So, strangely enough one of the cookies I make the most at home isn’t postedhere on the blog. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the beloved “Homemade Oreos” most often made with cake mix cookies (and ohhh my gosh I didn’t even remember we had that link up. Talk about lost old post! It was written in June of 2008, when our blog was a whopping 3 months old and it’s totally old school, I love it) and a yummy cream cheese frosting, like this. And my most favorite thing to do is make the Christmas version with peppermint extract. I’ve been on the hunt for a long time for a non cake-mix version of the cookie. There’s tons out there and I’ve tried many and haven’t found exactly what I was looking for. They were often cakey or too crispy, or too whoopie-pie-ish. I wanted soft, but chewy with a sweetness that wasn’t overwhelming when sandwiched with frosting. I was excited when I spotted this recipe on Cooks’s Country this week and made it right then and there. It’s exactly what I was looking for; I love it when that happens. The cookies are not only adorable (I made mini cookies) but they have the perfect almost brownie-like texture and flavor, with a slightly chewy outside and soft center. Cook with me!
Interestingly enough, these start more like a brownie than a cookie. You just melt some butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and a little water on the stove until it melts. The recipe calls for unsalted butter, but I’m way too lazy to buy more than one kind of butter at the store so I just use regular salted butter and then cut back on the additional salt called for.
When it gets all melted and smooth (just takes a couple of minutes) beat in an egg, and then add flour, salt, and baking soda.
The dough is really soft. Do not do not do not add more flour. If it’s too soft to work with, just let it sit for a few minutes to set up more (as the butter and chocolate comes to temperature it firms a bit) or even pop it in the fridge for a few. But you’ll probably find like I did that you just need to be gentle and you can drop the dough onto your cookie sheet just fine.
Dough Tip: It’s really important when making sandwich cookies to make the cookies a uniform size. You can measure out the dough, or use a cookie scoop. When I make sandwich cookies, I like to make them small. I figure you’re already getting 2 cookies in there, so giant ones can be kind of overwhelming. If I want small cookies, I use my cookie scoop and then just cut the dough so it’s even. For these cookies I cut a scoop from a standard cookie scoop into four. That’s pretty tiny! But the finished cookies were about the size of a silver dollar, which is where I wanted them.
Baking Tip: Now, the most important thing about these cookies is that you don’t over-bake them. In fact, you want to under-bake them. It can sometimes be hard with chocolate cookies because you can’t use color for a visual clue. Instead look at the texture. The cookies should be puffed up, and the edges just barely set but the centers still soft. The cookies in the above picture have been sitting on the pan for a minute cooling so they’re starting to crack. Once they cool completely, they flatten out and crackle like this:
Perfection.
Next step is the frosting. Now, I’m not sure who exactly wrote this recipe, but we obviously differ when it comes to frosting because I quadrupled the frosting in the recipe to have enough for my liking. Quadrupled! You can add food coloring if you like or leave it a cool wintery white.
Frosting Tip: Here’s my tip for frosting; keep it on the thick side. Like, just a little thicker than you think it should be. With sandwich cookies, you don’t want it to smoosh out when you bite into them, so if you keep the cookies extra soft and the filling just a tiny bit firm, then it usually ends up being a pretty good match. I also go a little strong on the peppermint extract because it mellows out once it’s combined with the cookies.
Assembly Tip: Don’t spread frosting on each one. Put your frosting in a ziplock bag and cut the corner off. Place cookies that are close in size (because they’ll all be a little different) next to each other and pipe on the frosting, staying close to the edge. It’s soooo much faster than spreading it on, especially if you’re doing a ton of little cookies like I did. There should be enough to be generous, but don’t go too crazy or it will all just squish out.
Gently place the the top side of the cookie on, and then you can roll the edges in sprinkles if you want (it’s sometimes easiest to pour some sprinkles in the palm of your hand and roll the cookie through them.
You can find so many cute holiday sprinkles this time of year. I have quite the sprinkle collection because I can’t pass them up!
Or try white frosting with cute blue sprinkles for a winter or Hanukkah look.
My favorite though, is crushed candy canes. You only need one or two for a whole batch of cookies.
Pop them in some cute containers and you’re all set for giving (or munching!)
*Edit: Several readers have asked, so for clarification- the recipe written below is altered from the original and includes all of my modifications, including the increased frosting amount.
Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies
Recipe slightly adapted from Cook’s Country
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled (don’t scoop!)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons real butter
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg lightly beaten
Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup real butter (1 stick)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 – 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
milk, as needed for consistency
optional: red or green food coloring and sprinkles or crushed candycanes
Instructions
To make cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. heat chocolate chips, brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and smooth (there will still be grains of sugar though). Transfer mixture to a large bowl and beat in egg. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Don’t overmix.
If dough is too soft to work with, let it sit at room temp for a few minutes to firm up, or place in the fridge for a few minutes. Gently roll balls, either 1 tablespoon full for large cookies, or about 1/2 inch balls for silver dollar sized cookies. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake cookies until just puffed in teh middle and edges are set but centers are still soft. About 8-9 minutes for large cookies, and about 5 minutes for small ones. If using 2 cookie sheets, rotate them half way through baking. Cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheets and then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
To make filling, beat all frosting ingredients together, adding peppermint extract to taste. Add milk by the teaspoonful until a spreadable, but not too soft consistency is reached. Add food coloring if desired. Place frosting in a zip-top bag and cut off a corner. Pipe onto one side of cookie and place another on top. Roll edges in sprinkles or crushed candycanes if desired.
Yield: If you use a tablespoon of dough, it will yield 1 1/2 dozen large sandwiches. If you use a quarter of a standard cookie scoop (about a rounded teaspoon) it will yield 4-5 dozen.
Questions & Reviews
I’m sitting here thinking hmm… other flavor combos for the rest of the year?? Then I think, duh, St. Paddy’s day is coming up, I’ll make them peppermint just tint them green like the yummy mint brownies.
I just did these wonderful cookies for this upcoming Valentine’s Day. They taste yummy and they look sooo pretty! I’ll do them again for next XmAs (trying my Xmas recipes throughout the year). I did a vanilla frosting and it was excellent. I’ll try with peppermint extract for Xmas. Thank you for this awesome recipes!!!
Hi I was planning on making this recipe for Valentine’s day as a cute gift to give away and I was planning on subsituting the frosting with ganache but I noticed that you never stated the yield of frosting you get. So if you do figure it out could you please let me know.
When I bake my chocolate chip cookies I use Pillsbury flour because, for some reason, that is the only flour that makes them puff up nice and fluffy and they won’t fall after they’ve cooled. When making these cookies, you WANT them to be flat so you can stuff ’em… I learned the hard way that making them with my flour doesn’t work out so well. Just a hint 🙂 I had more of a chocolate peppermint sandwich cookie ball thing going on ha ha
Just made these with my 3 kiddos (3, 5, and 6). They LOVED helping roll the cookies in broken candy canes. Soooo yummy and so much fun for me and the kids. Thank you! These will definitely be a Christmas-time tradition!
I just whipped up a batch of these for a dinner party tonight. Oh my, so delicious. I just might skip dinner and eat just the cookies!
Followed recipe exactly and for some reason the cookies never got as flat as yours??? Not sure where I went wrong?
My cookies also were not as flat, but they were still cute and tasted great so I didn’t mind. The last cookies sheet of my 3rd patch I forgot about and it was in the oven several minutes too long, and those cookies were flat, but still soft and chewy. I tried so hard not to overbake them – but in the end they worked better for me when baked longer. Maybe that will help you.
These look so fun and yummy! I love how you list “real butter” in your recipe- because unsalted butter, I agree, is just not real butter. 🙂
Thanks so much for the recipe! We’ve made them twice so far (doubled the recipe the 2nd time!) When my hunter son saw the plate of little black rolled balls he asked if I was making deer poop. It stuck and now the younger kids call these cookies “reindeer poop” We love them!
these were yummy..had a slight problem with the frosting being melty…had to keep popping it in the fridge
I just made the cookies – I don’t know if they will make it to the sandwich stage. I was in a hurry yesterday and made the dough ahead of time. This morning I simply put the container in a bowl of warm water and made the cookies as it the dough softened. At first I thought I had made a mistake – but they turned out perfect!
I made these for a cookie exchange this week and they were Crazy Good! I even won a prize 🙂
I made these for a cookie exchange get together and everyone loved them! They turned out just like your pictures and the frosting in the ziplock bag works wonders!! thank you so much for a wonderful holday cookie!!!
Ohhhhhhh man! Are these good! I just finished making these and I am salivating thinking about eating another. I am doing a test run for a cookie party I am attending in 2 days, and these are the ones!!
They took me awhile (maybe 2 hours from start to finish), but admittedly, I am a super duper slow baker (and cook, for that matter). I used a regular sized cookie scoop and quartered the scoop of dough. Then I pressed the dough lightly together, not into an exact ball- and I came out with some decent looking final cookies. I think my next run, I’ll press them ever so slightly so they are less rounded on the bottom when they are cool. Perfect little mini sandwiches, and I got to just shy of 4 dozen.
For the frosting, I got impatient and just kept throwing in milk as I whipped it up. Not a disaster, but I overdid it and the frosting was not as creamy as it should’ve been.
Overall, this is a GREAT special occasion cookie recipe for me. Thank you!!!!
BTW- LOVE your site and asked my mom for your cookbook for Xmas. Hopefully she’ll deliver!! ; )
Can you make the chocolate cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it until ready to bake?
Would it change the cookie at all? Thanks for the recipe. Tried it with sugar cookie dough and it was delish!
Yep, you totally can. You might want to let the dough sit out at room temp for a bit before baking though.
Made ’em. Ate ’em. Shared ’em. Makin’ ’em again.
I had never heard of your blog until I received a copy of your cookbook as a gift. After reading through it, I was so happy there was a whole blog full of your recipes in addition to the great ones in the book! I made these cookies today and they turned out perfectly! And seriously, what a fantastic cookbook! You have amazing recipes that use NORMAL ingredients! It’s definitely one of our favorite cookbooks.
These are so adorable and delish! Thank you.
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This recipe did not turn out. The cookies spread out and made lacey edges, not at all like the photo here. I followed the recipe exactly and I’ve been baking for 10 years (I’m 25) and never had something come out so completely opposite from the recipe.
Rolled mine in Andes new peppermint crunch pieces. To Die for! So yum!! Thanks!
I just made these and they are AMAZING. I used dark chocolate chips (that’s what I had in the pantry) and with the peppermint it is perfection. I made them smaller than suggested, they are “bite sized” about the size of a quarter. Love them! I’m a new follower, and am loving your site! Thank you!
I made these using a tiny cookie scoop (melon baller actually), I’m not sure what size (I fit 24 on a standard cookie sheet) and I got exactly 2 dozen sandwiches. I had about half the frosting left over. I was fairly generous with the frosting and I’m not sure why I had so few sandwiches. Mine were maybe slightly larger than silver dollar size but I got nowhere near the 4-5 dozen sandwiches mentioned in the recipe.
Just made these last night w/the kids and they are so cute, fun, and just delicious!! LOVE that small size- I used my smallest cookie scoop (holds 1 TB) and cut those balls in half. They’re going to school for teacher gifts today.
I am most certainly making this this weekend! YUM!
Chocolate and mint are my favorite combo! My daughter, Abby and I are going to try to make these for family Christmas. Thanx for a great website. Keep the ideas coming. Merry Christmas!
We just made these… and they turned out amazing! Instead of regular chocolate chips, though, we used mint chocolate. Yeah, winner! Since the cookie turned out so wonderfully minty, we left the frosting plain and it was the perfect combo.
My 3 year old and I just made these cookies. In his words, “Mom these are lishous!” Thank you!
I made these last night hoping they would make a good item for my open house and I loved them. Thank you!
I had one problem with them. When I mixed them up the dough was very crumbly. In order to keep them together I compacted the dough into a measuring spoon pretty tightly – no other way would keep them together. When I cooked them they held the measuring spoon shape.
I definitely use a large egg in the recipe, but found that if I used another 1/2 to whole egg they turned out wonderful and brownie-ish as you described. I don’t know if it was elevation or if your large eggs are larger than mine or what, but I thought saying something might help others with the same problem.
Are they really that much better than cake mix cookies? I mean for all the extra work they better be significantly better, right?