makes
26
prep
30 minutes
cook
10 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
26
serves
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
10
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 150 g unsalted butter, softened
- 330 g (1 ½ cups) caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 60 ml (¼ cup) buttermilk
- 3 tsp red gel food colouring
- 340 g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour
- 75 g (½ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- pinch salt
Cream cheese filling
- 125 g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 60 g unsalted butter, softened
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 300 g (2 cups) icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line 4-5 baking trays with baking paper.
Place butter, sugar and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and creamy, about 4-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Add buttermilk and red food colouring and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa and salt together. Use a slow speed on mixer to blend dry ingredients into cookie mixture. Mix until well combined.
Working in batches, spoon cookie mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm plain nozzle. Pipe 4.5 cm rounds onto trays, (about 52 in total) allowing a little room for spreading. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until just firm to touch. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely on trays.
To make the cream cheese filling, place cream cheese, butter and vanilla into a medium mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer beat until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add sifted icing sugar, beating until well combined. If the mixture is a little soft, refrigerate 5-10 minutes before filling cookies.
To assemble, spoon your cream cheese filling into a piping bag fitted with a 5 mm star nozzle. Pipe filling around the underside edge of one cookie, then sandwich together with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. These cookies are best eaten on the same day as making.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
