Cookies!

[darkemeralds]

There's the serious stuff in life, and then there's inventing cookies.

I'm trying to invent bite-sized chocolate-filled shortbread pillows. (Why? Because I bought this silicone mold and I wanted to use it for something.) I think I'll call them "coussins ganâchés" because yes, I can totally invent French words.

I've tried sealing ground-up milk chocolate inside the dough, but it got a little burnt in baking. Then I tried Scharffen-Berger chocolate-hazelnut ganache. It held up much better to the heat, but my dough was too thin for it.




I was trying for scale here, and whoops. Failboat. That's an espresso cup and a teeny-tiny demitasse spoon, and the "coussins ganâchés (hee!) are only about an inch and a half square.

It's not like these are inedible or anything, but the goal is crisp, golden shortbread squares with the total surprise of a chocolate filling.


So...things I'll do differently next time: slightly thicker dough, slightly less filling (yes, there IS such a thing as too much chocolate). Find a way to seal them more neatly. Bake them a little longer. Make my own ganache (Scharffen-Berger's tastes of alcohol even after baking).


Round three will be whenever I recover from the chocolate OD and get the urge again.

Comments

[malanai.livejournal.com]

And now, oh darn, you have to eat the "failures."

Need help? ^_~

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Actually? Yes. These things are too rich even for me! Sadly, they're also too fragile and perishable to mail anywhere.

Hey! That should be another goal of this particular cookie: that they be sturdy enough to travel. Because they'd make a nice gift.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Considering that ganache can be eaten as-is (...in fact if I had some around it would never make it anywhere near the cookies...) perhaps the preferable approach would be to blind-bake the shells and stick them together post-baking with the ganache, thus allowing a higher shortbread:chocolate ratio?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It would be a practical solution. Miniature one-crust pies, as it were, with tiny cookie tops. Or just kind of fancy reverse Oreos. That would definitely be tasty and appealing!

But I'm bent on the complete enclosure of the chocolate within the dough. Also? The dough, even at twice the thickness I was using, is much more easily handled raw than baked.

"Nothing daunted, she tried again..."

[vampirefan.livejournal.com]

i totally want to have some of the failed cookies as well as the finished product!

i love shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate so a chocolate surprise inside the cookies? = \o/

thicker outside makes good sense so that the cookie does not break easily. maybe 1:4 ratio? also, for packing? you need to use the little cookie cups? like the things chocolates (or reces peanut butter cups) are packed in.

you can use me for packing experimentation! :)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I totally will! Finally, a way to repay you for the wonderful collection of entertainment you sent me last year.

And look! I found these (http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=2&ShopId=39&CatId=600&SubCatId=1077&productId=632601). Oh, this is going to be fun!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Okay, I ordered some candy papers and presentation boxes and a dough-rolling guide that will make everything PERFECT. I will keep you posted of my cookie-making progress.

[vampirefan.livejournal.com]

\o/

[korintomichi]

Those look scrummy!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks. They're not bad, not great. I need to learn to leave Scharffen-Berger chocolate alone, and try Valrhona or something. S-B is bitter. I don't know why I keep winding up with it.

Next batch will be PERFECT. I can feel it in my bones.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Not that I have any real idea but for crispiness, perhaps you need to bake the shortbread separately, then fill and seal the lid on with something like a very stiff icing sugar wash? (Or perhaps that's what you're doing already?)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I could make little shells separately and dollop some of the ganache into them--but then they'd just be mini chocolate tarts, kind of, and my Big Idea here is "total enclosure." I was afraid of burning the chocolate, so I underbaked the cookie-dough. I've since learned that ganache can stand up to quite a bit of heat, so the shortbread part can be made crisper.

Trial number three continues tonight.