Cream Wafer Sandwich Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream

For the cream wafer cookies:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix flour, butter, and whipping cream until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the sugar into a 9″ square pan and set aside.

Take about one-third of the cookie dough out of the refrigerator, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. Roll dough to 3/16″ thickness on a floured surface. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter (mine is 2″ wide x 1-1/2″ high) to cut out heart shapes. You could also just use a small round cookie cutter, about 1-1/2″ to 2″ in diameter. You will want to work swiftly, as the dough softens quickly as it warms.

With a thin metal spatula, transfer hearts to your prepared 9″ pan with the sugar. Turn hearts over so that sugar adheres to each side. Place hearts on an un-greased cookie sheet, about 1″ apart. Prick each heart several times with the tines of a fork (about 4 or 5 times). Sprinkle on a little additional sugar, if desired. Repeat with the rest of the sections of dough, re-rolling scraps as needed. After re-rolling the dough more than once, the dough will start to lose its shape faster when rolled out and baked, so try to get as many cut-outs as possible out of each initial rolling.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or just until set, but not browned. Let cookies cool on a wire rack or on the counter top.

For the strawberry buttercream:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until very smooth. Add powdered sugar and strawberry extract, and beat until smooth and fluffy, another minute or two. Tint with food coloring, if desired.

To assemble cream wafer sandwich cookies:

Add strawberry buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a medium plain tip. Pipe a single layer of buttercream onto the back side of one heart cookie (see photo in the related blog post). Top with another heart cookie and very gently press together. You could also use a small spoon to place the buttercream on the cookie, instead of using a piping bag, which will yield a much more casual looking sandwich cookie. Set the assembled sandwiches aside while you finish with the rest.

Cookies store very well frozen in an airtight container, with layers of cookies separated by wax paper.

Recipe adapted from Mom’s recipe box, originally from Betty Crocker.