we had tried.  He bought them and they were delicious so I was excited to make them myself.  Rolling them out reminded me of making tortillas with my grandmother and I was so proud that after a few tries I was able to make these great pancakes into perfect round circles.  A far cry from the Africa shaped tortillas we used to make with her.  Too bad they weren't her tortillas though. Or maybe not, because they were good but perhaps not nearly as bad for you as her tortillas.  That is until you fry these things.  Not in too much oil but enough to make these completely unhealthy for you.   Oh well.   In any case, the sauce for these is really what made them.  The girl who wrote this recipe sort of offhandedly wrote down some ratios of what to what would make a good sauce, and boy were her estimations right on.  So when making these, definitely don't forget the sauce or you'll be missing something.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (adapted from Sel et Sucre)
Yield: 6 pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/4 cup warm water + more as needed
the green parts of 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
vegetable oil
kosher salt

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mix 2 cups flour with 1/4 cup warm water, and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding more warm water one teaspoon at a time, mixing thoroughly, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be firm and barely sticky to the touch.
2. Knead the dough about twenty strokes, then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.
3. Divide the dough until 5 or 6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
4. Place a ball of dough on a well-floured work surface and roll out into a thin circle, approximately 1/16th inch thick. (this part was a bit tough for my weak arms!)
5. Brush a thin coating of vegetable oil over the pancake. Sprinkle kosher salt (be sure not to forget the salt! I did and some weren't as tasty) and about 1 – 2 Tbsp of the green parts of 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped evenly over the pancake.
6. Roll the pancake up from one end like a rug, then curl the roll around in a spiral and pinch the end to the roll so it stays wrapped.*
7. With the palm of your hand, press the roll from the top to flatten it. Roll the pancake out to 1/8th inch thickness (some scallions may break through the pancake, but that’s okay).
8. Repeat this process for the remaining pancakes. If you are not planning on cooking the pancakes right away, stack them between wax or parchment paper and store in a gallon bag in the freezer until ready to cook. The frozen pancakes do not need to be defrosted before being cooked.
9. To cook the pancakes, coat a pan with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Cook each pancake in the oil, frying each side until golden brown, adding more oil as needed. Serve warm with a dipping sauce.*

*This is difficult to explain without pictures, so I would go here to see the step photos of the assembly.

Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar (trust me, it tastes good)
A dash of sesame oil
Leftover scallions

Directions
1) Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork.
2) Serve with the warm Chinese Scallion Pancakes.