Nyob Zoo all!
Here’s a fun and tasty Halloween treat to make with your friends and family. These are coconut sandwich cookies filled with ube and pandan cream cheese frosting. The coconut cookies taste like a mix between a shortbread cookie and coconut macaroons. It’s a beautiful blend of the two. The cream cheese filling is not too sweet and goes perfectly with the buttery coconut cookie. These are a chunky sandwich cookies but they are tasty and super fun to make for Halloween. Have fun with decorating these however you like and enjoy!
Main ingredients
For the cookies
- Unsalted butter: Use unsalted butter. Butter gives the cookie that rich flavor
- Cream cheese: Cream cheese is added for a subtle soft & chewy texture. It also adds flavor.
- Desiccated coconut: Gives the cookies the coconut flavor and slight chewy texture.
- Vanilla extract: Adds flavor to the cookies.
- Salt: Seasons the cookies.
- Baking powder: Helps add a little leavening to give the cookies a little volume.
- Sugar: For sweetness
Use the creaming method to mix this cookie. What is the creaming method? The creaming method is a type of mixing technique in baking. This is when softened fats like butter along with sugar are beaten together to trap tiny air bubbles to make baked goods light and fluffy when cooked. 
Use a cookie scooper to get consistent even cookies. I’m using a 0.64 Tbsp size cookie dough scooper. You can also use a 0.5 Tbsp scooper as well.
Place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 350’F oven for only 12 minutes. Let them cool before filling it.
The filling is a basic cream cheese frosting flavored with pandan flavoring and ube jam/flavoring. The filling is not too sweet. It has sublte notes of pandan and ube. I like to add ube jam for more texture and ube flavor. 
Place the frosting into bags for easier decorating. Use store bought eyes to decorate and have fun with them fill the cookies. Sandwich them together and add eyes. Happy Halloween! 🙂
Enjoy while they are fresh! 
\
Happy Baking
-Cindy Her (C.HerCreations)
Coconut Sandwich Cookies: Ube & Pandan filled
Ingredients
For the coconut cookies
- 4 oz unsalted butter (softened) [113g]
- 3/4 cup sugar [154g]
- 6 Tbsp cream cheese (room temp) [96g]
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract [5g]
- 1 cup all purpose flour [166g]
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt [2g]
- 1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut [140g]
For the cream cheese filling
- 4 oz cream cheese (room temp) [113g]
- 2 oz unsalted butter (softened) [56.5g]
- 1/2 cup powder sugar [74g]
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract [2.5g]
To flavor the filling with ube and or pandan
- 1/2 tsp pandan flavoring (adjust as you go)
- 2 Tbsp ube jam (Buenas brand)
- 1/4-1/2 tsp ube flavoring
Instructions
For the coconut cookies
- In a bowl, add in the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Whisk to incorporate and then set aside.
- In a stand mixing bowl, add in the softened butter, cream cheese, and sugar together. Using a paddle, mix on level 2 for about 2 minutes or so until light and fluffy. Scrape side with a spatula and then add in the vanilla extract. Mix again to incorporate. Then add in the dry ingredients. Mix until hydrated and then add in the coconut. Mix to until the coconut is incorporated in the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350'F. While the oven is preheating, scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Using a cookie scooper (0.5 or 0.6 Tbsp size) scoop a nice level scoop of the dough and place onto the baking sheet making sure they are spread about 1 inch apart from each other. You should get around 40-42 individual cookies (which makes 20 sandwich cookies). Once the oven is preheated, place into the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove after 12 minutes and them to completely cooled before filling.
For the cream cheese filling
- In a stand mixing bowl, place the room temp cream cheese and powder sugar in. Mix with a paddle on level 2-3 until smooth. Scrape sides and then add in the softened unsalted butter and vanilla. Mix until light a fluffy. Then divide the frosting into 2 bowls.
- In each bowl of frosting, flavor with pandan flavoring and the other with ube jam /ube flavoring. Mix well. Then transfer into piping bags. Pipe the flat surface of the cookie with the frosting and close with another cookie. Place candy eyes in the middle and enjoy!
