It's a doozie

I love reading blogs.  I'm curious by nature and, well, I love to read.  Add in a recipe and I'm in heaven.  Yes, I'm a big dork and I frequently curl up with a glass of wine and a cookbook to read.  It makes my heart happy, ok!  One of my favorite things about going to see Jason's parents is that his mom has a ton of cookbooks.  :-)  Most of them are cookbooks I don't have so it ends up being a double bonus!

Ok, back to this post.  Because I'm a huge dork, I like to peruse cooking blogs.  I'll read one for a few pages, click around to their "likes" and before you know it, voila!  I stumble across a recipe that I have to try.  A few weeks ago I sent Jason and email with one sentence and a link.  "I'm going to make these for your birthday."  Wouldn't you know it, I actually stuck to my words!  Here lately baking hasn't been on my list of things I have time to do, so actually baking these was a pretty big accomplishment for my weekend.

We rarely grab cookies from the cookie stand in the mall, but if we do Jason goes for the Double Doozies.  The cookies with frosting sandwiched in the middle.  So when I came across this recipe I didn't really have to think twice.  These cookies turned out so good.  A bit of a pain to make (for me, while also chasing a toddler) because you mix up cookie dough and frosting, but I'll be making them again.  Especially since I sent half to daycare for Cooper's teachers.  Grrrr...

Mini Chocolate Chip Sandwiches from Sing for your Supper

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I bought the mini ones)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.  In another bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugars until well blended.  Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. (By the way, I read this 4 times to make sure I read a Tablespoon of vanilla and not a teaspoon...I've never used more than a teaspoon in a recipe!!) Mix in the sifted dry ingredients until just blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookies out and roll into small 1-inch sized balls.  Bake for 7-8 minutes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Cool slightly before moving to a wire rack and cooling completely.

For the frosting:

• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 T milk
• 1 t vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 T milk and the vanilla.  Gradually add the additional powdered sugar and milk until the consistency is smooth and creamy, without being runny.  I think I ended up using all of the milk, but only about 3 cups of powdered sugar.  Stir in food coloring if you'd like at this point.

To assemble the cookie, I used my Wilton back and size 12 tip and piped the frosting on to one cookie, topping with another and rolling the edges in sprinkles.  They are best kept refrigerated and set out about 1/2 an hour before serving to soften.  If you're that patient.  We're not.

I also noticed that I probably over baked mine, since they ended up flatter than Amy's.  But I also refrigerated the dough after the first batch and once the dough was a little colder the cookies seemed to hold up a little better.  Since it is starting to get warm again in Texas, the house tends to heat up pretty quickly with an oven going and that means the dough gets softer.