CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE SANDWICH COOKIES

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies image

Imagine taking a bite of the edge of a cheesecake, with a chunky piece of crust on your fork and a thin layer of the sweet-and-sour cream cheese filling gracing the crust. Now imagine having that flavor in a bite-size version that you can pop into your mouth by hand. These sandwich cookies are like mini inverted cheesecakes (by "inverted" I mean more crust than filling). The cream cheese icing, which adds a tanginess to the cookie, can be made with or without cinnamon. The sugar in the cream cheese icing acts as a natural preservant, so the cookies can be left at room temperature in an airtight container for a week.

Yield makes about 2 dozen cookies

Number Of Ingredients 7

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Ingredients

1 recipe Graham Cracker Dough (page 86)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces (one-half 8-ounce package) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper or spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. (The dough should be soft enough to roll without cracking, but not yet sticky.)
Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper or on a lightly floured flat surface. Lightly flour the top of the disk and begin rolling the dough (see Rolling Dough, page 10). Lift and rotate the dough between each roll to prevent it from sticking. Repeat the process until the dough is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick.
Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them about 1/2 inch apart on the prepared pans. Repeat until the pans are full. (The remaining dough can be kept in the refrigerator until ready to be used.)
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans once halfway through, until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them cool slightly on the pans, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
While the cookies are cooling, beat the butter and cream cheese together in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on high speed until light and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and mix until the icing is smooth, about 2 minutes.
On a separate sheet pan or work surface, place half the cookies bottom side up. Fill a pastry bag with icing (no tip necessary) and pipe about 1 teaspoon of icing onto each cookie bottom.
Take the remaining cookies and gently press one on top of each iced cookie, bottom side down, to form a sandwich. Allow to set at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes before serving or packaging.
Serve the set cookies immediately, or keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
For this recipe, the Sandwich Cookies (page 58), or the S'mores Cookies (page 91), the filling can also be spread onto the bottom half of the cookies using an offset spatula. It will not be as neat or even as when you use the piping technique, but it is a good alternative if you don't have a pastry bag available.