Chocolate Cake Cookie Sandwiches

My cousin, Kelly, is in town this week. She currently lives in Seoul, South Korea, so it's rare that she gets over to visit us in our part of the world. The last time she visited was two years ago! It's crazy how much time lapses between visits. Anyway, my mom decided to invite everyone (all my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) over to her house tomorrow night so that Kelly could see the whole family at one time.

We're all supposed to bring something to share, and of course, I decided to make something for dessert. I wasn't sure what to make, so I turned to my starred "to try" recipes in my Google Reader. When I came across this recipe again, I knew this was the one for such a fun occasion.

These are awesome. First of all, they're fairly easy to put together (a cake mix! yessss). Secondly, they taste like a big, cakey Oreo. Um... hello, Heaven!

Because a cake mix only yields enough cookies to make about 9-10 sandwiches of this size, I had to double the recipe. I made two cake mixes worth of cookies, and kind of made up the frosting as I went along. I think I ended up making about 1 & 1/2 recipes worth of frosting.

To try to make cookies of the same size (so that the sandwich halves match up nicely), Annie used a cookie scoop. I don't have one, so I decided to whip out my kitchen scale and weigh my balls of dough to ensure they were all the same size. It worked wonderfully. All of my cookies matched up almost perfectly! Each of my dough balls was 35 grams. This made for very generous cookie sandwiches. I would maybe make them smaller next time so that you can get more cookies out of a batch. Don't get me wrong, I can easily eat a whole one of this size, but I probably shouldn't eat a whole one of this size, if you know what I mean.

Anyway... give these a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. The combination of the semi-sweet cookie with the frosting = a real winner.

Chocolate Cake Cookie Sandwiches
(Source: The Crepes of Wrath, as seen on Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 package chocolate cake mix (or other flavor of your choice)
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

For the frosting:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp. milk

For decorating:
multi-colored non-pareils, or other sprinkles or candy of your choice

Directions:
1. To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake mix, egg and butter. Beat on low speed until just combined and all dry ingredients have been incorporated.

3. Roll the dough into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls, place on the prepared baking sheets and press down to slightly flatten.

4. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets.

5. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the powdered sugar, and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and beat on medium-high speed until smooth. If the frosting too thick, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until incorporated.

6. To assemble, pair the cookies based on size on a work surface. Frost the flat side of one cookie from each pair. Place the other cookie of each pair on top of the frosting, flat side down. Lightly press down so that the frosting reaches the edges of the cookies.

7. To decorate, place sprinkles in a small bowl. Dip the sides of each cookie in the sprinkles, pressing down gently and rotating to cover the sides completely.