Chocolate and Orange Sandwich Cookies plus Friday Faves

You could say I’m on a citrus high. And that makes me happy, in all the right ways.

Oranges, clementines, meyer lemons and limes. I’m a big fan of most all citrus, minus grapefruit. Why not grapefruit? I have no idea. Grandpa used to eat it every morning for breakfast. Loaded with about 3 tablespoons of sugar.

But other than the pink fleshed fruit, I’m a fan. And with so many ways to cook with it, you can go from sweet to savory in a snap.

Like yesterday’s post for my new favorite pasta: savory. In the overused words of Rachel Zoe, “I die.” That pasta was my savory twist, and this recipe is it’s alter ego, ergo sweet.

Hello Chocolate and Orange Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling. Honestly, do you think I could have added another layer of flavor in there? I guess I did leave out nuts and pretzels. Restraint is sometimes a good thing.

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5 from 1 vote

Chocolate and Orange Sandwich Cookies plus Friday Faves

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup butter softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• Cream Cheese Filling recipe below

Cream Cheese Filling !Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• ½ cup 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Cookies:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer or another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, egg and orange zest and beat until combined.
• Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until fluffy then add the remaining flour. Mix just until incorporated.
• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough and roll into a ball, then place on the baking sheet. Butter the bottom of a drinking glass with and press to flatten the ball slightly. Repeat and place balls on sheet about 4 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool on a baking sheet.
• In a double boiler or a glass bowl fitted over a saucepan filled with 1-inch of water, melt chocolate chips over boiling water, stirring occasionally. Do not let glass bowl touch the boiling water. Remove bowl from the water. Frost the tops of half of the cookies with the chocolate and set aside. Spread the cream cheese filling on the bottoms of the remaining cookies then top with the chocolate frosted cookies to form a sandwich.

For the Cream Cheese Filling

Directions:

• Blend cream cheese and butter with a mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix well.

These babies are the chewy/sandwich-ish cousin to my childhood favorite chocolate covered orange jelly sticks (remade prettily by Rochelle) that Grandma used to set out on the T.V. trays next to the lay-Z-boys for Grandpa and I to snack on while we watched Lawrence Welk.

Suffering through Lawrence Welk was rough—not nearly as funny as the spin Saturday Night Live puts on the classic show—but methodically eating the chocolate off of each of my orange sticks NS saving the jelly for an upcoming episode of the Rockford Files, made it all bearable.

That skit makes me laugh every time. Okay, enough giggling people let’s get to this week’s Friday Faves.

1. 50 life hacks: A list of 50 things/items/tricks to make it alllll easier. Some smartie-smart stuff and by that I mean everything from homespun cleaning products to bacon pancakes (via @bethanynauert)

https://vimeo.com/46783451#

2. sweet o’ the week: Churros, such a classic yet basic dessert. The best of so many worlds. Claire shows off churro’s best side. As in in-side my mouth with chocolate.

3. food blog crush: Maybe full video is just too much real life information for you, maybe you like to fill in the blanks and enjoy a few stopgaps. Well then check out the stunning gifs created by 16 year old Izy. Seriously? How can a 16 year old be so wickedly good? She even shows in action step-by-step how to make croissants. How behind the times do you feel now? I might cry.

4. Looking for a little pork to go with one of those breakfast treats above? Huff Post shares 15 ways to cook with breakfast sausage. Thanks for featuring two of mine.

5. Through the layers of beautiful prose, Nicole shares her 10 tips for blogging with soul.

6. After Kathryne‘s stay at my house, I have a shopping bug, and since I coveted hers, I am totally buying this bag. She said all the French girls have them. Hey, I want to be a Frenchie.

7. I’ve been itching to start a cleanse this year and have made a half hearted attempt before being diverted by the likes of meals like this. But with my somewhat odd obsession with DVR’d episodes of Dr. Oz, this cleanse sounds pretty achievable.

8. If you were at Alt Summit you enjoyed her florals gracing tables everywhere and if you saw issue 2 of Kinfolk, you’ll recognize her lovely profile on the cover. Lucky for me I’ve been able to work with Sarah  one-on-one in my former mag jobs and have seen her work at action in her own home. Her blossom inspiration is stunning, and now you can make your love happy by giving an arrangement of hers for valentine’s day. **(husbands, including mine, take note.)

9. Now that PuppyBowl is over, you might still need some puppy love. So for those days when life just gets too complicated and you need some chill out time, take a breather with the puppy cam. (via @AndoniaPR)

10. tweet of the week: “Just saw on a sign: the most important things in life aren’t things. #sotrue” thx to @naturallyella

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