Gone, but Not Forgotten

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by Hannah (BitterSweet)
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At last, the storm has passed, and the dust has begun to settle once again. Having been on a practical lock-down at Christmas, hoping to weather the storm with as little damage as possible, there’s a disgraceful number of treats and crafts that weren’t shared in time. And really, who gives a flying fork about holiday goodies after the fact? Done and over with, be it a time to remember or desperately try to forget, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all washed our hands clean of jolliness and moved on.

So do me a favor, would you? Disregard the fact that I made these in a frenzy of holiday spirit, whipping up a quadruple (unless it was quintuple- I don’t quite recall) batch, bathing in the powerful aroma of chocolate and peppermint for hours. Squeezing that cookie gun for what felt like hours at a time, crossing the line from average holiday baker to crazed foodie once the blisters surfaced on my palms, it was an experience of both joy and extreme frustration.

Thrilled to be sharing something sweet with so many friends and family members, wincing in pain at my hands, both looking redder and angrier by the moment, all of my energy went into just getting them done. Cool the cookies, fill them, wrap ’em up, out the door, done, done, done.

Seeing them begin to arrive at their destinations, the misery was more than worth it, and all the complimentary comments were little nudges saying “Hey, you should share this on the blog!” I had the pictures, the recipe, everything ready to go, but I was sick of those adorable and delicious little morsels. Overdosing on the leftovers to cap off the whole experience, I had literally and figuratively taken one bite too many.

Slowly digesting that episode throughout the ensuing weeks, it may have taken over a month now, but I’m finally ready to think about those deceptively simple sandwich cookies again. Honestly, you won’t incur the same distress if you stick to one batch at a time, and there’s hardly any reason for the mentally sound person to go above that limit- It’s a big batch by any standards, even when you figure that every two cookies only makes one sandwich.

The classic combo of chocolate and peppermint is an easy crowd pleaser, the crisp but still soft cocoa cookies yielding to a creamy, lightly minted filling, riddled with crunchy pieces of smashed candy canes.

It’s the sort of staple that you just can’t go wrong with, whether you give them as holiday presents, or whip up a batch later in the year to serve in the middle of summer. They do, by the way, taste fantastic straight out of the freezer, cold and refreshing, so don’t think you can safely “hide” them in there for too long.

Yield: Makes about 80 Chocolate Cookies; 40 Sandwich Cookies

Chocolate Spritz Cookies

Chocolate Spritz Cookies

The classic combo of chocolate and peppermint is an easy crowd pleaser, the crisp but still soft cocoa cookies yielding to a creamy, lightly minted filling, riddled with crunchy pieces of smashed candy canes.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate Spritz Cookies

  • 2 Cups Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
  • 1 (6-Ounce) Container Vanilla Vegan Yogurt
  • 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 3 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Candy Cane Filling:

  • 1/2 Cup Vegan Butter, Softened
  • 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
  • 4 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
  • 4 Ounces Crushed Candy Canes or Starlight Mints

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In your stand mixer, thoroughly cream together the shortening and sugar, so that the mixture is homogeneous. Add in the vegan yogurt and vanilla, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and cream that in as well.
  3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together all of the remaining dry goods for the cookies so that all of the ingredients are well-distributed throughout the mixture, and slowly add them to the stand mixer, incorporating them in 2 or 3 separate additions. The resulting batter with be very thick, and it may seem like it’s not going to come together, but just be patient; Do not, under and circumstances,
    add any extra liquid!
  4. Once you achieve a cohesive dough, place a few mounds of it into your spritz cookie gun, which should already have the design you desired installed. Squeeze out cookies as directed by the manufacturer of the gun, reload when you run out of dough, and repeat. Once you use all of the batter and have your cookie sheets filled, place them in the oven and bake for 8 – 10 minutes, until no long “wet” looking on top and the cookies look solid. It’s hard to tell when they’re done since the cookies are so dark to begin with, but make sure you never bake them longer than 10 minutes or else they’ll taste burnt.
  5. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for at least 10 minutes, and then completely on a wire rack before filling.
  6. To make the filling, simply whip together the vegan butter and shortening in your stand mixer until smooth. Add in the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and crushed mints, start the machine on a slow speed so as not to send sugar flying out, and gradually mix to incorporate. Once there’s no longer a risk of sending ingredients out onto the walls, turn up the speed to high and beat for about 5 minutes, until smooth, creamy, and fluffy.
  7. Apply to cookies as desired, sandwiching two together to finish.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

40

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 271Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 82mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 2g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.

© Hannah Kaminsky
Cuisine: American / Category: Cookies and Bars

44 thoughts on “Gone, but Not Forgotten”

  5. STUNNING! They are really too adorable, I absolutely love them. These are definitely not just holiday treats, I agree with you, they will be fantastic any time of year. And straight out of the freezer, like an ice-cream cookie, would be especially delicious and refreshing in the summer. Thank you SO much for yet another brilliant recipe. You are too awesome, Hannah!

  6. First – these cookies are absolutely beautiful. Second – I hate to have to wait a year to try these! Thanks for sharing!!

  11. Personally, I do give a flying fork! I can vouch for the deliciousness of these inspired cookies and I’m very grateful you shared the recipe. :)

  13. Hot damn, those look really, really good. Maybe next December I’ll try de-glutenizing your recipe. I love chocolate and peppermint!

  19. I’m so glad you posted the recipe. As one of the lucky recipients of these cookies, I am glad to know how to make them. They were so good, and my dad was in awe that were vegan.

  22. yeah it took me a bit of time to want to see any sweet food after Christmas. Which was too bad because, like you, I had made some pretty fantastic desserts that I wanted to share. But just couldn’t deal with looking at them, let alone write about them, after the holidays.

    These cookies look fantastic! Like oreos but way. Way. Better.

    Great idea to put peppermint in the filling! I can imagine a quintuple batch of these would have been rough. Very rough.

  26. These look delicious! I LOVE chocolate and mint in anything…but I’ll probably cut the recipe in half, since I’m not sharing :) Thanks for the recipe, Hannah.

    –Monica

  27. Chocolate mint cookies are my most favorite cookies, anytime of the year. I would have eaten a ton of these during the holidays!

  28. wow, these look incredible. beautiful pictures as always, and the cookies look like they turned out perfectly! I love chocolate and mint together…I’m bookmarking this for next Christmas :)

  29. they were definitely very tasty cookies! hannah, you are such a sweet girl and a lovely friend. i’m sorry i haven’t been keeping in better touch with you!

  35. Aw yea baking at Christmas is always a bit stressful. After I was done my Christmas baking I didn’t want to bake again for a while. Glad you shared these cookies though – they’re so cute and sound delicious!

  36. I am making your gorgeous cookies. I have tried 3 recipes and love the way yours comes out so dark and rich. My question–what can I use instead of the yogurt? I know I will not find this yogurt in my little grocery store in town and after making the first batch, it’s gone! (we don’t have any vegan concerns, so I can step over those lines, if necessary).

  37. Is there a typo or something missing from the posted recipe? My batter is way too wet and sticky for a cookie press. I’ve added a bunch more flour to no avail. The batch is currently in the fridge to see if chilling helps. Very frustrating!

    1. Ditched the parchment and they worked ok. Taste, not good. Maybe it’s the shortening brand? Used Earth’s Balance. Looks good in the picture, but I won’t be using this recipe again. :(

  38. These cookies look awesome and I want to try them out. I had a question though, the recipe says 6 oz of vanilla soy. Is this vanilla soy milk?

  39. I used a pastry blender to help mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. It made it a lot easy to mix the dough.

  41. […] Chocolate Spritz Cookies take advantage of those old-school cookie presses that only come out once or twice a year, but their effortless elegance will make you reconsider that limited utility. Candy cane filling glues these cocoa morsels together, but if you’re already over “minter” (mint-winter,) omit the candies in favor of orange zest for an invigorating citrus punch. […]

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