pink peppercorn chocolate sandwich cookies *cookie calendar 2014

I know this combination sounds a little weird, but trust me – they are lovely. And the pretty brown and pale pink colour is really nice to look at too.

I created this a while ago when I was experimenting with pink peppercorns. I ended up with a great buttercream recipe, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. I ended up sandwiching it between two thin chocolate cookies and the results were fantastic.

Enjoy!

pink peppercorn chocolate sandwich cookies

Ingredients

for the cookies:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the work surface
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
for the buttercream:
6 tablespoons milk (you may not use all of this)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-4 drops of red food colouring
2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, crushed

Instructions

for the cookies:

In a large bowl, sift in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), mix butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Halve the dough and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for one hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/8 inch think. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Wrap scraps in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes. Reroll and cut.
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
Bake cookies until edges just begin to brown, approximately 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Cool on sheets on wire racks.

to assemble:

Match the cookies into pairs. Spread the buttercream frosting onto half of the cookies and sandwich with remaining cookies.

for the frosting:

In a stand mixer, beat butter for a few minutes with the paddle attachment on medium speed until the butter is creamy.
Add 3 cups of powdered sugar to the butter and turn your mixer on the lowest speed. Once the sugar has been incorporated with the butter, increase the mixer speed to medium and slowly add salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Beat for 3 minutes.
Add the peppercorns and two drops of food colouring and mix into the frosting. Depending on how ‘pink’ you want your frosting, feel free to add a few more drops until you achieve the shade you want)
If you want your frosting stiffer, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.

source: adapted from ‘Chocolate Sandwiches’ from Martha Stewart’s Cookies