Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book - Bruce Weinstein [37]
MAKES ABOUT 2 DOZEN SANDWICH COOKIES
FOR THE COOKIES
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
21/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated (see Chocolate Grater, page 15)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cool, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (4 ounces)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE FILLING
3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Nutella, or other hazelnut-chocolate spread
1. Position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the flour, grated chocolate, and salt in a medium bowl until uniform. Set aside, preferably out of the kitchen heat.
2. Place the hazelnuts on a large, lipped baking sheet, then toast them in the top third of the oven for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant, stirring occasionally. Cool the nuts on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then pour them into a clean kitchen towel. Gather the towel up and rub gently, thereby removing the hazelnuts’ papery hulls. Place the hulled hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade and pulse on and off until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.
3. Soften the butter and shortening by placing them in a large bowl and beating with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and continue beating until fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in the ground hazelnuts, then the vanilla. Turn off the beaters, add the flour mixture, and beat at very low speed just until a dry dough forms.
4. Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with flour, then turn the dough out onto it. Knead two or three times. Don’t press down—you want the dough to come together, but you don’t want the chocolate to melt. Divide the dough in half.
5. Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface, place one of the halves of dough at its center, then cover with a second large sheet of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a circle about 12 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap, then cut the dough into 21/2-inch circles, using a cookie cutter or the lip of a similarly sized drinking glass. Use a metal spatula to transfer these circles to two large, ungreased cookie sheets, preferably nonstick, spacing the disks about 1 inch apart. The disks are fragile, so handle them as little as possible. Repeat this rolling and cutting process with the other half of the dough, either on two more baking sheets while the first cookies bake or filling out the first two baking sheets with more disks, space permitting. You can also reroll any dough scraps, if desired.
6. Bake for 6 minutes, then reverse the sheets back to front and top to bottom. Continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned and firm to the touch. Cool for 1 minute on the baking sheets, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cool the sheets for 5 minutes before baking additional batches.
7. When the cookies are cooled, make the filling by placing the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over about 1 inch of simmering water, or in a medium bowl that fits securely over a medium saucepan with about the same amount of simmering water. Stir until half the chocolate has melted, then remove the double boiler’s top half or the bowl from the heat and continue stirring until all the chocolate has melted. Cool for 5 minutes, then stir in the Nutella or other hazelnut/ chocolate spread until smooth.
8. Spread the flat side of one of the cookies with about 1 rounded teaspoon of the chocolate filling, taking care