MARCH breAK! 2012: Frogwiches! Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla or Citrus Cream

Gallagher’s Favourite “Frogwiches”:
 
Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla or Citrus Cream

 Today’s the Last Day of our Illustrate-Your-Own-Book project for MARCH breAK!, and it’s time, once again, to make a treat drawn from our book, A Study in Emerald. In Chapter Six of our seven chapter tale, snake-detective Gallagher feasts on “Frog Sandwich Cookies” as he triumphs over his recent arrest of a suspect in the “Wolfe Tone Mystery.”  Today, we’ll be reading the last chapter and acting out the whole story with our freshly made Sock Puppets, our Necktie Bean-Bag Snakes, and our Snake Stick Puppets.  So, of course, we needed to make these Frogwiches to give our puppet theatre production an authentic feel!

This recipe produces a very thin, crispy sandwich cookie. By using the butter/shortening blend for the cream filling, you achieve something like an Oreo filling. In fact, the whole cookie tastes like a Spicy Ginger Oreo!  The butter-only option will be more like a buttercream icing, but it won’t store as long in a tin.  We like both the vanilla and the citrus (especially the lime!) options for this cookie!

Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla or Citrus Cream

Ingredients

Cookies
2 c flour
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon (we like “Ceylon” in this recipe)
.25 tsp ground cloves
1.5 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 1 tbs butter
.5 c brown sugar
.5 c granulated sugar  
.25 c molasses
1 egg
1 tbs vanilla
.25 c icing sugar for dusting

Sandwich Cream
__4 tbs butter AND
4 tbs shortening (vegan, non-hydrogenated)__
OR
__6 tbs butter__
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1-2 tbs milk or cream if required

1 tbs vanilla
green food colouring (optional)
OR
2 tbs lime, lemon or orange juice
2 tsp zest (optional)
green, yellow or orange food colouring (optional)

Method

Cookies
With a whisk, combine flour, spices, soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat the butter and sugars in a mixer until fluffy.
Slowly incorporate the molasses into the fluff.
Add the egg and the vanilla until just combined.
Add the bowl of dry ingredients slowly.
When the dough appears combined, use a spatula to form it into a ball.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours.
Dough may also be rolled into a long wax or parchment paper log and refrigerated for at least 4-6 hours.

Heat the oven to 350 F.
Roll the dough into 1 inch balls with your hands

Flatten onto a parchment lined pan. (Leave a lot of space! Don’t exceed a dozen per pan! These cookies spread!)
Or, slice the log of dough into 1/8 in slices and place on parchment with liberal spacing.
Bake for just about 10 minutes.
IMMEDIATELY after removing cookies from pan, use (frog) cookie cutter to make a print in the cookie without completely slicing through.

Cool cookies on racks and make the icing.

Icing
Mix butter and shortening until soft.
Add icing sugar.
Add optional vanilla or citrus.
Add optional food colouring.
If icing hasn’t formed, add milk or cream 1 tsp at a time to mixer.

Assembly
Place some icing sugar in a tea strainer or in a spoon.
For HALF of the cookies: Place the cookie cutter back on the top of the indentation you made wtih the it previously.
Tap the sides of the tea strainer or gently shake your spoon to spread the icing sugar over top of the cookie.

Use a butter knife or an icing spreader to spread a dollop of icing on the bottom/flat portion of the other HALF of the cookies.

Place the sugar-dusted cookies on top of the iced ones to create the sandwiches.
 
Ribbit! Ribbit!
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