It was our Multicultural Dinner night at our local elementary school where my son attends grade 1 and my friend Sheri and I volunteered to bring a Canadian dessert favourite, maple cream filled sandwich cookies!
There are many recipes out there for these little beauties but we opted for an adapted version of a recipe found on the
Morse Farms Maple Sugar Works site. Not only are these cookies extremely delicious, but you can make them as simple or as decorative as you want.
At home I opted to roll the dough and use my maple leaf cookie cutter so that the cookies turned out as shown in the above picture. No cutter? No problem! Simply scoop, roll and flatten the dough then press with a floured fork.
No matter what the shape, these cookies are an absolute hit.
Canadian Maple Cream Filled Sandwich Cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes/Total Time: 60 minutes. Yield: 3 dozen sandwich cookies.
Recipe can be cut in half to yield half the amount of cookies.
Cookie dough:
1 cup (8 ounces) brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple flavoring
2 cups (16 ounces) unsalted butter
12 tablespoons (8 ounces) maple syrup
5 cups (21 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
Filling:
4 cups (8 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon maple extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Dough:
Beat together the brown sugar, salt, and butter until fluffy. Add in the vanilla and maple extracts and the maple syrup.
Whisk together the flour and baking powder. On low speed, add to wet mix and beat until well combined. If the dough doesn't hold together, add another tablespoon of maple syrup.
Roll half-teaspoonfuls of dough into a ball. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Place on a baking pan lined with parchment. Press down slightly with a floured fork.
Optional: Roll dough out on a piece of cellophane and cut with a cookie cutter. Lift shapes with an offset spatula and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges.
Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Filling:
Beat the confectioners' sugar, butter, and salt together. Mix in the maple flavoring and vanilla. Add the maple syrup a bit at a time, until the filling is a medium-soft, spreadable consistency (the filling should hold its shape).
Drop a teaspoonful of filling onto the flat side of a cookie. Top with another cookie, placing the flat sides toward each other.
Let the cookies sit for several hours to let the frosting set up, so the cookie halves don't slide around on one another. Store in airtight containers for several days or freeze for longer storage.
If you shop at Costco like I do then you'll want to go and pick up one of these waffle irons from Nordicware! At $15, it is a fabulous deal and I love that I don't have to store a huge, clunky machine.
