Maple Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

I was originally going to post my Gingerbread Rollout Cookie recipe today. However, it turns out that yesterday (Dec 17th) was National Maple Syrup Day. Since I am only a day late, I thought I would go ahead and post these Maple Shortbread cookies today instead.

I’ve been wanting to try making these cookies for a couple of months now… especially since this recipe was easy to turn vegan. I even ordered Maple Sugar from Vermont in November to make these cookies. I had never tried Maple Sugar before… it’s actually interchangeable 1:1 for granulated sugar in recipes. It is a little bit coarser than granulated white sugar; however, otherwise, it is very similar with a subtle maple flavor. If you don’t have access to Maple Sugar, I think you could probably substitute granulated sugar in this recipe instead (although the dough will lose some of the maple flavor, of course).

I did have a few reservations about posting this Maple Shortbread Sandwich Cookie recipe before I try making it a few more times (and making few more tweaks to it). However, overall this cookie was really worth making, and I wanted to post it, so I will have the recipe handy (and most important…so I don’t lose it!).

The shortbread cookies were very good… pretty basic, and not overly sweet. I didn’t have Maple Flavor in the cupboard, so I substituted Almond Flavor in the dough; however, I think Vanilla Extract would have been a better substitute. Next time I make them, though, I’m going to find Maple Flavor extract to try in the cookie dough. 🙂

My reservation on this cookie lies in the filling… it’s VERY sweet. I typically cut sugar WAY back in desert recipes, so it could be that I’m not used to sugary desserts… and to be fair, I’ve only tried 1 cookie so far….so I don’t want to judge it too harshly yet. I put them in the fridge for the night, and will try another cookie with my cup of hot tea tomorrow morning. Overall, they were very good, and super easy to make.

The other thing I really like about the recipe is that it only made about 20 small sandwich cookies. I also think that these cookies will freeze pretty well.

For the first couple of cookies, I just used a small cake decorating spatula to spread the filling on the cookie, and it looked pretty sloppy. I switched to a piping bag to fill the rest of the cookies, and the cookies looked a LOT better. The cookie on the left side was filled using a piping bag, and the cookie on the right side was filled spreading it with a spatula.

Overall- super cute cookies that were easy to make, and they tasted good (even though the filling is a little oversweet). I thought it was definitely a keeper recipe. 🙂

Maple Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

"A crisp, buttery, maple-flavored shortbread cookie sandwiched around rich maple syrup cream filling" – adapted from a recipe from King Arthur Baking Company

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Course Dessert

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

Cookies

• ½ cup butter or vegan butter substitute (i.e. Earth Balance) softened
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup maple sugar
• ½ teaspoon maple flavor
• 1 ⅛ cup All-Purpose Flour

Filling

• 2 Tablespoons butter or vegan butter substitute (i.e. Earth Balance) softened
• 1½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon milk or non-dairy milk (i.e. almond milk) or more if needed to make filling spreadable

Instructions

 

Make the Cookies

• In a mixing bowl, cream butter, salt, maple sugar, and maple flavor.
• Add the flour and mix just until the dough comes together.
• Wrap the dough in wax paper, and chill for 2-3 hours
• Preheat over to 300° F (150° C)
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough about ⅛" (3.175 mm) thick.
• Use a cutter to cut the dough into shapes. (I used plunger cookie cutters so they would leave an imprint on the cookies)
• Place cookies on baking sheet, and bake 20-25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.

Make the filling:

• Beat all ingredients together in mixing bowl until smooth. If the filling isn't spreadable, add 1 teaspoon milk at a time, until it is a good consistency.

Assemble the Cookies:

• Spread the bottom of half of the cookies with about 1-2 teaspoon of filling. I found it was easiest to put the filling in a piping bag and pipe the frosting on the cookies- it made the filling look a lot neater.
• Place a 2nd cookie on top of the filling to create a sandwich.
• Store cookies in a covered container in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen for longer storage.

Keyword Cookies, maple sugar, maple syrup

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!