Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book - Bruce Weinstein [67]
6. Transfer the logs to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice each into small cookies a little more than 1/4 inch thick. If desired, slice on the diagonal, thereby making longer cookies. Place the cookies, cut side down, on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1/4 inch apart. If the baking sheet will not hold them all, reserve the rest for a second baking after the first has finished.
7. Bake for 7 minutes, then flip them over to the other cut side. Continue baking for about 7 more minutes, or until lightly toasted and quite dry but not too hard (they will crisp as they cool). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If you’re baking additional batches, replace the parchment paper if it’s frizzled, browned, or torn.
Recommended storage
5 days at room temperature
2 months in the freezer once baked
Personalize It!
You can dip these biscotti in melted chocolate, following the technique for dipped Chocolate Biscotti on page 46. For a more pronounced chocolate taste, stir 11/2 tablespoons Kahlùa or other coffee-flavored liqueur into the cooled, melted chocolate before dipping the biscotti in it.
FRENCH MACAROONS
In our version of this Parisian classic, two crunchy almond macaroons sandwich a smooth layer of melted chocolate. They’re fussy, fancy, and ever so good.
MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN SMALL SANDWICH COOKIES
One 7-ounce tube almond paste (see page 17)
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1. Position the rack in the center of the oven; preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
2. Beat the almond paste and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at slow speed until the almond paste has broken up and begins to incorporate the sugar; increase the speed to medium and continue beating until the mixture looks like fine meal, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the salt.
3. Beat in the egg whites one at time, taking care that the first is incorporated into the batter before adding the second. In the end, the batter should look fairly creamy but still somewhat grainy.
4. Fit a pastry bag with a round, 3/4-inch tip; fill the bag with the almond mixture and pipe it out onto the prepared baking sheet, making small dots with about 1 teaspoon of the batter, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Flatten the disks somewhat as you pipe them out, then swirl the tip at the finish to create a little cowlick of batter. You can forgo the pastry bag and drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto the prepared sheet, but take care to make small, compact mounds, much like a tiny, smushed Hershey’s Kiss.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack. Repeat the baking process with any unused batter, replacing the parchment paper if it is dry or browned.
6. When the cookies are cool, place the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over a pot with about 1 inch of simmering water, or place the chocolate 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 top half of the double boiler or the bowl from the heat and continue stirring until all the chocolate has melted. Cool for 5 minutes.
7. Smear 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate on the flat bottom of one of the cookies, then press the flat bottom of a second cookie against the chocolate, thereby making a small sandwich cookie. Place the filled cookies on a wire rack to allow the chocolate to firm up at room temperature, about 1 hour. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.
Recommended storage
2 days at room temperature
Not recommended for freezing
Customize It!
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