Dark Chocolate-covered, Vanilla Bean Cream-filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

(…tried to think of a catchy name for them, but did not succeed… maybe you could help?)I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t drooling excited when Kristen announced the ingredients for the August Improv Challenge:

I had pinned this recipe for gluten-free Thin Mints some time ago & I figured it would make an excellent base for my cookie. (I do realize oatmeal is not OK for all GF eaters. I’m going to try this recipe again without grains.) After I ground some oatmeal (yep – didn’t have time to run to the store for some Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal Flour…)and sifted it, this is how I made the cookie:When I got to thinking about a nice, creamy vanilla filling; I somewhat shuddered at the thought of the traditional shortening/sugar fluff. Then I remembered seeing some glorious recipes for vanilla bean cream cheese – A-HAH! Perfect!I wanted to taste vanilla and cream cheese, so I used Stevia in place of honey or powdered sugar. Being sweet-deprived relatively sugar-free this was perfect for me! Here’s what I mixed:

After “sandwiching” the cookies, I made sure they were well-chilled then I dipped them in about a pound of dark chocolate melted with almost a tablespoon of coconut oil.Living in the desert (where summer’s still going strong) one has to decide whether to snap pictures of chocolates with a little refrigerator bloom on them, or melty fingerprints…But, despite their appearance, these little cookies were absolute nuggets of joy! The sweetness of the dark chocolate coating made up for the lack of sugar in the cookie & filling. I loved the slightest tangy flavor of the vanilla-ed  cream cheese.YUM!

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