Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Hot Chocolate Filling

Over the weekend, I started putting together little goody bags for Hayla’s classmates. Since I volunteer in her classroom once a week, I thought it would be nice to give each one of them a little something instead of harassing them with math flash cards like I usually do. And of course, Hayla is excited to be able to hand out gifts to her friends! In addition to holiday pencils and erasers, I bought individual packs of tissues for the kids to keep at their desks, considering we’re hitting cold and flu season. And of course, like any craft project I attempt, I didn’t buy enough tissues so Hayla and I had to jump in the car and head to Target for more supplies.

Tis the season to bribe children . . . fa la la la la

For the most part, I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, until it comes time to shopping with a 6-year-old girl who apparently has a secret reservoir of sugar in her tiny body. She twirled and spun down the aisles – because OF COURSE the best place to practice our ballet steps is in the middle of Target – and touched every. single. glittery. ornament. in. the. store. before I finally caved and bribed her with the opportunity to bake cookies if she promised to chill the eff out.

Thankfully, our Target has a pretty extensive grocery area, so I was able to grab a pack or two of cookie dough and we were on our way. Hayla decided on Immaculate Baking Gluten-Free Chocolate Chunk cookies, complete with “ta-da! I got what I wanted” posing.

The Immaculate Baking story is  like a lemonade stand on steroids.

I’d never really heard much about the Immaculate Baking Company before, so when we got home I Googled the company and the backstory is actually really cool. The founder, Scott Blackwell, actually paid his way through college by selling his baked goods to 28 restaurants! After college, he became an ice cream distributor and eventually moved to South Carolina where he opened his restaurant, Immaculate Consumption. He then sold his restaurant to sell fresh roasted coffee beans and cookies out of his garage. His fondness for southern local folk art could be often found donning the brown paper packaging on the goods he sold.

In 1997, Scott trekked out to a food trade show on the West Coast to hand out cookies. His apple pie cookies left a mark on Chuck Williams and within a week, Immaculate Baking had their first order with the high-end food retailer, Williams-Sonoma.

Immaculate Baking Company joined General Mills in 2012 and now offers several wholesome organic, natural, and gluten free products to choose from!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Hot Chocolate Filling

This recipe is seriously so easy, it’s really a non-recipe. First of all, the cookie part is already done. Open the package, separate the cookie dough balls and bake them according to the package directions. Boom, done.

This was my first time baking anything gluten free, so I was a little unsure that the cookies were baked all the way through at first because of how soft they felt. Let them cool completely and they’ll be sturdy and ready for the filling.

When it comes to filling a cookie sandwich, you can use almost any kind of pastry filling. Whipped cream, cream cheese, cake frosting, ice cream, pudding . . . whatever. Since we were only making a few cookie sandwiches as an afternoon bribery treat, I went with what I had in the fridge, and used equal parts whipped cream and cream cheese cake frosting. To make these cookie sandwiches hot chocolatey and delicious, stir in a tablespoon or two of instant hot chocolate and mix well until the granules have completely dissolved into the mix.

Spooning the mixture into a sandwich baggie makes piping the filling onto the cookies easy and mess-free.

To learn more about the Immaculate Baking line, which includes a variety of certified gluten-free and organic options, check out their website for recipe ideas and their product locator.

Also, make sure to download and print a coupon for $1 off any Immaculate Baking product!