Zucchini Nut Sandwich Cookies

Since no meal is complete without a little something sweet (life lessons from my Grandma!), we had Zucchini Nut (open face) Sandwich Cookies for dessert at the Women’s Retreat on Saturday.

I’m a big fan of these cookies.  They’re kind of like an oatmeal cookie, with cinnamon and oats.  They’re chewy, nutty and delicious.  Then you top them with a cream cheese frosting and it’s like magic.  Super delicious.  They’re called sandwich cookies because you’re supposed to put the frosting in between two cookies, but that can be a lot of cookie (which isn’t a problem in my opinion).  Since we were focusing on “Women’s Body Wisdom” at the retreat and we had a visit from a personal trainer, we decided to keep the cookies “open-face” so they could have a taste but didn’t have to commit to two cookies.

This is also my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe, I experimented until I got the cream cheese to butter to sugar proportion just right.  It’s just sweet enough and still has that delicious slightly tangy flavor from the cream cheese.  I use this for any recipe that calls for cream cheese frosting.  Sometimes I might add a little lemon zest instead of cinnamon.

However you want to eat them, they sure are tasty!

Zucchini Nut Sandwich Cookies

Makes 12 sandwiches (24 cookies)

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living magazine

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 scant cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini, squeeze extra liquid out (1 medium size zucchini)
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Beat butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

Mix in flour mixture into the butter until just combined.  Stir in zucchini, oats and walnuts.  Refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Scoop dough onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake until edges are golden, about 15 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.

While the cookies cool make the cream cheese frosting.

Lauren’s Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese (reduced fat is fine), room temperature
• 3 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powder sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

Cream the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Slowly add sugar until well blended, then beat in the vanilla and cinnamon, if using.

Scoop frosting into a ziploc bag (or piping bag) and cut the tip off to “pipe” the frosting onto your cookies.