Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Salted Caramel Russian Buttercream

During my last post I taught you how to make Russian Buttercream with a Mexican Twist (in the form of dulce de leche), and now I’m going to add a little French je ne sais quoi to the buttercream by giving it a salted caramel flavor profile, which pairs perfectly with Chocolate, or should I say Chocolat. Ooh-la-la!

Start by making delicious chewy chocolate cookies, which are perfectly divine on their own, and sandwich two together with a layer of salted caramel Russian Buttercream in the middle. It’s a heavenly combination.

Seriously, try not to eat all the chocolate cookies before you turn them into sandwich cookies!

You can serve these cookies at room temperature, but I think they’re even better slightly chilled (10-15 minutes in the fridge). Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• dulce de leche https://amzn.to/3gCrmKg

• pure vanilla extract https://amzn.to/3ovS9fE

• high quality dutch processed cocoa powder https://amzn.to/3gD1ez8

• disposable pastry bags https://amzn.to/3BbuV3t

• #50 scoop https://amzn.to/3JdIVN6

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3gDkY5m

• silpat liner https://amzn.to/367mM4Z

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Chocolate Sandwich Cookies w/Salted Caramel Russian Buttercream

makes 12 sandwich cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 6 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa, sifted (use really good quality)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• extra granulated sugar to coat roll cookies in before baking (or use vanilla sugar)

Filling:

• 1/4 pound (113g) unsalted butter at room temperature (70F)

• 1/4 pound (113g) canned dulce de leche, chilled

• fine table salt to taste

Directions

To make the cookies:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside until needed.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater or BeaterBlade attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes until it lightens in color.

3. Add egg and pure vanilla extract; continue to mix until no traces of egg remain.

4. Turn mixer speed down to low; add cocoa mixture and combine until no traces of dry flour or cocoa remain, scraping bowl if needed.

5. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350F, place rack in center of oven, and line 2 half sheet pans with silpat liners.

7. Using a #50 scoop (about 1 tablespoon), roll level scoops of chilled cookie dough in the palm of your hand to form a ball; coat with granulated sugar and space evenly on sheet pan, 12 per pan.

8. Bake for 9-10 minutes; remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the filling:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat room temperature butter using a hand mixer for 2-3 mites, until light in color and very fluffy.

2. Add chilled dulce de leche and continue beating with a hand mixer for 1 minute.

3. Taste the buttercream carefully and add just enough salt to achieve the level of salted caramel flavor you desire, beating well so the salt is evenly distributed.

Simple Heart Cookies

You don't need the skills of a pastry chef to make these adorable cookies - with just a few simple tools, you can make them too!  Follow me into the kitchen and I'll show you how it's done. 

To begin, you'll need waxed paper, a small fondant rolling pin, rolling guides (1/8-inch and 1/16-inch thicknesses to make these cookies)....

And fondant plunger cutters.  There are all kinds of shapes available so have fun so this technique can be used for endless occasions.

You'll also need some good quality fondant.  Some of the brands available in my area that I like are satin ice, fondarific, duff goldman, and fat daddios.  I do not care for wilton. 

I always keep white fondant on hand because I can custom color it any way I like, but it's also nice to keep darker colors on hand (red, brown, black) because it's hard to achieve the deep saturation mixing gel colors in manually.

(this isn't a necessary tool, but it sure is handy) 

When I'm working with large quantities of fondant, I keep it in a bread proofing box set at 90F (keeping the fondant sealed in an airtight container the whole time).  When I'm ready to work with the fondant, it's warm enough that I can roll it easily without first having to knead it until it's soft and workable.

Love my bread proofing box from Brod & Taylor.  It's great for proofing bread dough, of course, but it has a temperature range of 70-120F, so it's good for making yogurt, melting chocolate, and keeping tempered chocolate in temper too. 

Alright, while the fondant is still warm and soft, roll it out between two layers of waxed paper (1/16-inch thickness) and use fondant plunger to cut shapes and imprint designs.  

Remove scraps and allow fondant shapes to sit at room temperature until needed (they'll firm up as they rest).  Do this step before baking the cookiesbecause you'll want them ready to go when the cookies come out of the oven.

For the cookies:  roll cookie dough between two layers of waxed paper (1/8-inch thickness) and use fondant plunger to cut out shapes (no need to imprint the designs here).

Note:  If the cookie dough cutouts get too soft to move without getting distorted, slide the waxed paper onto a sheet pan and pop it in the fridge to firm the dough before transferring the cutouts to a silpat lined half sheet pan to bake as directed (as shown in this graham cracker post I shared a number of years ago).

Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately place the prepared fondant cutouts on top. 

As the cookies cool, the residual heat will melt the fondant cutouts just enough that they will bond to the cookies.   

Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• rolling guides https://amzn.to/34qGmZi

• small fondant rolling pin https://amzn.to/3LepFkt

• heart plunger https://amzn.to/3j4UkXL

• valentine plunger set https://amzn.to/3Lvr5aq

• more valentine plungers https://amzn.to/3YviIlx

• multi-occasion plunger cutters https://amzn.to/3Px2Evw

• red fondant https://amzn.to/3B802wY

• white fondant https://amzn.to/3hzErZ0

• gel food coloring https://amzn.to/3HJ2rDF

• silpat liner https://amzn.to/3GBKDWM

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3GvYdek

• folding bread proofing box https://amzn.to/3LkXosh

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CHOCOLATE CUTOUT COOKIES

makes 40-60 cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

To make the cookie dough:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the BeaterBlade attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed for 30 seconds.

3. Add egg and vanilla; beat to combine.

4. Add flour mixture and beat until incorporated.

5. Remove dough from mixer bowl and wrap well with plastic wrap; chill for 1-3 hours.

6. Preheat oven to 375F.

7. Roll each dough portion to 1/8-inch thickness between 2 layers of wax paper.

8. Cut out desired shapes with plunger cutters, without plunging the design into the cutout (dust cutter in flour if needed).

9. Chill dough before transferring cutouts to sheet pan to prevent distorting.

10. Place cookies 2-inches apart on silpat lined sheet pan.

11. Bake for 6-8 minutes; remove from oven and top with fondant cutouts (cut to 1/16-inch thick) that have the design pressed into them.

12. Cool completely before serving. Store in airtight container between with wax paper between layers.

Notes

• Recipe makes 40-60 cookies, depending on size.  

• Plan to use about 1/2 pound fondant (I like to buy white fondant so I can color it any way I like).  

• Fondant cutouts can be made a day or more in advance if stored on wax or parchment paper in an airtight container.  

• If the cookies cool before fondant toppers are applied, you can warm the cookies for a few seconds in the microwave (but I recommend applying the fondant to cookies as soon as they come out of the oven).