A holiday twist on a classic Amish cookie
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Arrange a baking sheet liner or parchment paper on your baking sheet.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla extract. Set both aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, shortening and egg. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and the milk mixture, alternating back and forth between the two, beating until the batter is well combined and smooth.
Scoop the batter out into mounds on your prepared baking sheets, using a scant 1/4 cup for each mound and making sure to leave a couple inches in-between. Smooth or round out the mounds, making them as symmetrical as possible.
Bake for 15 minutes. The cakes should be slightly firm to the touch when done. Remove them from the oven and allow the cakes to cool on their baking sheets for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
In a saucepan, combine flour and salt. Gradually whisk in milk until smooth; cook and stir over medium-high heat until thick, 5-7 minutes. You're looking for 'thicker than gravy but not ball-forming'
Remove from heat. Cover and refrigerate until completely cool.
In a mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar, vanilla, and peppermint oil. Add chilled milk mixture; beat for 7 minutes or until fluffy.
*A lot of time my dad would add a couple spoonfuls of marshmallow cream to the filling. I didn't when I made these because I didn't have it, but if you wanted to add it, just cut back on the powdered sugar and throw in a few spoonfuls of marshmallow cream!
Pair each cookies with a similar size cookie and spoon the cream filling onto the flat side of the cookie. Top the dollop of cream with the other cookie, and press down to push the cream to the edges.
Roll the cookie in crushed candy cane for an added touch!
You can also add a bit of crushed candy cane inside the cookie for a bit of crunch.
NOTE: Don't add the crushed candy cane until you're ready to serve.
To store, wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
I used the recipe from The Floating Kitchen for the cookie part and slightly adapted the recipe from Taste of Home to make the cream filling - which is a closer representation of how my dad used to make the cookies and how I remember them.