Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Show: Everyday ItalianEpisode: GDL Foods

Rated: 3 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (127)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(127)

Cook Time:
30 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
28 cookies

Times:

Prep: 20 min
Inactive Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30 min
Total:: 1 hr 5 min

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Ingredients

Chocolate Cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal or polenta
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 orange, zested

Orange Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 stick)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 orange, zested
Pinch salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the Chocolate Cookies, in a large bowl use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. In another medium bowl stir together the flour, cornmeal or polenta, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir to combine using a wooden spoon. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap. Press the dough into a 1-inch high round. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Roll out the dough to between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick. Use a 1 3/4-inch round cookie cutter to cut out the dough. Bake on a heavy baking sheet for 15 minutes. Place the baking sheets on a wire rack to cool cookies.

Meanwhile, to make the Orange Filling, combine the butter, powdered sugar, orange zest, and salt in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to cream the ingredients together.

To assemble the cookie sandwiches, place about 1 teaspoon of the Orange Filling on a cookie. Top with another cookie and press the cookies together. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 day.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Cindy Rockville, MD 11-19-2009
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these cookies have crack in them!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

looks like this is a love it or hate recipe, and I loved it. I use cormeal instead of polenta and skipped the orange zest... and used vanilla instead. it is on the buttery side, but cookies usually are. I loved the texture and found it had just the right sweetness. I've been trying to go healthier so substituted half the flour with whole wheat flour and used Smart Balance instead of butter, I also used dutch processed cocoa and the result was even better. tasted like a more sophisticated Oreo.Read more
recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Ashly Dana Point , CA 11-08-2009
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Interesting, but good!
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

She really makes it look easy to make that's for sure! It took a lot longer to make than i had expected. Rolling the dough,... cutting them and placing the cookies on the cookie sheet was an arduous process because the dough does crumble easily. If the dough warms to room temp its a lot harder to cut & put them on the cookie sheet. We chilled our dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes again to harden and it was easier to work with. We originally made the filling as she instructed but it wasnt enough when we assembled them. I would suggest doubling the filling recipe if you want it to look like it does in the picture! Instead of using 1 full stick of butter for the filling, we used 1/2 stick and substituted the rest with cream cheese. It came out great! My taste-tester was my husband and he thought they were different but pretty good, so we are going to make them for our Thanksgiving dinner party. Read more
recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Sandra Pensacola, FL 11-07-2009
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When my Italian husband. . .
Rated: 2 stars out of 5

. . . spit his cookie into a napkin and suggested we dispose of them, my son seconded the motion, and I was reduced to... licking the filling off the cookies before they crumbled into dust, I knew we did not have a winner here. Those of you who were astute enough to modify the recipe early on, congratulations for your prescience, but you were not truly making the recipe as given. I try to give the originator of the recipe the courtesy of following her directions as given. We did exactly as instructed: mixed, chilled, rolled between sheets of plastic wrap, and baked. No trouble with anything. We cooled the cookies, made the filling and assembled them. They were crispy, and I especially liked the filling, but they were tasteless, bitter-sweet and gritty. Unfortunately, they did not improve on standing. Any guest who slipped these cookies into her handbag would find only greasy, gritty crumbs on arriving home! Read more
recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Patricia Molalla, OR 11-05-2009
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Follow the directions to a T and you can have great cookies too!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I'm not sure what everyone else is doing, but mine came out perfect! they were moist with a little crunch at the same time.... The directions say use a heavy cookie sheet, I used two cookie sheets to cook mine in. They didn't burn at all and I left them in for exactly 15 minutes. I made sure my butter was room temp. I slowly creamed the butter and powdered suger at first and then faster at the end. I hand mix the choc. ing. in with a wooden spoon. The only thing I did different is, I did not have any corn meal, but I had betty crocker corn bread mix, so I used a cup of that instead. When I rolled them out I didn't use the handles of my rolling pin, I just rolled them with my hands on top of the roller. Pretty easy to do. Tasted really good. I will make these again, can't wait for my family to try them at x-mas time.Read more
recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Durlande Lake Mary, FL 11-05-2009
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It was horrible!!!!!
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

When she made it on tv, it looked so good that i wanted to make it right there and then, but i just tried it and it was... horrible. i ended up with a pile of crumbs. i ended up throwing the first batch and the rest of the dough in the trash. the dough tasted pretty good though. I do not like this recipe. I just feel sorry i wasted my ingredients when i could have used them for something else. That's money down the drain. i've tried plenty of recipes from the show "cooking for real" and they've never let me down. I will never try this recipe again.Read more
recipe Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
Sarah Athens, GA 10-31-2009
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Really Disappointing
Rated: 2 stars out of 5

These looked so good on TV, but I didn't like them at all! I made them for my boyfriend's birthday, and was honestly a little... embarassed to give them to him. They were way too orangey, and really hard to cut out (they kept crumbling up). I used mascarpone for the frosting instead of pure butter, and that helped a little, but still way too orangey. They spread out a LOT in the oven and started to burn before they were supposed to be done. Maybe I just don't like cornmeal in cookies, but I will definitely not make these again. Sorry, Giada :(Read more