Apple Pistachio Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies

Hello everyone,

Today I brought you the recipe of a sandwich cookie with pistachio cream cheese, apples and cinnamon.

The original plan was to make apple pie-inspired cookies, because really, who does not like apple pie? Then I remembered that a few years back I baked a cream cheese apple pie that turned out to be a huge hit in my family. So, the plan started to evolve. I also noticed an almost full jar of pistachio cream sitting in the fridge, waiting to be used. That’s when it all came together: why not also incorporate pistachio into the recipe? Here is the result.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1. 430 g all-purpose flour
2. 40 g almond flour*
3. 200 g butter
4. 60 g powdered sugar
5. 1 large egg
6. ½ teaspoon of salt
7. 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8. 1 teaspoon ground ginger
9. ½ vanilla pod

*You may replace almond meal with any other nuts or - if you prefer - you may just use identical amount of flour instead, but adding ground nuts certainly gives an extra flavor.

For the cream cheese filling:

1. 60 g butter, room temperature
2. 150 g cream cheese
3. 120 g confectioner’s sugar
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. ½ vanilla pod
6. 160 g pistachio cream

For the apple filling:

1. 1 medium or 2 small apples
2. 2 cm piece of fresh ginger
3. 40 g sugar
4. zest of 1 lemon
5. 10 cm rosemary sprig
6. ¼ teaspoon salt
7. 100 ml water
8. 1 teaspoon corn starch

Utensils:

1. digital scale
2. stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachment
3. sharp knife
4. bowls
5. baking tray
6. parchment paper
7. piping bag with star shaped nozzle
8. cutting board
9. scissors
10. spatula
11. small sieve
12. round cookie cutter
13. rolling pin
14. embossed rolling pin (optional, only for decoration purposes)
15. Ziplock bag
16. apple peeler

Measure out all ingredients.

Cut the butter into cubes.

Slit the vanilla open lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.

1. Dump the flour into the bowl of the stand mixer, add butter cubes, scattered and mix at low speed until crumbles start to form.
2. Add the sugar, the almond flour, the salt, the vanilla seeds, ginger, cinnamon and the egg.
3. Combine at low-medium speed (KitchenAid 4) until the dough comes together.

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured countertop, form it quickly into a disc, wrap it into a Ziploc bag and let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

Remove dough from the fridge, place it on a lightly floured countertop. Divide it into two to make it easier to work with.

Roll the dough evenly to 2-3 mm thickness. You may have to sprinkle some flour underneath the dough every now and then to stop it from sticking, don't forget to check this regularly.

Using embossed rolling pin (optional)

One can totally live without an embossed rolling pin and get the same result taste-wise, yet they make the cookies so much more festive. So, why not use it, if you happen to have one? The technique to be followed is to roll out the dough with a regular rolling pin until it almost reaches the desired thickness, then roll the embossed rolling pin all the way over the dough, one time, applying a firm pressure. In my experience, thinner cookies retain their pattern better after baking.

Using cookie cutters, cut the dough. Transfer the cookies to a baking tray lined with parchment paper or silicone mat. Cut (using a smaller cookie cutter) a smaller round hole in every other cookie. Chill the cut cookie dough for 1 hour (in the fridge or on the balcony during the winter) before baking

Bake in the preheated oven (170 C) for about 10 minutes depending on your oven. The key is not to overbake them, if you see the edges get brown, it's late.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a whisk attachment, whisk the butter and the cream cheese together on medium speed until soft and creamy. Lower the speed and mix in confectioner’s sugar, spoon by spoon. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is fully incorporated.

Mix in salt, vanilla seeds (removed from the pod) and pistachio cream, then switch to high speed and mix until light and fluffy.

Take the piping bag, cut off the tip and insert the nozzle. Scoop the cream into the piping bag.

Wash and peel the apples. Remove the core and cut the apple into tiny bits (2-3 mm cubes). Finely chop the fresh ginger and the rosemary leaves. Transfer the cubed apple into a small saucepan, add the water, lemon zest, sugar, salt, ginger and rosemary. Bring it to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes. Add in the starch and cook for 1 more minute.

Take two cookies, turn one of them upside down, pipe the pistachio cream cheese around the perimeter then scoop a bit of the apple “jam” in the middle and cover with the second cookie.

All you have left to do is to enjoy the cookies. Actually, they are even better next day, as the filling softens the pastry.