THE FOOD ÉTUDE

Italian Sandwich Cookies are another family favorite for us around the holidays. When planning your baking schedule, I highly recommend making these cookies first. They are fun to make, but it does take a while to make this recipe from start to finish. These do freeze very well, so it’s a great recipe to make ahead of when you need them. I’m not sure if I prefer them at room temperature or right from the freezer, both are great!

Originally, this recipe came from Betty Crocker’s “Cooky Book.” The recipe for the cookie shell remains unchanged, but for the frosting, I’ve doubled the recipe, specified salted butter, and clear vanilla extract (if you have it!) otherwise plain vanilla extract or vanilla paste will be just fine. You can tint the icing any color you want, my family always uses pastel green and pink.

Cookie Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups AP flour (240g)
⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup granulated sugar (set aside for coating the cookies)

Frosting Ingredients

½ cup salted butter
1 ½ cups powdered sugar (180g)
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)

Equipment

Parchment paper
Cookie sheets (2)
Piping bag and tip (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Set the granulated sugar aside in a bowl for coating the cookies.

To make the cookies, combine the butter, flour, and heavy whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix completely until there are no dry spots. Working with half of the mixture at a time, roll the dough out to ⅜” thickness on a floured surface. Use a very small round cookie cutter (1 ¼”) or a shot glass to cut the dough into circles. Incorporate any unused dough scraps and repeat the process for the other half of the dough. Continue to roll and cut out circles until you’ve used all the dough. 

Press each side of the cookie into the granulated sugar before placing it onto your cookie sheet prepared with parchment. Finally, dock (poke) each cookie with a fork three times to prevent an uneven rise. This also looks really pretty on the finished sandwich cookie.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through. The cookies should be set, but not brown when finished baking. Let the cookies cool completely before icing.

For the icing, combine the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until the frosting is light and fluffy. Divide your frosting into separate bowls and stir in the food coloring if using. My family always tints the icing pastel green and pink. Use a piping bag and tip (or use an offset spatula) to spread the icing between two cookies to make little sandwiches.