Looking for a bit of a challenge, which to me means anything with more than one finished element and/or requiring assembly, I set out to make these peanut butter sandwich cookies from the now legendary insert from the December '06 issue of Fine Cooking magazine.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
From Fine Cooking Magazine

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, completely softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg 1 extra large egg
  

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate or mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Make the cookies.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the two flours, baking soda and salt.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla and egg; continue beating until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the flour mixture by hand until it's just incorporated; don't over mix or your cookies will be tough.
• Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of batter, spaced about 2 inches apart, onto the lined baking sheets.
• With floured fingers, flatten each dab of batter into a 2 inch round.
  
• Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough between your hands to form a round ball and place on baking sheet.
• Using the palm of your hand, or the bottom of a wide-bottomed glass, press each ball into a 2 inch disk.
• Bake until the cookies are puffed and golden, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets if necessary for even baking.
• Transfer to a rack to cool.
  

Make the filling while the cookies cool:

• In a small bowl of an electric mixer, cream the confectioner's sugar, butter, and peanut butter until smooth.
• Add the heavy cream.
• Continue beating until smooth and fluffy.
• Stir in the chopped peanuts and chocolate.
• To assemble, use a spatula or butter knife to spread about a teaspoon of the filling over the bottom of one cookie and sandwich another one on top, pressing gently to spread the filling.

About this recipe:

I didn't change a whole lot about this recipe. The cookie batter came together easily with the help of an electric mixer for the first part. Stirring in the flour by hand took a little arm strength, but it was worth it. At first, I dropped mounds of dough onto my baking sheets using a tablespoon. I didn't read the part about pressing them down which is why my sandwich cookies look like two regular cookies stuck together. I found later that the dough was cohesive and dry enough to be handled and was able to roll it into a ball between my hands. Still didn't read the part about pressing them down but you can see the smoother looking results in the photo. Baking time for these cookies were a little bit longer than called for, with 16 to 18 minutes being the average.

Making the filling was also a piece of cake. I didn't measure out the confectioner's sugar, instead I simply added more until it reached optimum sweetness, and probably didn't use all it called for. I also skimped a little on the heavy cream. I think you could leave it out entirely if you wanted to for a more oreo cookie-like filling. It did lend additional smoothness but you certainly can take it or leave it. I didn't add either peanuts or chocolate to the filling since I didn't have any. Also, I liked the idea of a smooth filling and the end product was a wonderful consistency.

After the cookies cooled thoroughly, I enjoyed the very satisfying process of spreading out the filling on the underside of one cookie and neatly pressing another cookie to form my sandwich. I used quite a bit more than they called for partly because my cookies were so large and partly because there was plenty of filling.

The result: the cookies turned out to be a bit hard. As I said, I should have pressed them down into flattened disks and that would have made eating these a lot easier. I can't say the cookie part really stood out but I can say, emphatically, that the filling was absolutely divine. In fact, you could the filling on its own (and I will someday) as a peanut butter frosting for a cake.