You will rarely find me in the cookie aisle at the grocery store. Oh, believe me…I love store-bought cookies. Chips Ahoy are my favorite road food! Vanilla wafers make a lovely dessert crust. Ginger Snaps really call to me once in a while. However, for the most part I avoid the temptation because I know I can make a better quality cookie for less money.
BUT (you knew that was coming, right?) occasionally I just have to buy a package of those lovely maple leaf shaped cookies with maple frosting in the middle.
I’ve posted my recipe for Maple Shortbread before, and absolutely love those cookies, but this time I wanted to make a sandwich cookie with a sturdier dough since shortbread is a little fragile. My first batch was a flop. Too crispy and buttery, though definitely yummy (there were no complaints from the menfolk) but not what I was looking for.
So I played with my shortbread dough a bit and think I have found a winner. I’ll never get the dense crunchy texture of the store bought variety, but this is very close, and satisfies my craving in a big way. The dough itself has a very mild maple flavor, with the frosting in the middle carrying the maple “punch”.
I even thinned some of the dough and piped leaf veins on the top cookies. I love the look of it, and will probably play with the dough-on-dough decorating idea in the near future.
Piping dough accents.
Baked and frosted.
| Maple Leaf Sandwich Cookies | Print |
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ............
- Frosting:
- ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons maple flavoring (like Mapleine)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- milk for thinning frosting
- Heat oven to 350F.
- Lightly grease two baking sheets. (Or use parchment.)
- In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk, maple syrup, and milk. Blend well.
- Add the flour and cornstarch and mix until it forms a smooth dough. The dough should be very stiff. If it's sticky, add a little more flour.
- Working with half the dough at a time, roll the dough out on a generously floured surface. (To make it really easy, roll it out between pieces of floured parchment.) You want the dough to be no more than ¼" thick. A little thinner is even better.
- Cut out shapes with a maple leaf cookie cutter.
- In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup of dough with a couple of drops of maple flavoring and enough milk to make it easy to pipe. Put the dough in a pastry bag, or in a plastic zipper bag with the tip cut off, and pipe leaf veins on half of the cookies.
- Bake 9-10 minutes, or until the cookies are just beginning to show a little brown around the bottom edges.
- Cool completely on a rack. Frost the plain half with maple frosting (instructions below) and top with the decorated half.
- TO MAKE FROSTING:
- In a medium pan, combine the brown sugar, white sugar, milk and butter. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the maple flavoring and powdered sugar, beating well with a wooden spoon or whisk.
- Add milk, if necessary, a little at a time until the frosting has a consistency that's good for spreading. If it gets too firm while you're working with it, heat it on low or add a little more milk.
Flour generously. You actually want these cookies to be tough and crunchy!
Cooking the frosting.
Add some frosting and top with another cookie.
Now THIS is a cookie!
These are incredibly rich. Two is my limit, and I’m usually satisfied with one. They do disappear quickly though, so hide a few for yourself and savor the flavor when you have a peaceful moment.
I love those maple cookies, too! I’m so excited to see a recipe! I even have a leaf cookie cutter I rarely use — maybe I will wear it out making this recipe a lot.
Dust off that cookie cutter, Mary Rose! I saw a neat maple leaf cookie mold online too…a little smaller (2 inches) but I’ll bet that would be great for these cookies.
These sound delicious, I never thought about trying to make a maple sandwich cookie. Perfect for this time of year. And I’m blown away with the piping on the leaves, just beautiful.
Thanks! Hope you’ll give ’em a try. The piping was fun, and now there are all kinds of ideas floating through my brain. You could personalize cookies for kids – that would be fun!