So Lily and I didn’t win the Parent-Child Cookie Contest at the Topsfield Fair…………but these are darn good!

We really did try!  Here is the cookie recipe that I gave you a couple of weeks ago but with a filling added to make it a sandwich cookie!  They are so good but didn’t bring home a ribbon.  Oh well….Like I tell Lily, you win some, you lose more but you will never win if you don’t try!  I hope you enjoy these and please let me know what you think.

This was our presentation plate for the judges:

Fruity Fall Flavors Cinnamon Sandwich Cookies

For the filling:

4 tablespoons cinnamon chips
½ teaspoon vegetable shortening
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons dulce de leche*

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine chips and shortening.  Microwave on high power for one minute and stir until smooth.  In a medium bowl beat together cream cheese and dulce de leche until blended.  Beat in melted cinnamon chips until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the cookies:

1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
7 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
7 tablespoons butter flavored shortening (you can use all butter but the cookies will be flatter and that’s 0k)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries
½ cup dried apples, diced
2/3 cup cinnamon chips**
2 ½ cups old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla extract until well combined.  With mixer running on low speed, slowly incorporate flour mixture.  Mix in cranberries, apples, cinnamon chips and oats and beat again until just combined.

Scoop by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a tiny ice cream scoop if you have one so they call come out round and the same size and cook at the same time) on to prepared baking sheet, 12 to a sheet. Bake for 9 minutes cookies are slightly browned on the bottom.   Remove from oven and allow to cool on parchment.

To assemble, spread two teaspoons prepared filling on the bottom side of one cookie.  Top with another cookie, bottom side down.  Repeat with remaining cookies and enjoy!

*this can be found in a small can in the international food section with the other milk products, it is made by Nestle and is called “La Lechera.”  Look at the photo below.  The cans on the left side are sweetened condensed milk, the cans on the right side are what you want.  It is a very thick brown caramel in a can about the size of sweetened condensed milk.  I found it in the new Market Basket in Gloucester in the section with the Goya foods.   This is what it looks like:

**They still don’t have these in at the new Market Basket–ask the manager to get them next time you are there–if we all keep asking, I bet they will stock them.  In a pinch, you can use butterscotch chips and add some cinnamon, about a teaspoon, to the dry ingredients