gingered sugar cookies with apple butter

Why stop at the oreo? I have nothing against the oreo, a staple of crisp chocolate cookie and sickly sweet icing. However, why is this chocolate/vanilla combination the only famous sandwich cookie? Other cookies (the oatmeal chip, the classic sugar, the gingersnap) are calling out to be made into cookie sandwiches! Fill me with cream cheese, with flavoured icing, with jam, with nut butters, they cry! Here's the flavour combination I've been dreaming of for a few weeks: a ginger cookie, loaded with crystallized ginger, with a apple butter filling.

gingered sugar cookies with apple butter
(cookie recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated. makes about 20 sandwich cookies.)

1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
1 tsp vanilla paste
apple butter for spreading (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 375. Pulse white sugar and fresh ginger in food processor. Set aside for rolling later. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and ginger in a bowl. In another bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg. Add ginger and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, stirring until combined.

Using a bowl of water to wet your hands, roll 1 inch balls of dough. Roll in gingered sugar. Flatten with your fingers on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Cookies will spread a bit, so leave room between each. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. Let cook for a few minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Spread a tbsp of apple butter on the bottom of one cookie. Press two cookies together.

Voila, the new, sophisticated sandwich cookie. If you eat them right away, the cookies will still be crispy. If you leave them a day, they apple butter will soften the cookie. Both are equally delicious. Enjoy!

(mmmm, apple butter)