darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
darkemeralds ([personal profile] darkemeralds) wrote2009-04-26 02:52 pm

Cookies!

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.

[identity profile] malanai.livejournal.com 2009-04-26 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
And now, oh darn, you have to eat the "failures."

Need help? ^_~

[identity profile] emeraldsedai.livejournal.com 2009-04-26 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
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.