Oreo Double Stuffed cookies, you have nothing on these. They are triple-stuffed and full of fluff and puff.
Have you ever made something and wished you could have a “do-over” on the recipe? Anywhere from that was totally horrible to that was decent but I’m not completely satisfied? I think we’ve all been there.
Most recently for me, it started with these Mango and White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Don’t get me wrong, the taste is excellent, and they are really soft and chewy. One woman wrote in to say she’s made them multiple times for a firehouse and they’ve been a huge hit and apparently have made some fireman’s days.
But I was never completely satisfied with their lack of thickness.
I am not a fan of thin cookies. Texture and thickness is just as important as taste.
When Frigidaire asked me if I’d like to try my hand at a culinary do-over, I knew just the recipe I wanted to choose and it was the thin mango cookies.
The results of my do-over and resulting cookies are anything but thin and flimsy. Oh, contraire. You need may need a forklift to get one up to your mouth.
I made changes by turning the mango cookies into apricot cookies, added butterscotch chips in addition to white chocolate chips, and played with recipe for the dough.
I also stuffed them with an uber-decadent peanut butter buttercream and made sandwich cookies. But we have to make dough and make cookies before we can make frosting. My mind always wanders to frosting, too.
For the dough, I loosely followed the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies but made a very important right-hand turn.
Their recipe calls for melting the butter; but unless I am adding oats or peanut butter to cookie dough, I find that melted butter results in thinner cookies. Instead, I creamed the butter, sugar, and eggs, which is a proven gold standard for thicker cookies.
Also, that recipe does not call for chilling the dough. However, the single most important step I believe one can make in cookie-making is chilling the dough for at least an hour, up to about 5 days. I let this dough chill about 36 hours.
I made the dough, put it in a mixing bowl with a lid, parked it in the refrigerator and forgot about it for a few days.
When it was time to make cookies, I used my $3.99 cookie scoop and made 1-inch diameter mounds. The Cooks Illustrated recipe advocates bigger cookies, at least one-quarter cup of dough per cookie, but I have better results when I keep the dough portion smaller.
My cookie scoop and my Silpat liners have transformed the way I bake. It’s like trying to train for a marathon without proper shoes. Don’t do it. Cookies spread less on Silpats because the cookie can “grip” the mat rather than slipping around a non-stick baking sheet doing the slip ‘n slide, or the slip ‘n spread out in a hot oven. The mat gives them traction.
I like knowing that when I use a scoop, cookies will all turn out the same size and thickness, which is important if you just want them to look pretty.
And it’s also important if you want to make sandwiches with them and easily pair the halves.
And here we have our sandwich filling known as peanut butter buttercream frosting, which is made with butter, peanut butter, and sugar. Diet food.
I got a little carried away in how thick I applied the frosting. But as I’ve always said, I like a little food with my condiments and a little cake with my frosting.
In this case, I like a little cookie with my sandwich filling and didn’t make all of them quite as well-stuffed as I did for the ones that made the photo session.
The cookies turned out just the right thickness even before they were made into sandwich cookies.
The sandwich-making was a happy afterthought and worth every jawbone-stretching chew.
I love mango anything but I also adore apricots and they added sweetness, moisture, and such a lovely fragrance to the cookies.
Apricots, butterscotch, and with white chocolate worked really well together.
And everything in my book works well with peanut butter and frosting.
I am now 100% satisfied with my “mango cookie recipe” that’s been elevated, literally.
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Apricot Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter-Filled Sandwich Cookies
Makes 36 small cookies, 18 sandwiches
3/4 cup butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional
2/3 cup dried apricots, diced (about 25 whole dried apricots)
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and sugars and cream for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping at least once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg plus yolk and beat for 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until blended. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined. Add the apricots, baking chips, and mix for a couple seconds until incorporated or fold in by hand. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap or transfer dough into an airtight container and refrigerate dough for at least one hour, overnight, or up to three days.
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheets or spray baking sheets with cooking spray. Form 1-inch diameter balls using a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon, spacing cookies at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 9 minutes or until edges near the base are just turning golden and tops are just barely setting, taking care not to overbake. Note: these cookies are pale, even when done. While baking at 9 minutes, they will look almost raw and very pale on the tops. Check the edges carefully near the base of the cookie for signs of browning and don’t just by the base, not the tops. Pull them from the oven by 10 minutes, 11 minutes maximum. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for at least 15 minutes before moving them.
Serve immediately or make frosting while cookies cool. Extra cookies will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
Makes about 4 cups
6 tablespoons butter, softened (3/4 of one stick)
6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus extra if needed
1 tablespoon cream or milk, plus extra if needed
To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and peanut butter and cream for 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high speed, stopping at least once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar and beat for 3 minutes, or until sugar has incorporated and mixture is thick and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. If you desire very thick frosting, stop now – you’re done.
Tip: Use caution when turning on your mixer after adding the sugar because you don’t want your kitchen wearing it. Start slowly and ramp up the mixer speed to medium-high.
For slightly thinner, but still very fluffy frosting, add 1 tablespoon cream and beat for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, beating for 1 minute or until smooth. Evaluate thickness and play with cream and sugar ratios based on desired result. Frosting will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Spread a generous layer of frosting in between two cookies. Store cookies that have frosted in the refrigerator or frost them as you go and they’re needed because frosting should be kept refrigerated.
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Related Recipes:
Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies – I adapted the Cooks Illustrated recipe and although the butter is melted rather than creamed. because of the peanut butter and oatmeal, the dough can handle the melted butter without spreading. These are some of my favorite cookies of all-time, period.
White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies – for the white chocolate fans
Puffy Vanilla and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies – I used shortening rather than butter in these cookies and boy did they puff up. However, shortening lacks the flavor of butter and I just love butter in cookies. I could always try butter-flavored shortening.
All Mango Recipes
Do you have any recipes you’d like a do-over on?
Have you re-made it or just forgotten about it and moved on? Did things improve the next time around if you re-attempted it?
Sometimes I am stumped what to do to rectify a failed recipe; I don’t even know where to begin. It’s especially disheartening when I follow someone else’s recipe to a T and they had success, but I didn’t.
Other times, results can be such a disaster that wild horses could not bring me back to the scene of the crime to attempt the recipe again.
Other times I just don’t care that much and use the other fish in the sea tactic. So many new things to make; why re-make something that didn’t work.
Other times I am driven to make it again. It’s my obsession until I get it right, make it successful, and I really research it and think about it so that I don’t end up back at square one again.
Any amazing cookie or sandwich cookie recipes you’ve tried lately?
Link them up
This post was sponsored by Frigidaire. When you share your own do-over moment at Facebook.com/Frigidaire, Frigidaire will donate $1 to Save the Children’s U.S. programs. Plus, Frigidaire will help cover the costs for one lucky visitor to win the ultimate do-over.
These looks scrumptious! Yum.
I am sure I have plenty of recipes I would like to do over but can’t think of any off hand. I did make someone else’s curry chicken soup recipe the other day, and I think it was missing something. I would like to make it again but make a few changes that I think would make it a lot better including adding coconut milk.
Coconut milk makes everything better!
I am totally with you on chilling the dough! Although I haven’t gotten a silpat yet…you have me convinced that I need one for sure!!! I absolutely love how much frosting you filled the cookies with!! A girl after my own heart:-)
For $20 bucks it will CHANGE your baking life! $19.83 well spent
http://astore.amazon.com/lovvegyogruna-20/detail/B00481AEJO
Oh my goodness, I would have never thought about this combination of ingredients, but I think I’m in love. This sounds great!
Yum! I am addicted to peanut butter so these recipes are very tempting! Beautiful pics too!
what a pb treat! i think the pb baked doughnuts will be the first thing i try!
As to your “shortening/butter” comment, my mom swears by half shortening and half butter. She says that combination makes the best cookies. Like you, I love thick, soft, and chewy cookies. The last time I made chocolate chip cookies, I used Picky Palate’s recipe, and used half shortening and half butter, they came out PERFECT! I highly recommend it. The butter flavored shortening is a good idea too though, I’ll have to give that a try. By the way, these cookies look great! You always use such interesting combinations. I’m craving that buttercream!
yummy that looks delicious! and so creative :)
These look amazing, Averie! I love the pb buttercream. I bet it is amazing paired with the apricots! You know how I feel about the CI recipe too. It’s just too perfect for words!
WHY HAVE I NEVER BAKED COOKIES WITH APRICOTS??????
I hadn’t either and I have no idea what I was waiting for!
Averie- how great of you to re-do your cookies and succeed! These indeed look thick, fluffy and perfect.
I have made that Cooks Illustrated recipe before, and though I normally use the melted butter and don’t always chill the dough, I think I’ll try your suggestions next time to make them even thicker!
I think you will LOVE the results of the creamed butter and chilling the dough. The other way is “fine” but I get even more wow when I do those simple swaps. LMK if you try the C.I. recipe that way how it goes for you!
The perfectionist in me can certainly relate! I remake recipes more often than I would like. These cookies sound like perfection!
Hi Averie. I have had plenty of recipes that I would like a do-over on. I usually don’t post those recipes though. I recently tried to make this calzone from Giada and it was terrible. The filling spilled all over the oven and I had myself one nasty mess to clean up. I’m not attempting that recipe ever again. I also tried this s’more brownie recipe once that looked amazing and it turned out terrible. It had no flavor and tasted liked dried cardboard. I followed the instructions to a “T ” and was stumped at what went wrong. Those recipes I do not bother to try again because they are discouraging. I also want recipes that the “everyday” baker or mom can make in their kitchen, so I don’t want too complicated of recipes.
I love the cooks illustrated chocolate chip cookies so much that they are posted as one of my favorite recipes. They come out pretty thick for me, so maybe it’s my oven or the fact that I bake them one sheet at a time? Hmmmm. It’s strange with baking because everyone’s cookies or cakes come out differently based on so many variables. I do stuff those cookies with plenty of dark chocolate chips so maybe they don’t flatten as much because those chips are holding them up!
Your cookies looked great the first time and they look great the 2nd time as well. I sometimes like a flat and crunchy cookie and other times I want a thick and chewy cookie. Now you have 2 different recipe variations to go with, which is always a bonus! You are the baker queen and I can’t wait to see your first cookbook, because I do know that it’s going to happen for you.
xoxo,
Jackie
What an awesome comment; you just brought a huge smile to my face! Thank you my friend :)
As for recipe flops; I don’t blog about them (those mango cookies were so borderline and I almost didn’t post them but in retrospect glad I did because they gave me this opportunity with a tell-tale post, pics, etc. for basis of comparison but normally I wouldn’t put something up that isn’t 100% as good as I think it can be when it comes to baking). The worst is when you follow a published cookbook recipe and you KNOW you did it right and it just simply doesn’t work; or it “works” but the taste is just so blah.
And with baking, as you said oven times & temps are variable, as is how folks mix the dough (with a stand mixer or not), chilling it, etc. and that’s why it’s important to really be so precise in writing directions if Susie Q wants her cookies to look just like my cookies or mine to look like hers.
I could go on and on :) Have a super week!!
Your cookie looks wonderful, especially the filling!! I think I could just eat the filling by the spoonful!!
With your love of PB, I know you & a spoon would get along well with the filling :)
I love apricots! I will have to give these a try! Did you go to Blogher food? how are you?
Super good with the apricots and no, didn’t go to BlogHer. So busy and didn’t want to pop for tickets $$
These just caught my eye on FG and then I looked up in the corner and saw they were yours (should’ve known ;)) You had me with the buttercream stuffing. It’s my weakness :)
Weirdest thing ever. Ok so 1 minute before this comment of yours came in, 7:38 pm my time (your comment came in at 7:39pm), I got a notification from FG that they “accepted other image”. Great. Usually that means in a few hours it will go up on their evening round of publication. It’s about noon and about 10-11pm that they do them, local time for me. Then I get this comment from you, saying you already saw them on FG??! But they’re not up yet, not for me. And now, it’s almost 3 hrs later local time for me 10:28pm and I still have a “pending” accept from them. It will go live I’m sure in the next half hour. Now I wonder if they have east coast and west coast versions of their site? If so…that’s mind-boggling to me!
haha, you’re not losing your mind, don’t worry. It’s me. I totally meant Tasteologie, not FG. I had just submitted to FG while writing this comment and got my sites all mixed up!
Whew. I was seriously thinking about this all.night.long. Wondering if they had two versions of their site based on time zones but then I was like, no, there’s no way. But the timing of your comment was 1 min apart from my auto-notification from them so I was like well maybe? Good to know it was T.O. instead :)
These sound so tasty!! Love this idea!
These look so delish, I just love apricots especially in baking when they get soft and so sweet yum. I am eating oatmeal with pb and apricot jam right now (for dinner)! I will be making these for my mum, she loves apricots too, and white chocolate! I have to say, it’s great you include all these baking details and “background info”, because I love to cook and bake as well, but while cooking I can do off the cuff, baking it has to be a recipe or its a mess! I would love to know more about the science behind it so I find all your info so interesting.. a behind the scenes look at recipe developing. Love it :)
Apricot jam is the best! My mom used to can it and I love it. LMK how the cookies turn out for you and how your mom likes them. I love sharing the baking tips I’ve learned b/c it’s the small things ike chilling the dough or using a Silpat that can make a huge difference I think.
I always loved apricot jam with PB so these totally work for me! The frosting is to die for–I really don’t know if I can trust myself with a batch of that. My biggest recipe flop was a curry I tried to make. The recipe called for curry paste and even though I cut down the amount a little, that soup was HOT. Neither one of us could handle it–just heat and pain.
Make a half batch then :) Also it refrigerates and keeps very well. Tuck a tub of it away on hand in the back of your fridge for “one of those days” days.
Guuurrrrl, you have cookie-making down to a science! I’m super amazed at all the wonderful tips. I’ve been trying to perfect my chocolate chip cookie recipe for about 2 years and I’ve taken a couple things away from this post. I really wanna get one of those cookie mats, too! Love it and already love these cookies ;) Yum! Oh, and PS – I got the cheese crackers from the giveaway and they’re great! We had a mini wine + cheese tasting this weekend, so I thank you ;)
As I just told another commenter, I like sharing the baking tips I’ve learned b/c it’s the small things ike chilling the dough or using a Silpat that can make a huge difference I think. Use this *exact* dough recipe and put chocolate chips in, about 1 cup or 1.5 cups. Do everything as I wrote and you will have (my tweaked up) version of the Cooks Illustrated recipe and I think you will love them! Glad you had a wine and cheese party! Wish I could have come :)
Averie I *adore* your photography! These pictures make me want to reach through the screen and eat a cookie sandwich right now. and I love the flavor combination :-)
Nicest thing you could ever say…thank you so much! I try hard and some photo shoots work out, some don’t…but I try! :)
These look so satisfyingly thick and chewy – gorgeous!
Your warm quinoa salad looks delish too!
I LOVE thick filling.
I mean if you’re going to make a nice filling go for all the good stuff.
Love the apricots too!
Wowza– that is some THICK filling!!! Looks freakin’ amazing. Ryan and I are trying to stay away from sugar for the next few weeks, and I basically don’t need to look at ANY of your pictures, ha!!
Lol. Well I hope it goes well for you two!
Wow, these look incredible. So glad you decided to give the cookies another shot. I’m with you – I am not a thin cookie girl at all. They must be thick like these! Love all the flavors you combined here.
Thin is almost pointless to eat. The only thing “thin” I like is thin-crust pizza. Otherwise, a chewy mouthful is preferred!
The apricots are such a fun twist in these cookies!! it makes them healthy right ?! ;)
Yes, absolutely :) I actually think you’d like these cookies (sans the frosting). They aren’t super sweet and the fruit is really nice but I know you’re not a sweets person in general.
This is one flavor combo I’ve never seen or tried my hand at before! Apricot, butterscotch, white choc…wow, I’m in love.
I wanted to do something that *I had never seen* before, too! :) I had to one-up my old recipe. You’d love these with the white choc and with all the dried fruit you use in your baking, I bet these would be a hit for you.
oh my gosh….those are INCREDIBLE! I would never think of combining those flavors, but it sounds DELICIOUS!! thanks for sharing! I’m glad you got to “do-over” your recipe — what an amazing treat!
Thanks Caralyn and yes, the do-over prompted me to make this work :)
AVERIE! I loved EVERYTHING about reading this post. Your pictures are stunning… my unphotogenic silpat could never look as beautiful as yours… ;)
I am SO glad that this recipe turned out so well. When you told me you were remaking it, I had NO idea to expect butterscotch + peanut butter to make an appearance. The flavor combination in these cookies is outrageous and incredible. I am, without a doubt, making these VERY soon. Like this week probably. I cannot wait to taste them. I am so glad that you are right there with me for not melting the butter and CHILLING the dough. I’ll have to try chilling my dough for longer than a couple hours next time. I am so bad at thinking ahead to do that though. :)
PS: I LOVE your green and blue dishes! Colorful dishes make me happy!
PPS: my silpat has saved my life as well. gift from the gods!
Loved our emails about…dough :) Only another baker could get into dough quite that much, or Alton Brown :)
And yes, I couldn’t just re-make it as-is. I had to doctor up even my own recipe..ha!
Those dishes were from the Anthropologie sale I went to a couple weeks ago. I have already used them TONS. They had precisely 3 of them (I think they were a return from someone because the orig price tags were scratched off and handwritten) and I snatched them all up.
Can’t wait to see if you do make these and yes, you can even premake the dough a day or two ahead of time, chill it, forget about it, and when you have time, bake it off.
I’m sooooo bad about following recipes period so if it goes wrong it’s pretty much my own fault. But there have been a few times when I followed a recipe and was totally not as wowed as everyone else seemed to be or the flavors just seemed way off or even bland. Usually if it flops, I move along to something else.
I usually move on, too…and i am soooo with you about not being able to follow a recipe but recently, I did and was far less than wow’ed. That’s when I kick myself even more..like the dough isn’t looking right here or this seems too thick there, or whatever, and then I don’t tweak it, but just follow the recipe and end up with less than stellar results. Not a fan. At all.
Just entered the ‘do over moment’ at frigidaire, great cause Averie. Thanks for letting us know about it!
Yay, glad you entered!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recipe on your blog that didn’t look absolutely delicious. These look incredible. A friend sent me some cookies for my birthday (from Canada to England!) and they were white chocolate apricot and totally amazing. I bet they’re great with butterscotch… mmm! And peanut butter frosting…!
You are too kind, thank you, Sam! :)