Chocolate Jack-o'-Lantern Sandwich Cookies

Start to finish: Active: 3 hours | Inactive: 2 hours–overnight
Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
For the chocolate cookies:
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
½ cup (42 grams) dutch-process cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup (132 grams) granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons water

For the buttercream:
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter
1 cup (113 grams) powdered sugar
2–3 tablespoons heavy cream
Orange food gel

Method
For the chocolate cookies: 
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed 2–3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in egg yolks and vanilla extract, and mix until fully combined. Add in the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. If the dough is a little dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it’s wet enough to stick together.

Shape the dough into 2 disks, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out cookie dough to ¼-inch thick. With a jack-o’-lantern cookie cutter, cut out the cookie dough (half with a face and half plain). Place cut-out dough in the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat until all the dough is cut out, chilling the scraps before rolling out again.

While the cut-out dough is chilling in the freezer, heat oven to 350 F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the cut-out dough on prepared baking sheets, and bake the cookies for about 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet. 

For the buttercream:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing between each addition. Once all the powdered sugar is added, continue mixing until completely smooth. Add 2–3 tablespoons of heavy cream to reach the desired spreadable consistency. Transfer half the buttercream to another bowl, and stir in 2–3 drops of orange food gel. 

To assemble: 
Pair the cookies up. Spread either white or orange buttercream on the bottom cookie and sandwich with the top cookie.