Tea Cake Sandwich Cookies Recipes

TEA CAKE SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend well. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in milk, lemon peel, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until blended. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly before rolling out.)
• Roll out each dough disk between sheets of waxed paper to 14x11-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting waxed paper to smooth out wrinkles. Refrigerate dough on baking sheets, still between sheets of waxed paper, until cold and firm, about 30 minutes. Place 1 dough piece on work surface. Peel off top sheet of waxed paper. Press same waxed paper gently back onto dough. Turn dough over (still between waxed paper sheets). Peel off top sheet of waxed paper and discard. Using 2 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter and with dough still on waxed paper bottom, cut out cookies. Using 1- to 1 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter, cut out center from half of cookies. Gather dough centers and excess dough around cutouts; shape excess dough into disk and chill. Slide waxed paper with cutouts onto baking sheet and chill. Repeat with remaining dough disk, cutting out rounds, cutting centers from half of rounds to make top rings, and gathering and chilling excess dough. Roll out excess dough between sheets of waxed paper, making more cookie bottoms and top rings. Repeat rolling and cutting until all of dough is used.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Using metal spatula to lift cutouts from waxed paper, transfer cookie bottoms to 1 prepared sheet and top rings to second sheet, spacing slightly apart (cookies spread very little). Sprinkle some top rings with colored sugar crystals (or leave plain to decorate later). Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool completely.
• Arrange cookie bottoms on work surface. Spread each with 1 teaspoon preserves. Sift powdered sugar over plain cookie rings or decorate with icing and sugar crystals or edible glitter as desired. Press 1 top ring onto each prepared cookie bottom. (Cookies can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper in refrigerator.)

SUGAR COOKIES ("TEA CAKES")

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Put flour in a bowl and make a well in center. Beat together butter and sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla until blended.
• Add butter mixture to flour and rub it into flour with your fingertips just until dough comes together in a ball (do not overwork dough, or it will be tough). 3Halve dough and work with 1 half at a time. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut out cookies with a floured cutter (we used a 2 1/2-inch fluted round cutter), arranging cookies, as cut, 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Reroll scraps once, using as little flour as possible, and cut out more cookies.
• Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, in middle of oven until very pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 1 minute, then transfer to a rack to cool 5 minutes if serving warm, or to cool completely.

TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture (the dough will be soft). , Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

CHAI TEA SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• For ganache, in a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil; remove from heat. Add tea bags; let stand 10 minutes. Discard tea bags., Place chocolate in a small bowl. Reheat the cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; let stand 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, until ganache thickens to a spreading consistency, about 1 hour., Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and pepper; cut in butter with vanilla until crumbly. Knead until dough holds together when pressed. Shape into 2 disks; wrap each and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 15 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness, lifting and rotating dough as needed. Cut with a 1-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until light brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., Spread or pipe 1 heaping teaspoon ganache on bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies. Let stand until set., Freeze option: Prepare dough. Transfer wrapped disks to a freezer container; seal and freeze. To use, thaw dough in refrigerator until soft enough to roll. Make ganache. Prepare, bake and fill cookies as directed.

CAKE MIX COOKIE SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In a bowl mix together the cake mix, oil and eggs. Do this by hand as it is very stiff. You are looking for everything to just come together to form a dough.
• Roll dough into 1" balls. Place about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Note: if dough is too sticky to roll into balls easily, refrigerate for a short time.
• Bake cookies 8 to 11 minutes at 350. Cookies should still be soft but the tops will have a cracked appearance when done.
• Remove cookies from baking sheets to cool.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Choose 2 cookies that are the same size and shape. Place about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of frosting on the bottom of one cookie. Put the two cookies together bottoms facing each other to form the sandwich.
• Note: I like to use the following combinations, but feel free to experiment. Chocolate cookie with fudge frosting, chocolate cookie with vanilla frosting, white cake with vanilla frosting (add about 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the frosting), carrot cake cookies with chream cheese frosting, funfetti cookies with rainbow chip frosting (kids love this one for the colors).