Cream Wafer Sandwich Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream

Instructions

1. For the cream wafer cookies: In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix flour, butter, and whipping cream until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F. Add sugar to a separate small bowl and set aside.
3. Take about one-third of the cookie dough out of the refrigerator, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/8" to 3/16" thickness. Cut into hearts or circles with a cookie cutter that is about 1½" wide. Work swiftly, as the dough softens quickly as it warms. With a thin metal spatula, transfer dough wafers to the sugar, turning them over so that sugar adheres to each side - the dough will be tender. Then place dough wafers on an ungreased cookie sheet, about 1" apart.
4. Prick each dough wafer with a fork about 4 times. Repeat with the rest of the dough, rerolling scraps as needed. After rerolling the dough more than once, the dough will start to lose its shape faster when rolled out and baked, so try to get as many cut-outs as possible out of each initial rolling.
5. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, or just until set - do not let them brown. Let cool a bit on the pan to set, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. For the strawberry buttercream filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and strawberry extract, and beat until smooth and fluffy again, another minute or two. Add a little bit of pink/red food coloring, and mix to combine.
7. To assemble the cream wafer cookies: Add strawberry buttercream filling to a piping bag fitted with a medium plain tip - or just cut off the end of the piping bag, omit the tip. Pipe a single layer of buttercream onto the back side of one cookie. Top with another cookie and press gently to secure. (If you don't want to use piping bags, you can spoon the filling onto the cookie. This gives a more casual appearance.)