Coconut Date Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Greetings, from my hometown! It remains unclear how long will be my California stay, but needless to say it will be filled with citrus and strange fruits if it carries on much past this week. In the meantime, there isn’t much that needs to be justified about these pudgy little oatmeal sandwich cookies that I made in Baltimore last week—they’re delicious, and so stupid cute. Melissa Clark gets it right again, as always, by adding some toasted coconut and swapping out the classic but insipid raisin for a totally charmed handful of dates. Dark brown sugar, as it should be, and honey, as I love it to be, round out the sweetness profile, and this cute little cookie is stuffed with a roly-poly rope of filling that really brings it all together. You may be stuck whiling away your winter in the sun or even stuck under a pile of snow, but either way, these cookies belong on your counter and in your belly—make ‘em today!

Coconut Date Oatmeal Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling

Adapted from Melissa Clark

Yield: 24 2-inch cookies, enough for 12 sandwiches

Only thing is, the photo of Clark’s recipe shows her cookies are as being much thinner. Mine turned out nice and thick and domed—I have no idea why—and I didn’t change much except to toast the oats. They’re undoubtedly good either way! I also cut her recipe in half, and I used a different filling that didn't require mascarpone (because I'm poor)!

Coconut Date Oatmeal Cookies

40 grams shredded sweetened coconut flakes

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

165 grams packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

95 grams all-purpose flour  

4 grams fine sea salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

4 grams ground cinnamon, divided

130 grams rolled oats

50 grams dates, pitted and chopped

30 grams granulated sugar, for rolling

Cream Cheese Filling

Yield: enough to fill the recipe above!

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1.5 ounces powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut flakes and oatmeal on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast, stirring occasionally, until coconut is lightly colored and both oats and coconut are fragrant, seven to ten minutes. Set aside to cool. Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees.

2.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light. Beat in brown sugar and honey, then beat until very fluffy, about five minutes. Beat in the egg until well mixed, then vanilla. Scrape bowl.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and one gram of the cinnamon. With the mixer set on low, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until combined. Mix in the oats, dates, and toasted coconut by hand. Be certain that everything is evenly combined!

4. In a small bowl, stir together granulated sugar and remaining three grams cinnamon. Roll heaping tablespoonsfuls of dough into balls, then roll balls in cinnamon sugar; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between dough balls. Flatten tops just a little bit, and bake until cookies are golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5.  Make the filling and assemble: Using the electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in sugar and vanilla until mixed, scrape down the bowl, and beat again until filling stiffens up, about five minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Pipe or scoop one to two tablespoons of filling per sandwich onto half the cookies; top with remaining cookies. (I preferred more filling to less, duh!) Assembled sandwiches will keep packaged in the fridge for several days. Clark warns about them becoming soft if filled and not eaten, but I liked ‘em that way.

Hazelnut Molasses Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Filling

This has been a pretty righteous month y’all. In spite of losing face, wallet, and phone, I’ve been having an absolutely necessary and excellent time freelancing and visiting buddies in DC. The city seems more vibrant than ever, thanks in no small part of course to the many exceptional folks who are organizing events and giving small businesses space to thrive. (Check out this baby recap of Emily Hilliard’s Pi[e] Day festivities for one such example!) And maybe you saw this on Facebook already, but DC’s city council just proposed an allowance that would give bakers and other food creators the ability to sell homemade goods to the public—if it passes, that’d be reason enough to move back.

At the moment, I’m still figuring out what’s next, but with a definite scheduled stop in Maine to help deliver baby goats and to hike that big ol’ mountain. And currently I’m resting my head in Philly, home to a few pretty sweet art exhibits and some of the best beer around (plus PRETZELS). But the wandering and the hubbub demand a return to basics—or well, deliciousness posing as basics—and this cookie recipe is more of a cathartic get-‘er-done thing than a big ol’ kitchen exertion; these felt good to make. Fairly fast and dead simple with a huge flavorful payoff, these cookies offered an eye in the storm of my roving. Slice, bake, fill, stack: a relieving and totally tasty way to chill out.

Hazelnut Molasses Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Medrich says this recipe makes 100 cookies and 50 sandwich cookies, but I preferred the thicker ones and, with that in mind, would say it's more like 75 cookies and 32 sandwich cookies. Depends on how thin you slice your dough!

1/2 cup raw hazelnuts, skins on
1 2/3 all-purpose cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Scant 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, for filling

1.  Place the nuts, flour, and baking soda in a food processor and run until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and zest, and beat with a handheld or KitchenAid mixer until fluffy. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by all of the molasses. Beat in the remaining flour until just blended.

2.  Shape the dough into a cylinder about 14 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. (I rolled mine along a stainless steel counter, but you can use a longer sheet of wax paper to aid you instead.) Wrap the dough tightly in wax paper or plastic for two to three hours, or until it's firm enough to slice.

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven. Slice dough log into quarter-inch rounds (Medrich recommends eighth-inch, but thicker was better for us), and place 1 1/2 inches apart on lined cookie sheets. Bake for seven to ten minutes (Medrich says ten to 12, but ours were done by eight), rotating pans halfway through. The cookies will puff up then settle down before they are done. Set the liners on a cooling rack, and cool all the way before stacking or storing.

4.  To fill, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Spoon about one or two teaspoons of chocolate onto the underside of a cookie, then top with a same-sized cookie. Allow chocolate to set for about 15 minutes. Sandwich cookies will keep for one week in an airtight container.