Patch Recipes: Sugar Heart Sandwich Cookies

From Foodnetwork.com

Cookie Dough Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

This is Alton Brown's recipe for sugar cookie dough, although you could use your own.

Filling Ingredients

• 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice
• Small red sugar hearts, for decorating
• Equipment: 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, 1 1/2-by-1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Sprinkle a work surface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Move dough frequently to prevent it from sticking and add more confectioner's sugar to the work surface and rolling pin as needed. With a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 72 dough rounds, re-rolling dough as needed. With a small heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 1 1/2-by-1-inch), cut hearts from the center of half the dough rounds. Place the rounds and cutouts about 1 inch apart on parchment -lined baking sheets. Bake until just set but not brown, about 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the pan slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, butter, confectioner's sugar, and pomegranate juice until smooth and fluffy. Spread about 1 teaspoon filling on each round cookie and top with a cut-out cookie. Place a red candy heart in the center of each. Leftover filling can be used to sandwich the small hearts together.