Stuffed Churro Cookies

These were pretty good cookies and they look nice when they are made. Great for slightly fancier parties. I'm going to make some changes to the original recipe because I think they could be better in very simple ways. Mainly, there needs to be more "stuff" in the "stuffed cookie" part, and it needs to have more churro flavor, so more cinnamon and sugar. 

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 box (14.1 oz) refrigerated pie crusts (set of 2), softened as directed on box
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon until well blended. Spoon mixture into a small food storage bag; cut off corner of bag; set aside. 

Unroll 1 pie crust on lightly floured work surface. Using rolling pin, roll pie crust into 12-inch round. Using 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out 20 rounds from pie crust, re-rolling scraps if needed. Start placing on cookie sheets. Repeat rolling and cutting with second pie crust, but do not place on cookie sheets.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pipe about 2 tsp cream cheese mixture in center of rounds on cookie sheets. Brush edge of rounds with beaten egg. Top each with a round from the second batch of pie crust you set aside, pressing down on outer edges with a fork to seal.

In a small bowl, mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon. Brush tops of cookies with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mix on tops of cookies. 

Bake 16-18 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. 

In a small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and oil, uncovered, on high in bursts of 30 seconds, stirring between each increment. Mixture should be stirred smooth after about 1-2 minutes. Pick up cookies by edges and carefully dip halfway into chocolate; gently shake off excess. Place cookies back on parchment paper. Refrigerate dipped cookies 20-30 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store covered in refrigerator. 

NOTES: you can see my message above about playing with the innards of the cookies. These measurements were my best guess. It could be that there needs to be even more cinnamon, but I didn't want to overdo it. Try it out and let me know what you think. 

Also, I don't have a small round cookie cutter. I have a large one. So I used a juice glass top as my cutter and it worked out well. 

Serves 20

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Recipe from Pillsbury