Maple Fudge Sandwich Cookies

Double Fudge Brownie Murder

**Maple Fudge Sandwich Cookies** is the first recipe featured in Double Fudge Brownie Murder.

DO NOT preheat oven quite yet--cookie dough must chill before baking.

## The Cookies

* 2 cups white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 1 and 1/2 cups salted butter ***(3 sticks, 12 ounces, 3/4 pound)***, softened to room temperature
* 2 large eggs, beaten ***(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)***
* 1/2 cup maple syrup ***(I used Log Cabin)***
* 1/2 teaspoon maple extract or flavoring ***(I used McCormick Imitation Maple Flavoring)***
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 4 cups all-purpose flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1/2 cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar for coating the dough balls

**Hannah's 1st Note: To measure maple syrup, first spray the inside of measuring cup with Pam so that the syrup won't stick to your cup.**

**Hannah's 2nd Note: If you can find maple flavoring or maple extract, don't worry about it. Your cookies will still taste like maple. It just won't be as intense a flavor.**

## Directions

* Place the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. ***(You can also mix up these cookies by hand, but it's easier with an electric mixer.)***
* Add the softened butter and mix on LOW speed until the butter is combined. Then turn the mixer up to MEDIUM speed and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
* Add the eggs and mix until they are well incorporated.
* Add the maple syrup, the maple extract or flavoring, and the vanilla extract. Mix them in thoroughly.
* Sprinkle in the salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until they are combined.
* Mix in the flour a half-cup at a time, beating after each addition.
* Take the bowl out of the mixer and scrape down the inside with a rubber spatula. Give the bowl another stir by hand to mix everything into the dough.
* Tuck a piece of plastic wrap down around the dough in your bowl. Then stick the whole bowl in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
* When your dough has chilled for 1 hour, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
* Measure out 1/2 cup white (granulated) sugar and place it in a shallow bowl. You'll use this to coat your dough balls.
* Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or lining them with parchment paper.
* Roll the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands. ***(Lisa and I use a 2-teaspoon scooper to do this down at The Cookie Jar.)***
* Roll the dough balls in the bowl of white sugar and then place them on the prepared cookie sheets, 12 cookie dough balls to a standard-size sheet.
* Flatten the cookie dough balls with a metal spatula.
* Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are nicely browned.
* Take the cookies out of the oven. Cool them on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes, and then remove them to a rack to finish cooling. ***(If you leave them on the cookie sheets for tool long, they'll stick.)***
* When all your cookies are baked and they are cooling on wire racks, make the Fudge Filling.

### The Fudge Filling

* 1/3 cup heavy cream ***(whipping cream)***
* 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate ***(If you don’t' have semi-sweet chocolate squares, you can use a 6-ounce by weight package of semisweet chocolate chips.) (I used Nestle.)***
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4  cup powdered ***(confectioners)*** sugar ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it--don't sift unless it's got big lumps)***

* Heat the cream in a sauce pan over medium heat until it begins to simmer and bubbles form around the outer edges of the cream.
* Break the chocolate into pieces in a small bowl.

**Hannah's 3rd Note: The advantage in using chocolate chips is that you don't have to break the chips into pieces.**

* Pour the heated cream over the chocolate ***(or the chips)*** in the bowl and sprinkle in the salt. Give it a stir with a heat-resistant spatula and then let it sit on the counter.
* Wait a minute or two and then stir the mixture again to combine the cream and the chocolate. Do this until you can stir it smooth.
* Let the filling sit on the counter until it cools down to room temperature.
* Stir in the powdered sugar. Continue to stir until the Fudge Filling is smooth and spreadable.
* When both the cookies and the chocolate filling are cool, make sandwich cookies by spreading a generous layer of filling on the bottom of one cookie and pressing the bottom of a second cookie over the top. Make sure the two flat cookie bottoms touch the filling. ***(If you make a sandwich by spreading filling on the rounded tops, you won't get as much chocolate filling!)***
* Let the Maple Fudge Sandwich Cookies sit on the wire racks until the Fudge Filling has "set".

**Hannah's 4th Note: I'm willing to bet that you won't wait that long. Lisa and I have never managed it!**

Yield: Depending on cookie size, approximately 3 to 4 dozen tasty sandwich cookies that both kids and adults will love.

**Lisa's Note: When we make these down at The Cookie Jar they're gone in ten minutes flat. That's mostly because Bertie Straub from the Cut 'n Curl comes in every morning for a cookie. When she goes back to the beauty shop and tells her ladies that we baked Maple Fudge Sandwich Cookies, they send her back here to buy some for them.**