Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

One of my hobbies that I haven’t talked about too much is ballet. I discovered ballet as an adult; it was something that I always wanted to do but didn’t get my act together to take a class until adulthood. I take class twice a week plus have rehearsals another night. My husband is the most supportive guy ever, and he tags along with me when I go to dance. He has a fine selection of stores to explore while I am at dance: Home Depot, Best Buy, Starbucks, and Whole Foods. Oh, and he has his iPod to listen/watch.

Many times when I finish dance he has gone to Whole Foods and picked up a treat of some sort. One thing that he has purchased that we both liked were these mini oatmeal sandwich cookies. The first time I tried them I figured that I could make them (and for a lot less than they cost at the store). So this is my attempt to replicate them at home. I ended up using an oatmeal cookie recipe from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. I love this cookbook for the varieties of cookies that it provides: it has recipes for chewy, crunchy, crisp and soft oatmeal cookies. (It has similar recipes for chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies.)

I opted for the chewy variety, which are really good. (I had extra dough so I made some “regular” cookies too.) They are a flatter that some oatmeal cookies that you may be familiar with and I love the spices in these. I left out the nuts and used currents instead of raisins. I made these quite small since I was going to sandwich them together with filling. I used a standard cream cheese frosting for the filling. They aren’t quite the same as the ones we get at the store, but they are very yummy!

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup shortening

½ cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

6 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons milk

3 cups oats

1-1/2 cup flour

1 cup raisins (or currants)

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, spices, salt and baking soda. Combine on low until smooth. Stir in the egg, and then add the corn syrup and milk. Scrape the bowl and then stir in the oats, flour, and raisins.

Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheets. Bake for about 9 minutes, until they are light golden brown. Allow to set on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack.

Prepare the filling: In a large mixer bowl, combine the cream cheese, milk and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing until the filling is smooth.

To assemble: Fill a decorating bag with a large star tip with the cream cheese filling. Pipe the filling on to a cookie in a circular pattern. Sandwich together with another cookie. Store cookies in the refrigerator.

Cookie recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. Cream Cheese Filling recipe from the Betty Crocker 40^th Anniversary Edition Cookbook.