Cream Wafers
Cookie
1 cup Kerry Gold butter (See Notes)
2/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups flour or 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour (see notes)
Filling
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp GF vanilla
Optional:
½ tsp mint extract (see notes)
Few drops of food coloring
Cookies
Combine all cookie ingredients on stand mixer until dough forms. (It will seem very dry & crumbly at first, just keep mixing. All of a sudden it will turn into dough & come together!
Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap & refrigerate for 1.5 – 2 hours.
Remove from refrigerator & break or cut into 3-4 chunks of dough for easier handling. If the dough is too stiff, just let it sit for a few minutes. It will soften up as it warms up.
On lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness (See notes)
Cut into 2 inch rounds with cookie cutter (or small glass, like a shot glass or juice glass).
Put about ¼ cup sugar in a flat bowl. Place 2-3 cookie rounds in dish & coat both sides with sugar.
Place on ungreased baking sheet.
Prick each cookies with a fork 3-4 times. (This keeps them from bubbling up & loosing their shape.)
Bake at 375° for 6-7 minutes. (Keep an eye on them, they will brown quickly & you don’t want that!)
Cool for a minute or so on the pan, then GENTLY move them to a wire rack to finish cooling. (This is when they are at their most fragile, so be careful with them.)
Filling
On stand mixer beat together all filling ingredients until creamy.
I put in small glass dishes - not plastic, so the food coloring doesn’t stain.
I added about 6 drops of food coloring to each dish. Start with just a few drops, then add a few more until you get the color you want.
Assembly
Turn a cookie round over onto a solid surface, like the counter, & gently spread a little filling on it. Then top with another cookie round. Repeat with remaining cookies.
Notes:
This is one of my favorite recipes from my mom. I have tried MANY different GF flours & combinations without much success. But I think I finally have it figured out! I only recommend using Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour. All the others I have tried ended up with VERY fragile cookies, that just fell apart when I took them off the pan or tried to frost them!
The other ingredient that matters is the butter. I tried Kerry Gold & it really improved how well the cookies held together, even when I rolled them a bit thin. There are other high-end butters out there, so if you have one you like, use that!
When rolling out the dough, it is important not to get it too thin! If you are using regular flour, you can roll it out to 1/8 inch thickness, but with GF flour it just doesn’t hold up very well if it’s that thin.
For the filling, plain is good! These are a surprisingly rich cookie, so they don’t necessarily need anything extra. But I really like a little mint flavor. And I recommend mint extract, not peppermint, just my preference. Also, remember that most extracts contain alcohol, which may or may not contain gluten. It’s such a minute amount, so far no one in my family or friend circle has had any issues, but I try to let anyone with a gluten allergy know before they eat them. I also like the look of a little color in the filling (red or green for Christmas, blue for Hanukkah, etc)
I will be honest – these cookies are what my mom would call “fussy” – haha! But they are one of my favorites, so I think they are worth the effort. But just be aware that you have to be patient & handle them with care. And realize that there will be some casualties as it’s not uncommon to break a few when you are removing from the pan or frosting.