Kathleen's Gourmet Cookies ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies and Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie ~ Perfect sweet treats to share with the ones you love!

Last week (at the TWIGS Soup Dinner that I recently wrote about) I was introduced to Kathleen ~ a fantastic lady who's a gourmet baker/cook.  I'm totally in awe of all the incredible cookies that she created for the dinner party.  Her 3-Tier Towering Assortment of Gourmet Cookies was a real thing of beauty and it would've been right at home in the fanciest of Parisian bakeries.  I was so impressed with her cookies that I just had to do a separate post on them, because the photos of her cookies are some of my all-time favorites that I've taken...

I felt like I was back in Paris when I first saw this gorgeous display of gourmet cookies...

Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookies

Kathleen was kind enough to share the recipes for my two favorite cookies of the evening ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies & Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie.  She's been making the recipe for Snowflake Whoopie Pies for such a long time that she no longer remembers which cookbook she originally found the recipe in.  The whoopie pie's almond flavor is so enticing, the filling so creamy and decadent ~ I dare you to eat only one! 

This is the link for the Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie recipe.  It's full of all the flavors that I love ~ chocolate, cherries and rum ~ all rolled up into a cookie.  Absolutely delicious and truly a winner!

Snowflake Whoopie Pies, Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie, Pecan Cookies and homemade Turkish Delight.

Is it just me, or does the name Whoopie Pie make you giggle?  I just love the name ~ Whoopie Pie!  It makes me smile every time I hear it. (I guess that's the little kid in me)  I think you could easily change up the icing design on these Whoopie Pies to suit your mood ~ a red heart for Valentine's Day, a green shamrock for St. Patrick's Day, etc.  It's a universal Whoopie ~ how cool is that?!  teehee  :)

SNOWFLAKE WHOOPIE PIES

Makes 14

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Large pinch of salt

½ cup unsalted ground almonds

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 large egg

1 tsp almond extract

½ cup milk

1tbsp edible silver balls

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Line 2-3 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in the ground almonds.

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and almond extract followed by half of the flour mixture and then the milk.  Stir in the rest of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

Pipe or spoon 28 mounds of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets, spaced well apart to allow for spreading.  Bake in the preheated oven, one sheet at a time, for 10-12 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch.  Cool for 5 minutes, then using a palette knife transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Buttercream Filling

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

½ cup heavy cream

2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the filling, place the butter in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.  Beat in the cream, then gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating for 2-3 minutes until the buttercream is very light and fluffy.

Icing

For the icing, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in enough water to make a smooth, thick icing.

To assemble, pipe or spread the buttercream on the flat side of half of the cakes.  Top with the rest of the cakes.  Spoon the icing into a small paper pastry bag, snip the end, and pipe snowflake patterns on the top of the whoopie pies.  Decorate with silver balls and sprinkle with superfine sugar.  Let set.  Enjoy!

The cookies all looked so lovely and smelled simply divine, I had such a hard time choosing!

All of Kathleen's cookies were so lovely to look at and were so luscious to bite into, that I'm even tempted to try making them myself.  It takes a lot to get me to venture beyond my 'comfort baking zone' (me being a challenged baker and all), but I think I must with these two recipes.  I just can't imagine not having them again.  Hmm...my birthday is coming up soon, maybe this year I'll make cookies instead of a cake for our little celebration...  OR, I keep thinking that these two cookie recipes would be perfect for a Valentine's Day sweet treat.  Roy and J would be thrilled (me, too!) to have a plate of either (or better yet, both!) of these cookies instead of the old standby ~ a boring box of chocolates.  I think I just talked myself into making these cookies sooner, rather than later! 

Shortbread Jam Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Tassies, Turkish Delights & Red Cinnamon Cookies

Hope these pictures of Kathleen's cookies inspire you as much as they do me.  I'm ready to get out all my baking supplies and make them right now.  How about you?  :)