Every year at work, sometime during the week after Easter, we have a Chocolate Festival. My friend Alyson and I started it several years ago when we were working together and had both given up chocolate for Lent. The festival was a compelling reward and has become a tradition at the Museum. (Except for one year when a grumpy employee complained that we were creating a religious event at work. It's about CHOCOLATE! Who could complain about that?) How does it work? Everyone brings something chocolate. At an appointed time, we get together and pig out. Simple.
This year, I gave up all sweets for Lent--in an effort to prove unbearably intense willpower, I suppose. I'll admit that it was hard, but we've had a fun time creating non-sweet endings to meals with fruit and cheese. Today though, I was very happy to have some chocolate (Actually, last night at 12:01 a.m., I was very happy to have some chocolate and started with some bittersweet Lindt that my friend Susan had sent me, chocolate covered graham crackers and chocolate covered hazelnut wafers.) and wanted to make something special for the festival. After consider several options, I created this recipe for Super-Chocolate Stars.
I started with crisp, chocolatey roll-out cookies. I then made sandwiches with a chocolate-hazlenut filling. As if that wasn't enough, I dipped the sandwiches in bittersweet chocolate. Over the top? Of course. Although not difficult, it does have multiple steps, but I'm sure you're find the effort worth your while. One taster described the cookies as "the bomb."
Recipe: Super-Chocolate Stars
Chocolate Cut-out Cookies:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. corn starch
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter
1 1/4 sifted powdered sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and cornstarch. Stir with a whisk to mix and aerate.
2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
3. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in small batches until combined. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. On wax paper, roll out both portions of dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. (Mom got me this great rolling pin for X-mas, which makes rolling out dough evenly a total snap.) Place the sheets of dough in the freezer for 15 minutes. (This is the secret to crisp-edge cookies that are easy to get onto the cookie sheet.)
6. Remove one sheet from the freezer and cut into small shapes. I used stars, but any shape about one inch in diameter would work. Bake about 8 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and scraps until all is used.
Chocolate Hazlenut Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate-hazlenut spread (like Nutella)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
4-6 tbsp. milk
In a large bowl, with a handmixer on low, combine the chocolate-hazlenut spread with vanilla and sugar. Add about four tablespoons of milk and continue to mix, adding milk until you reach a spreadable consistancy. Resist the urge to eat the mixture directly from the bowl until after the cookies are assembled.
Males about 1 1/2 cups of filling. Easily doubled. Or tripled.
To assemble:
Place the filling in a pastry bag and cut the tip to a small size. Fill one cookie and top with a second cookie. Repeat until all cookies are filled. Place the cookies on a plate and chill in the refrigerator until they are set, about one hour.
Melt 1 lb. of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. I have a thrift-store fine from the 70s, an electric fondue pot, which is perfect for melting chocolate, so that's what I use. Drop one cookie in the chocolate, turn with a fork to make sure it is completely coated, lift out with the fork and the let extra chocolate drip off. Place on a wax paper on a cookie sheet. After all are dipped, place in the refrigerator to chill. Share with your friends, or eat them all yourself.
Mangez!
This year, I gave up all sweets for Lent--in an effort to prove unbearably intense willpower, I suppose. I'll admit that it was hard, but we've had a fun time creating non-sweet endings to meals with fruit and cheese. Today though, I was very happy to have some chocolate (Actually, last night at 12:01 a.m., I was very happy to have some chocolate and started with some bittersweet Lindt that my friend Susan had sent me, chocolate covered graham crackers and chocolate covered hazelnut wafers.) and wanted to make something special for the festival. After consider several options, I created this recipe for Super-Chocolate Stars.
I started with crisp, chocolatey roll-out cookies. I then made sandwiches with a chocolate-hazlenut filling. As if that wasn't enough, I dipped the sandwiches in bittersweet chocolate. Over the top? Of course. Although not difficult, it does have multiple steps, but I'm sure you're find the effort worth your while. One taster described the cookies as "the bomb."
Recipe: Super-Chocolate Stars
Chocolate Cut-out Cookies:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. corn starch
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter
1 1/4 sifted powdered sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and cornstarch. Stir with a whisk to mix and aerate.
2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
3. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in small batches until combined. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. On wax paper, roll out both portions of dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. (Mom got me this great rolling pin for X-mas, which makes rolling out dough evenly a total snap.) Place the sheets of dough in the freezer for 15 minutes. (This is the secret to crisp-edge cookies that are easy to get onto the cookie sheet.)
6. Remove one sheet from the freezer and cut into small shapes. I used stars, but any shape about one inch in diameter would work. Bake about 8 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and scraps until all is used.
Chocolate Hazlenut Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate-hazlenut spread (like Nutella)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
4-6 tbsp. milk
In a large bowl, with a handmixer on low, combine the chocolate-hazlenut spread with vanilla and sugar. Add about four tablespoons of milk and continue to mix, adding milk until you reach a spreadable consistancy. Resist the urge to eat the mixture directly from the bowl until after the cookies are assembled.
Males about 1 1/2 cups of filling. Easily doubled. Or tripled.
To assemble:
Place the filling in a pastry bag and cut the tip to a small size. Fill one cookie and top with a second cookie. Repeat until all cookies are filled. Place the cookies on a plate and chill in the refrigerator until they are set, about one hour.
Melt 1 lb. of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. I have a thrift-store fine from the 70s, an electric fondue pot, which is perfect for melting chocolate, so that's what I use. Drop one cookie in the chocolate, turn with a fork to make sure it is completely coated, lift out with the fork and the let extra chocolate drip off. Place on a wax paper on a cookie sheet. After all are dipped, place in the refrigerator to chill. Share with your friends, or eat them all yourself.
Mangez!