• Cooking Time: 5 minutes
• Preparation Time: 25 minutes
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup of Pumpkin Maple Buttercream Frosting
• Chocolate candy melts

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds until pale and fluffy.
3. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and beat until combined.
4. Beat in vanilla, egg, and cream cheese, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Beat in as much flour as possible using your mixer, 1/2 cup at a time.
6. Fold in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon.
7. Divide your dough in half. *If you want to, you may wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or two, but it's not necessary. This dough is easy to work with! You can also freeze it for up to two months.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to a 1/8 inch thickness and cut into leaf shapes.
9. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper for 5-6 minutes or until edges just start to brown. *Keep an eye on them as they will burn quickly!
10. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
11. Spread 1/2 tsp. of frosting on one cookie and sandwich with another.
12. Melt candy melt according to package instructions and pipe on veins with a piping bag.

I got such cute cookie cutters in fall shapes recently and I couldn't wait to use them! I decided to use the maple leaves to make these sandwich cookies. I've made raspberry sandwich cookies for Christmas the past two years, and loved the dough so much I had to try something new with it. I swapped the mascarpone for cream cheese since it was all I had in the fridge, and it worked just as well!