Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies: A Brownie-Like Treat

Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies

Warning!! These chocolate orange sandwich cookies are dangerously moreish. I made a batch on a rainy Sunday, half hoping they would last the week, and they were gone by Tuesday.

The cookies themselves are intensely chocolatey with a soft, fudge brownie style centre and just enough crisp at the edges to make each bite interesting. Then you add a rich orange chocolate cream filling, and honestly, all bets are off.

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What I love most is the texture. The crumb is tender and almost cake like, which pairs beautifully with the truffle style ganache. And if you cannot be bothered with the filling, don’t worry, it just means there are more of them. These cookies are genuinely lovely on their own.

I make mine slightly smaller than my usual cookies, so one batch yields more to go around. That makes them perfect for lunchboxes, bake sales, cookie jars, and holiday tins. They suit just about any occasion, any time of year, though they never last long in my kitchen.

Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies Recipe

This recipe makes 18 sandwich cookies. Preparation takes 15 minutes, baking takes 16 minutes, and the cookies rest for 5 minutes, for a total time of 36 minutes.

Ingredients for the cookies:

• 200 g dark chocolate, minimum 50% cocoa solids
• 100 g butter
• 2 medium eggs
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, or 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 60 g plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 80 g ground almonds

For the chocolate ganache filling:

• 200 g orange chocolate, chopped
• 200 g double cream (US: heavy cream)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5. Line two baking trays with baking paper or a silicone mat.
2. Make the cookie dough. In a small heatproof bowl, add the chopped chocolate and butter, then set it over a pan of gently simmering water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally until all the chocolate has melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it aside to cool a little.
3. In a large mixing bowl or food mixer, whisk the eggs, sugars and vanilla together until thick, pale and fluffy, at the ribbon stage. This takes roughly 3 to 4 minutes on medium high speed.
4. Keep mixing while the egg mixture is thick, then pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and mix until nice and smooth. Add the ground almonds, then sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Use a spatula to gently mix until just combined, making sure you reach all the dough at the bottom of the bowl.
5. The mix will be quite wet, so pop it in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up just a little.
6. Shape the cookies. Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop or teaspoon and place 9 cookies on each prepared tray, leaving space between them for spreading. For larger cookies, use a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop and place 6 on each tray.
7. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, ideally one tray at a time on the middle shelf. Larger cookies need 9 to 10 minutes. Once baked, you can use a round biscuit cutter to mould the cookies into a perfect round. They will be very soft, so let them cool on the trays for at least 12 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Make the ganache filling. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan, pour it over the chopped orange chocolate in a heatproof bowl and stir until smooth. Cool the filling until thick enough to pipe, then pipe some onto one cookie and sandwich it with another.

Nutrition, per cookie, from the source recipe: 282.14 kcal, 26.41 g carbohydrates, 4.24 g protein, 18.53 g fat, 2.88 g fibre, 19.51 g sugar and 58.19 mg sodium.

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• Difficulty: easy
• Yield: 18 cookies
• Total time: 36 minutes
• Texture: soft fudge brownie like centre with crisp edges
• Flavour: sweet, rich, orange and chocolaty

If you love a cookie that tastes indulgent but comes together quickly, this one checks every box. It is an easy recipe with a bakery worthy result.

INGREDIENTS

You need 11 ingredients in total for the cookies and filling, and every one of them earns its place. Here is how to choose well.

• Dark chocolate: use good quality chocolate with a minimum of 50% cocoa solids. Orange flavoured dark chocolate works beautifully here. Lindt Excellence dark orange is a lovely choice, though any smooth melting dark chocolate will do.
• Butter: the recipe uses salted butter by default, but unsalted works too. Either way, bring it to room temperature so it melts evenly with the chocolate and adds both structure and flavour.
• Eggs: use 2 medium eggs at room temperature. They give the cookies structure and richness, and they are the reason the whipped mixture puffs up so dramatically.
• Light brown sugar: this brings sweetness and structure, plus those soft caramel notes that make the crumb taste deeper than plain sugar would.
• Caster sugar: add caster, or granulated white sugar, for extra sweetness and structure. The combination of the two sugars is what gives these cookies their balanced, brownie like sweetness.

The Vanilla I Recommend

For the vanilla, I recommend Taylor & Colledge. Their extract is excellent, but their vanilla paste and vanilla pods are even better if you want real depth of flavour. A good vanilla makes itself known quietly in the background of every chocolate bite.

The remaining ingredients each play a clear role:

• Plain flour (all purpose) provides structure so the cookies hold together.
• Cocoa powder deepens the chocolate flavour and supports the structure. Dr. Oetker fine dark cocoa is a solid choice, and Sevenhills wholefoods organic cacao is a lovely option too.
• Baking powder adds volume and lightness, keeping the texture tender rather than dense.
• Ground almonds bring flavour, moisture, texture and structure. They are a big part of why these cookies stay so soft inside.
• Cream combined with the orange chocolate creates the soft, truffle like ganache that fills the sandwiches.

Don’t Skip the Salt

Make sure you add a generous pinch of fine sea salt to the biscuit dough. It should never be tasted directly as saltiness. Instead, it balances the sweetness, softens any bitterness, and enhances the other flavours like chocolate, vanilla, citrus and spices. It is the small step that makes everything else taste more like itself.

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

One of the reasons I keep coming back to this recipe is how easily it adapts. Try one of these twists the next time you bake a batch:

• Chocolate chip cookies: stir 100 g of white or dark chocolate chips into the cookie dough for extra pockets of melted chocolate.
• Nut butter filling: swap the ganache for peanut butter or another nut butter. Smooth and slightly salted works wonderfully against the sweet dough.
• Vanilla cream cheese filling: beat 50 g icing sugar with 200 g cream cheese or mascarpone and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Pipe it between two cookies for a tangy, creamy contrast.
• Coffee chocolate filling: stir 1 tsp instant espresso powder into the milk after boiling. Coffee and chocolate are old friends, and this version tastes like a mocha in cookie form.

Each variation keeps the same fudgy base, so you can rotate fillings and never get bored.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

These cookies are at their very best on the day they are baked, when the edges are still crisp and the centres are fudgy. That said, they keep well in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Be aware that they soften over time, which many cookie lovers actually prefer.

For freezing, you have two good options. Freeze the dough as unbaked balls, ready to bake straight from the freezer, or freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container. One thing I would advise against: do not freeze the cookies once they are filled with ganache. The filling does not appreciate it, and the texture suffers.

Bake a double batch of dough balls and keep them in the freezer. Fresh cookies in under 20 minutes is a genuine weeknight luxury.

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

You do not need a stand mixer for this recipe. The dough comes together perfectly well by hand with a bowl and a whisk, which is exactly why I recommend it to newer bakers. That said, a few tools do make the process smoother and more pleasant.

For the ganache, you only need to boil a small amount of cream. A 1 litre milk saucepan with double sided pouring lips is ideal for boiling small amounts of liquid like this, and the pouring lips make transferring the hot cream into your bowl far less messy.

For whisking the eggs and sugars to the ribbon stage, an electric hand whisk saves your arm. The Breville Classic Combo Stand and Hand Mixer is a favourite because it gives you both a hand mixer and a stand mixer in one, with a 3.7 litre stainless steel bowl and stand.

If you bake regularly and want to invest once, the KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer is the classic choice that will serve you for years.

Portioning is where a good scoop set really shines. A set of three trigger ice cream scoops in the following sizes covers nearly every baking job:

The small scoop is the one you want for these cookies, since the recipe calls for a 1 tablespoon portion. Finally, a 40 × 25 cm wire cooling rack gives the baked cookies plenty of room to cool completely without trapping steam underneath, which protects that crisp edge.

RECIPE TIPS

Every oven behaves a little differently, so trust your eyes more than the clock. Take the cookies out of the oven just before they look fully baked.

They may seem slightly underdone, but don’t worry, it just means the residual heat will finish setting the centres as they cool, and that is exactly what gives you a soft, fudgy result. Overbaking, on the other hand, dries the cookies out.

When they first come out of the oven, the cookies are extremely fragile. Leave them on the baking trays for at least 12 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Try to move them sooner and you will end up with cookie rubble, which I say from personal experience.

For a neat, professional finish, use a round biscuit cutter to mould the cookies into a perfect round shape while they are still warm. A gentle swirl of the cutter around each cookie smooths the edges and makes the sandwich pairs match beautifully.

Share it from your kitchen

If this recipe earns a spot in your rotation, save it to your favourites board or share it with a fellow cookie lover. Snap a photo of your sandwich cookies and pass the recipe along to friends and family. Good things deserve to travel, and these cookies rarely stay secret for long.

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Questions and kitchen notes

If you make these chocolate orange sandwich cookies, please leave a rating and tell me how they turned out in the comments. Your questions and tips help other bakers too, whether it is a clever filling idea or a note about your oven’s timing. I read every comment, and your kitchen notes genuinely make this recipe better for everyone.

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Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies

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Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies Warning!! These chocolate orange sandwich cookies are dangerously moreish.

• Total Time: 36 min
• Yield: 18 sandwich cookies 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

200 g dark chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids)
100 g butter
2 medium eggs
100 g light brown sugar
100 g caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
60 g plain flour (all-purpose)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch fine sea salt
80 g ground almonds
Chocolate ganache filling
200 g orange chocolate, chopped
200 g double cream (US: heavy cream)

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Instructions

1-Preheat the oven 170°C fan / 375°F: Preheat the oven 170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5.
2-Line two baking trays with baking paper: Line two baking trays with baking paper or a silicone mat.
3-Cookie dough: Cookie dough: In a small heatproof bowl, add the chopped chocolate and butter, then set over a pan of gently simmering water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally until all the chocolate has melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it aside to cool a little.
4-In a large mixing bowl or a: In a large mixing bowl or a food mixer, whisk the eggs, sugars, and vanilla together until thick, pale & fluffy (the ribbon stage). Approximately 3-4 minutes on medium-high speed.
5-Continue mixing after the egg mixture has: Continue mixing after the egg mixture has thickened. Pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and mix until nice and smooth. Add the ground almonds, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into the bowl. Using a spatula, gently mix until just combined, ensuring you get all the dough from the bottom of the bowl.
6-The mix will be quite wet, so: The mix will be quite wet, so place it in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up just a little.
7-Shaping: Shaping: Use a one-tablespoon cookie scoop or teaspoon and place 9 cookies onto each of the prepared baking trays. Making sure to leave space between each cookie, to allow for spreading while baking. (If you want to make larger cookies use a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop and place 6 cookies on each tray.)
8-Baking: Baking: Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes, preferably one tray at a time on the middle shelf of the oven. (If you are making larger cookies allow 9-10 minutes for baking.) Once baked, you can use a round biscuit cutter to mould the cookies into a round shape. They will be very soft so allow them to cool on the baking trays for at least 12 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9-Chocolate ganache filling: Chocolate ganache filling: Add the cream to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Place the chopped orange chocolate into a heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate, stir together until smooth. Cool the filling until thick enough to pipe and then pipe some filling onto one cookie and sandwich it together with another.

Last Step:

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• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 16 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: one cookie
• Calories: 282.14 kcal
• Sugar: 19.51 g
• Sodium: 58.19 mg
• Fat: 18.53 g
• Carbohydrates: 26.41 g
• Fiber: 2.88 g
• Protein: 4.24 g