Sweet T’s Ultimate Cookie Sandwiches!

Sweet T’s Ultimate Cookie Sandwiches!

 

                To me a big part of cooking and baking is making things to share with loved ones.  There is so much joy in sharing a dish you created with the person or the people you made it for.  Creating food is a labor of love. This week’s recipe was created for an exceptional group of people.

                My honey and I have been playing on an intermural ultimate Frisbee team for the past several years.  We have been so fortunate to have such amazing teammates turned friends over those years.  Our team might not always win, but we always have fun and enjoy playing and hanging out together.  We actually like to say that we are a “Drinking team with a Frisbee problem.”

 

 

                For the last game of the season I wanted to bring an extra special treat for my dear friends.  Our team is named Blood Sweat and Beers, and it is what inspired this cookie sandwich.  The cookie is rich dark chocolate with chocolate chips and pretzel bits to compliment the sweet and buttery Guinness frosting. Like your favorite beer, these are best served cold.   

 

Chocolate-Pretzel Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup+1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 cup crushed pretzels (crush in a food processer or place pretzels in a Ziploc bag and crush manually with a rolling pin)

Guinness frosting:

1/3 cup Guinness, room temperature

½ cup butter, room temperature

4 cups sifter powdered sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer for a few seconds until whipped. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla extract.  Continue beating until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture using a low speed on the electric mixer, making sure ingredients are well combined after each addition. 

Stir in chocolate chips and crushed pretzel bits by hand.

Chill the cookie dough for 30-45 minutes.

Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball and place on cookie sheet.  Place cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Do not over-bake these cookies, we want them to be soft.  Place cookie sheet on a cookie rack.  Let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet before removing.

Once the cookies are cool, mix sifted powdered sugar, Guinness and butter in a medium bowl until it reaches an even consistency. 

Flip a cooled cookie over and frost the flat side of the cookie.  Place another cookie, flat side down on top of the frosting, making a sandwich.  Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Store in cookies in the refrigerator.