When I decided on Bowen's 2nd Birthday Party theme I immediately went to Pinterest and created an idea board for Food, Cake and Decor. Moon Pies popped up a few times, since I've never had a Moon Pie I decided to research them a bit before committing. I found a million recipes with a lot of variety. Some recipes called for a fluffy cake sandwich, filled with marshmallow, while others called for a graham cracker based cookie sandwich, filled with marshmallow, all the recipes completely covered the sandwich in a chocolate ganache. While I was researching I learned Moon Pies originated in the South in the early 1900s so I needed to find someone with Southern Roots to point me in a new direction.
To solve my Moon Pie base dilemma I reached out the the only Facebook Mom Group I like being a part of, my August 2015 Mom Group. I became a part of this group while using the pregnancy app The Bump when I was pregnant with Sawyer, and after we all had our babies a Facebook Group was created so we could stay in contact. The group that once was 500+ people dwindled over the years to just under 200 and we have all grown incredibly close, sharing our triumphs and failures, trials and tribulations, of motherhood and life, and being a constant virtual support for each other. I have met about 5 of the moms and their kiddos in real life and one mom's son actually goes to Pre-K with Sawyer. Regardless of if we've met or not I feel all of these women are my friends and a huge part of my Mom Tribe. Anyway, my A15 Mom Group said that the most authentic Moon Pies were made with Graham so thats what I focused on.
I think these cookies? are now one of my new favorite things to make. The end result is so satisfying, they are just as easy as my Sugar Cookies, and the Graham and Spices I added to the dough will make your kitchen smell like Home. I put the dough together while the kids were at daycare and made them with Bowie before bed while Dan and Sawyer played downstairs. Another great thing about the dough recipe is there are no raw ingredients so its totally fine if your little one eats a bit of the dough.
I watched an episode of Outlander while I put these little treats together and had a few glasses of Prosecco while I made them and fended Dan off from eating them.
Two quick things I cheated on in this recipe. I did not make my own Marshmallow, I bought Fluff. I also had a box of Graham Cracker Crumbs so I used them instead of smashing up a bunch of Graham Crackers, if you can find them use them.
Two the Moon Pies
For the Cookie
12 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Cane Syrup
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs, super fine
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Whole Milk
In a bowl, combine and mix all the dry ingredients; flour, graham, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, & salt.
Cream brown sugar, butter, and cane syrup in a mixer until smooth.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, add vanilla and milk until and mix until dough comes together.
Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Roll dough out to about 1/3 inch and cut into 3" circles (I used a juice cup).
Bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies get slightly darker in color.
Chocolate Ganache
2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate (or Chocolate Chips of your choice)
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
Using a double boiler combine Chocolate and cream and mix until melted and silky smooth.
To Assemble
Pipe a small circle of Fluff in the center of 1/2 the cookies and gently press another cookie on top to get fluff to edge of the cookie.
Dip one side of the cookie in the ganache and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Reheat Ganache and dip the other side of the cookie and chill.
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