Walnut + Cream Cheese Cookie Sandwiches

It's 70 degrees and sunny in San Diego. I'm still shackled to my computer in DC working remotely, most unfortunately, but thank golly I'll be home snarfing fish tacos and wearing cut-offs before the day is through; southern California Christmas is sort of a terrifically fluorescent thing. My parents recently moved from the suburban home of my childhood to the San Diego neighborhood in which I would spend all my time were I ever to move back (so, never), and I am so excited to help them christen the place with leftover burritos and bloody marys and backyard sunbathing and general daughterly detritus.

In the meantime leading up to my sunny winter vacay, I've been doing shittons of holiday preparation and generally making enormous, annoying messes at my DC home. One such task was baking for the holiday party that I mentioned last week, and I wanted to share the second of three recipes that emerged from that frantic morning. If you're still seeking holiday baking inspiration or getting ready to fatten up yr family, look no further than these walnut cookie sandwiches. They appear a little unexciting or homely even, but these cookies are deceptively buttery and rich and basically all you need to have a pleasing holiday snack. I hope that you enjoy, and happy holidays from my kitchen to yours!

Walnut + Cream Cheese Cookie Sandwiches

Adapted from Kate Zuckerman via Lottie + Doof

I toasted the walnuts beforehand to make sure the cookies had enough nutty kick and also chilled the filling before making the sandwiches. Other than those changes, this is relatively untweaked.

Cookies

1 cup walnuts

2 1/2 cups flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

Cream Cheese Filling

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1.  Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lay the walnuts out on a pan and roast for 10 - 12 minutes, until the nuts are slightly darkened and fragrant. Combine the walnuts and one tablespoon of the flour in a food processor and grind to a fine powder. In a dry bowl, whisk together the walnut powder, remaining flour and salt and set aside.

2.  Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for one minute. (I don't have a stand mixer and did this with an egg beater.) Add the sugar and beat on medium high speed until the mixture becomes fluffy and lighter in color, six to eight minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and continue to beat until it is fully incorporated and the batter looks smooth and glossy, one to two minutes.

3.  Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture all at once, and using a rubber spatula, fold together a few times. With the mixer on low, mix the dough until thoroughly combined, one to two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix for another 30 seconds.

4.  Divide dough in half and using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough onto two pieces of plastic wrap. Form dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs fully in the plastic and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

5.  Preheat the oven to 350° F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut as many 1/8-1/4 inch slices from each log of dough as possible and place the cookies on prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies until golden brown and you smell the toasted walnuts and butter, 12 - 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool before proceeding with filling.

6.  To make the cream cheese filling, combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the filling has increased in volume, lightened in color, and formed stiff peaks, four to five minutes. I then chilled the filling for about 20 minutes in order to get it to firm up. Mound a couple teaspoons of filling on half of the cookies and sandwich with the other half. Zuckerman recommends serving within five hours of filling so cookies don't lose their crunch. You can bake the cookies and store them in an airtight container for up to four days ahead, then fill them the day you plan to serve them.

Jammy Date and Fig Swirls

I've been on a cookie roll (ba dun ch!) the past week or so, thanks in no small part to Lottie + Doof's killer annual 12 days of cookies series on his blog. While I tend toward salty-sweet, chocolaty, coffee-y, and other darkly flavored cookies and baked goods, Tim has a lot of fruit-filled, unique flavors in his repertoire that are always intriguing. These cookies don't sound all that special on the Epicurious post where the recipe is originally from, but Tim's praise and photos made them seem like an amazing, modernized Fig Newton, and that they are! The cream cheese- and butter-dough has a light anise flavor that even my anise-averse pal thought delicious, and the fig and date purée bakes up into a deep, jammy filling that is so delicious both hot out the oven and cooled the next day.

Plus, these cookies are total stunners. I brought them to a holiday party at Ginger Root -- a local artisan boutique run by two awesome ladies where I also sell earrings -- and the plate of swirls got a lot of love, 'specially among the folks slinging back the punch while they shopped. Whether on your dessert table at home or scattered among designer wares, these cookies are appropriately holidayish and easy to love.

Jammy Date and Fig Swirls

Adapted from Gourmet via Lottie + Doof

The precision in the directions might seem fussy to some, but don't worry too much about being perfect -- the cookies will turn out lovely no matter what size your rectangles and rolls are.

1 cup packed soft dried figs (8 oz), stemmed and coarsely chopped

1 cup packed pitted dates (7 oz), trimmed and coarsely chopped

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons anise seeds, ground in an electric coffee/spice grinder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup large-granulated raw sugar

1.  Purée figs and dates with water and two tablespoons granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until almost smooth.  

2.  Whisk together flour, anise, baking powder and soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderate speed until pale and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in vanilla and yolk until combined well. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.

3.  Halve dough and form each half into a rectangle. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about one hour.

4.  Roll out one piece of dough between two sheets of wax paper into a roughly nine- by seven-inch rectangle, about one-third-inch thick. Remove top sheet of wax paper and drop half of fig mixture by spoonfuls onto dough, then gently spread in an even layer, leaving a one-fourth-inch border around edges. Starting with a long side and using wax paper as an aid, roll up dough jelly-roll style into a log. Roll log in raw sugar to coat completely. Make another log in same manner. Chill logs, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least four hours, or well-wrapped up to three days.

5.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut logs crosswise into one-third-inch-thick slices and arrange slices about two inches apart on baking sheets that are lightly buttered or lined with parchment paper. Bake in batches in middle of oven until pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. (Tanglewood note: Gourmet recommends strongly that you bake only one sheet at a time in the exact center of the oven; I did this, but I don't really know how crucial it is.) Cookies will keep layered between parchment paper in an airtight container for up to one week.