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)
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.
