Chocolate Heart Sandwich Cookies

makes about 40 with a 1 inch heart stamp

recipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart Living

  • 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for parchment
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • cream filling (see below)

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together butter, sugar, and egg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and stir until a dough forms. Divide dough in half; roll out each half between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment to 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to baking sheets, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Cut out 1-, 1 1/2-, and 2-inch heart shapes, making sure you have even numbers in each size for a total of thirty-four 1-inch, thirty-four 1 1/2-inch, and twenty-eight 2-inch cookies, rerolling scraps once. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, and freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake until firm and fragrant, about 8 minutes for 1-inch cookies, 10 minutes for 1 1/2-inch cookies, and 12 minutes for 2-inch cookies, rotating halfway through. Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets set on wire racks. Spread or pipe (using a pastry bag and a small plain tip), filling onto bottom side of half the cookies, and sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

for the cream filling:
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons whole milk, if needed

Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add sugars, beating until thoroughly combined. Beat in vanilla. If filling is too thick to spread, beat in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until spreadable.