These chocolate sandwich cookies are next level delicious. They have two chewy, fudgy double chocolate cookies with sweet and creamy frosting in the middle. Like an extra decadent, homemade Oreo cookie!
There’s nothing better than a soft, decadent double chocolate cookie. Every year or so I make a new variation on my favorite recipe – so today, we’re making chocolate sandwich cookies. They’re chewy, fudgy, extra rich and filled with sweet buttercream frosting.
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies – Like A Homemade Oreo, But Better
I debated calling this recipe “homemade Oreos” – but that would be a disservice to these cookies. Don’t get me wrong, I love Oreos. But these sandwich cookies are an elevated, more grown-up version.
Instead of a dry, crunchy chocolate wafers, we’re making soft, chewy, fudgy chocolate cookies. They’re made with cocoa powder for a rich chocolate flavor, and just the right amount of flour so that they stay soft. In this recipe, you’ll chill the cookie dough in the fridge before baking. This creates thicker, chewier cookies. We’re also adding in chocolate chips for obvious reasons.
The filling is a simple buttercream frosting. Thick, creamy and way more decadent than the icing in a store-bought cookie. If you prefer chocolate frosting, then I’d recommend this recipe. Or even cream cheese frosting is delicious too.
Note that chilling the dough is mandatory for this recipe – otherwise the cookies can spread too thin.
Baking Tips & Tricks
- This recipe is very similar to my favorite double chocolate cookie recipe. The differences are that we’re making slightly smaller cookies (since you get 2 cookies in one anyways), and slightly reducing the amount of chocolate chips since they’re very rich with the icing.
- Whenever making sandwich cookies – I recommend using a cookie scoop. It will make all your cookies a uniform size – which leads to much better sandwiching. Plus, your hands don’t get sticky.
- I typically make the cookie dough the night before since it needs to chill for at least 2 hours before baking. Then I’ll form the dough into balls, bake the cookies and make the frosting the next day.
- Make sure your cookies are completely cooled prior to frosting and sandwiching. If the cookies are still warm, the frosting will melt.
- Cookie dough balls can be frozen in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. Then when you’re ready, bake the cookie dough balls from frozen according to the recipe below – they’ll need about 1-2 extra minutes.
And if you love sandwich cookies, then be sure to try:
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Sheets
- Electric Mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Cookies
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (not melted)
- ⅔ cup lightly packed brown sugar light or dark
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips I recommend semi-sweet or dark
Vanilla Frosting*
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ - 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons cream or milk
Instructions
Chocolate Cookies
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl beat together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until no longer lumpy. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture about ½ at a time. I typically do a few stirs by hand first to ensure the flour doesn't spray up. The batter will be thick.
- Mix in the chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.*
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.
- Form the dough into balls of about 1 tablespoon of batter each, or about 1 inch in diameter (about the size of a ping pong ball). Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets. I like to use a cookie scoop for this. If the dough is too hard to form into balls, let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes to soften up first.
- Bake the cookies 1 sheet at a time in the middle rack of the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops look just set. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Vanilla Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy.
- Add in 1 ½ cups powder sugar and salt. Beat on low speed, and increase to medium speed as the powder sugar starts to incorporate.
- Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar if needed, and the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired sweetness and thickness is reached.
Making the Sandwiches
- Once the cookies are fully cooled spread about 1-2 tablespoons of frosting onto the bottom of 1 cookie and place a second cookie on top so that the bottoms are on the inside.
Notes
- I highly, highly recommend chilling the cookie dough before baking - otherwise the cookies can spread too thin.
- If you'd like slightly thinner cookies for your sandwiches, simply press the dough balls down slightly before baking.
- Cookie dough balls can be frozen in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen in the oven preheated to 350F degrees. They'll need 1-2 extra minutes (about 9-11 minutes).
- You may have a little leftover frosting, depending on how thick you like it.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week. If your kitchen is warm, I recommend storing in the fridge.
- Nutrition information is an estimate only and based on 1 sandwich cookie, assuming the recipe makes 15 equal sandwiches and that all the frosting is used.
These were really good. I was afraid they’d be too sweet but they were actually quite rich. But they didn’t spread out much at all in the oven like they look like they should. So I just pressed them down while they were still hot and preflattened the second batch. And I was going to make them exactly as directed because they look good, then I remembered that I don’t like frosting. So I made a peanut butter filling instead in a similar manner. Peanut butter, butter, bit of icing sugar and a tbsp of cream all whipped together.