Festive Cookie Wreath - Cookies 'n' Cream Style

So, we're looking for the perfect cookie?

A cookie that not only tastes great, but looks even better? Then, maybe the search ends here! This rich chocolate cookie wreath has the best of all worlds, decadent cookie, sweet cookies 'n' cream filling and of course the cherry on top - making it look as good it tastes.

Is it perfect? I'll let you judge.

For the Cookie Dough you’ll need:

-1/4 of a cup of cocoa powder

-330 grams (11.64 oz) of plain flour

-1 medium egg

-200 grams (7 oz) of caster sugar

-200 grams (7 oz) of unsalted butter

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

For the Filling you’ll need:

-600ml of whipping cream

-6 of the "waste not, want not cookies" we made in step 12

-1 tablespoon of icing sugar (powdered sugar)

For the Decorations you’ll need:

-6 fresh and juicy strawberries

-4 regular size Oreos

-1 small packet of mini-Oreos

-small chocolate treats of your choice (I used Lindt chocolate balls)

-small edible flowers (I used pansies, but these are completely optional)

For this project you’ll need:

-1/4 cup measure

-sharp knives

-teaspoon measure

-scales

-stand mixer (a handheld mixer works just as great)

-food safe gloves

-cling wrap (glad wrap)

-chopping board

-silicon mat

-rolling pin

-the base of a spring form pan (yes, just the base :D)

-a small bowl

-2 round baking trays (I used pizza trays)

-large mixing bowl

-food processer

-On a medium chopping board, chop your 200 grams of unsalted butter into small cubes. Now, place your cubed butter and 200 grams of caster sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high until smooth, fluffy, and fully combined.

-Now that your butter and sugar mixture is incorporated, you need to add your egg to the bowl. Beat this on medium speed just until the egg is fully combined.

-Grab your 330 grams of all-purpose flour, ¼ of cocoa powder and your 1 tsp of baking powder, place this all in your sifter and sift into your bowl containing the butter, sugar, and egg. (Watch out for stray snowflakes - I always seem to make a mess when sifting!)

-Now that your dry ingredients are in your bowl (and you’ve cleaned up the excess flour on your bench) grab your spatula, and with a cutting motion, cut your dry ingredients into your butter, sugar and egg paste.

-Once you have formed a shaggy dough, tip your dough onto a clean part of your bench, slap on a pair of food safe gloves and with a kneading type motion, bring the dough from zero to hero.

-Once your dough is fully incorporated, form it into a thick disk and wrap it in a piece of cling film/wrap. Once your dough is wrapped up, place it in your fridge and chill for around 30 minutes or until firm.

-But first!! Before you take your beautifully chilled dough out of the fridge, preheat your oven to fan bake 180 c (356 f). Now that your dough has been chilling in the fridge and it’s nice and firm, take it out and place it on a chopping board. With a sharp knife, cut your chilled dough disk evenly in two and set one aside.

-Before you start rolling out one half of your dough, grab a silicon mat and place it down on your bench top, this will make the rolling out process easier and will help with the transferring of the dough.

-Place one half of your dough in the center of the silicon mat. Taking your rolling pin, roll out your dough to around 34 cm by 24cm and around 5 mm thick (a 5th of an inch). If you are having trouble rolling out your dough, let is sit a room temperature for around 5-10 minutes so the butter can warm up a little.

-Once your dough is rolled out, grab the base of a spring form pan (yep, just the base). Place the base in the center of your dough. With a cooking knife, cut the excess dough from around the base, and remove.

-What you are left with is a spring form pan base and your dough circle underneath it. With gentle fingers, (and the aid of a sharp kitchen knife) carefully remove the base without damaging the thin dough disk.

-Once you have successfully removed your base, you should be left with a perfectly round disk of dough. Now, grab a small round object that can fit inside your cookie disk with a comfy 5cm (2 inches) all around. I used a small bowl, but a cup or anything round will work just fine.

-Grab the round object of your choice and place it in the center of your disk. As mentioned previously, it should have about 5cm/2 inches of cookie around it. With a sharp kitchen knife, carefully cut around the outside of your object, and remove.

-Now, veeery gently remove the inner circle of cookie leaving you with one round cookie wreath.

-Now that you have removed the inner circle, rip of a piece of baking paper around the size of your silicon mat and place it on top of your disk. Now, here comes the tricky part….grabbing hold of the baking paper and the silicon mat on each side, gracefully flip over so that the silicon mat is on the top and the baking paper is on the bottom.

-Gently remove the silicon mat from the disk without damaging or ripping the cookie. If you have completed this successfully, you should be left with a cookie disk on a piece of baking paper. If so, CONGRATS!!! First one down, just one more to go!

-Place your cookie onto one of your round trays

-Finally, trim the excess baking paper from around the outside of the tray and set aside.

-Now that you have successfully completed your first half of dough, repeat steps 7-11 on your second half of dough.

-At this point in time, you should have two beautiful round unbaked cookie wreaths, and……some scraps!! Now, in this recipe every little scrap has an important role, and, in this case these scraps are going to turn this cookie wreath from good to great!!! So, collect up all your excess dough from both your cookie wreaths, and place it onto your silicon mat.

-Grab your rolling pin and roll out your excess dough so that it spreads out to around 30 cm by 20cm and 5 mm thick. Cut your edges so that your rolled out dough is a rectangle shape. The excess dough from your first rectangle should make enough for a second rectangle.

-Now, taking a sharp knife, cut your rectangle evenly into 12 squares, 3 by 4. Next make small indents in your ‘waste not want not cookies’, (I used the bottom of a handheld beater, but a toothpick, knife, or cake tester would work perfectly as well) and punch 9 indents into your cookies (to make these look really cool be sure that your indents are evenly spaced apart.)

-Now what I love about these cookies is that you can bake them just as they are, all those tears of frustration when your cookies tear are vanished and, as easy as A B C - you can slide them onto a baking tray, then along with your two cookie wreaths place your 4 trays of goodness (I had to cook my last tray of cookies later due to the lack of room in my oven) into the oven for 18 minutes or until traces of a rich dark brown creep around the edges of your cookies.

-Okay, that’s the timer blaring at me, (a sure sign the cookies are done) so, after the 18 minutes in the oven, take your 2 cookie wreaths, and 2 trays of ‘waste not want not cookies’ out of the oven and place them on heat proof mat to cool for 5 minutes, of until cool enough to handle. (Please, do me a favor and don’t burn yourself while doing this!)

-After 5 minutes, transfer all your cookies onto cooling racks for a more even cooling. (This is important so that the heat of the cookies doesn't melt the beautiful cookies & cream filling we are about to make.)

-While you are waiting ever so patiently for your ‘waste not want not cookies’ to cool, let’s move onto the filling side of things. In a large bowl, tip in your 600ml of cream and 1 tablespoon of icing sugar. With the help of a trusty hand mixer, whip your cream and icing sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside ¾ cup of whipped cream. At this stage your cookies should be cooled. (To save any tears, please wait until the cookies are fully cooled until you use them, you can place your whipped cream in the fridge, so it stays fresh).

-Once your cookies have cooled, (this is my favorite part) take a moment to break your ‘waste not want not cookies’ apart, (they should break along the lines we cut earlier). Place 6 of your cookies into the bowl of a food processer and blend until the resemble fine breadcrumbs. The remaining uncrushed cookies pair perfectly with a rich hot chocolate when you feel the need. Tip your 6 crushed cookies into the whipped cream and fold to combine.

-Now, this is when your creative license comes into play! Grab a large piping bag and fit it with a round piping nozzle (if you don’t have access to one of these, simply cut of the very end of your piping bag and that will work perfectly) place your piping bag into a tall glass and fill to the brim with your gorgeous cookies and cream filling, then cut the end off the piping bag ready for use.

-Place one of your baked cookie wreaths on a round board/tray of your choice, with a firm grip on your piping bag, start piping large pearls of your cream referring to the picture above. Now, grab a smaller piping bag and fit it with an open star tip, (I used a quite detailed tip for a more sophisticated finish) like before, place your reserved cream into the piping bag. In the gaps of filling, pipe beautiful rosettes of plain cream.

-Once you have finished the first layer, your cookie wreath should be completely coved in filling. Before adding the second layer, repeat piping the round pearls of cream and filling the gaps with the rosettes on the second wreath, this just ensures that you’re aren’t applying pressure on the bottom wreath. Now, very (and I mean veeeeeery) gently place your second wreath on top of the first. Next - step back and admire the sheer beauty of what you have just created.

-We have now come to the real decorating!! So, grab your - 1 packet of regular Oreos, fresh and juicy strawberries, 1 packet of mini Oreos, small chocolate treat of your choice and completely optional, pansies. Cut your regular Oreos, strawberries, and small chocolate treats all in half to give some variety. *Note leave 3 of your strawberries whole.

-Now, strategically place your strawberries around, place your Oreo halves in the gaps, (preferably vertically so you can see the cross section), add your chocolate treats where needed (you can always refer to my photos if need be), and in the small nooks and crannies, place your mini-Oreos, and finally…. place your pansies around for a bit of that festive colour! Grate some dark chocolate and sprinkle the magic over…and you’re DONE!!!

There you have it Ladies and Gentlemen! This festive cookie wreath is the perfect centerpiece for your table, gift, or simply a pick me up for the middle of the week. It's best enjoyed the day its decorated... so, what are you waiting for?!? Enjoy!

What I absolutely LOVE about this recipe is that it is truly so versatile!! With a few simple adjustments, you can change this cookie wreath to suit every occasion! If you want things a little spiced up, just simply replace the 1/4 cup of cocoa with 1/4 of a cup of all purpose flour, add 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon each of nutmeg and ginger. Decorate with fresh cherries, chocolate, rosemary and spices of your choice.