Lemon Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies

 I love baking with molasses and spices. Nothing makes you house smell so good, and so festive! This is a bit of a variation on a ginger cookie. The cookie itself isn’t so different, it is quite traditional with the addition of some lemon extract and zest. You then sandwich the cookies together with some lemon-flavored buttercream, and that makes them extra special. You could serve the cookies as is and not make sandwiches, but it only took about 10 additional minutes to make beautiful sandwiches.

This recipe does require that you refrigerate the dough overnight. As the dough contains oil, it doesn’t get too hard, which is nice. It’s the molasses that requires the time to meld, and your cookies will taste better if you give it that time to rest. Molasses tastes fine right away but give it a day or two and it tastes so much better! Since I am trying to get ahead on my baking, while another batch of cookies was in the oven, I made the dough for these, then finished them the next day.

The cookie dough is soft, even after refrigeration, which makes them that much easier to work with. I rolled mine in larger sanding sugar, but you can also use granulated sugar. I like the crunch that sanding sugar lends to the cookies (and I had some on hand). For the buttercream, I did alter the recipe slightly. The original recipe called for 1 cup of butter, which seemed like a lot for 2 cups of powdered sugar. I cut the butter in half, used about 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar, and also added a little lemon extract. The buttercream tasted great, although it was on the stiffer side to pipe. Together, these cookies look picture perfect and taste that way too!

Lemon Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
Additional sugar

½ cup butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon lemon extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, and egg. Beat until combined. Add the molasses, lemon zest, and lemon extract and stir to combine.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Add the oil mixture to the dry ingredients and stir on low until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4-inch balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the filling: in a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and lemon extract. Beat until smooth. Sandwich two cookies together with the filling.

Recipe from The Beach House Kitchen