Saturday, December 16, 2006

Cholate Mint Wafers

I'm not going to lie, these cookies are a lot of work, and very time consuming. But my oh my, are they ever worth the effort! This is a great recipe, from marthastewart.com.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup cocoa
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
Icing sugar, for dusting
1/4 cup heavy cream
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Instructions

Cream together butter and sugar until completely smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg, and continue mixing until well combined. In a small bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and flour. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, and continue mixing, until just combined. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into a small disc; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. *The dough can also be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight. Place the chilled dough on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out the cookies, and place on cookie sheets lined with silicone mats or parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. Meanwhile, make the ganache. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium-high heat. Finely chop 6 ounces of chocolate, and add to hot cream. Stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add peppermint extract. Let cool slightly, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer ganache to a pastry bag. Pipe out quarter–size amounts of chocolate, about 1 teaspoon each, onto the center of half the cooled wafers. Top with the remaining wafers. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 10 minutes. Melt remaining chocolate in the top of a double boiler over medium heat. Let cool slightly. Dip one side of the cookie sandwich to coat. Remove excess chocolate by scraping the cookie against the side of the bowl. Return to the refrigerator until chocolate is set, about 10 minutes.

No comments: