Melting Chocolate Moments
These are like Viennese fingers or whirls but all chocolate! Very crumbly melt in the mouth biscuits sandwiched together with dark chocolate ganache. I use fairly reasonably priced chocolate from the supermarket for most of my baking, saving the good stuff for eating straight 🙂
Cookies
175g soft butter
55g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
150g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
Ganache filling
200g dark chocolate, chopped
150ml double cream
15g butter
25g melted white chocolate to drizzle (optional)
Makes about 15 large or 30+ small complete cookies
- Make the ganache first so it has time to cool and firm up a bit. Heat the cream in a small saucepan to boiling point. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate and butter. Stir through until all melted together. If there’s still a few lumps place over a low heat and stir until all gone. Set aside to cool. Place in the fridge in a container until ready to use as filling.
Preheat the oven 180°C 160°C (fan) GM4. Beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add the sieved icing sugar and vanilla bean paste, beat together until combined and smooth. Add in sieved cocoa and flour and bring together, either by beating briefly with your mixer or by wooden spoon or spatula. Make sure it’s an even colour and there’s no lighter streaks.- Prepare a piping bag, for the larger ones I used an Ateco 866 pastry nozzle and the smaller ones a Wilton 1M. You’ll get a different look if you use other nozzles so try a few. Place some of the cookie mix in the piping bag. Pipe lengths of about 5-6 cm onto a lined/greased baking tray. The piping is hard work as the mixture is quite stiff, ensure your piping bag is strong and the butter is really soft at the start, this will help. Make sure you give them room to expand in the oven. Bake until just starting to colour at the ends about 10-12 minutes for the larger ones a few minutes less for the smaller ones. They will be firm to the touch, be careful not to over bake them, they burn quickly and it’s not easy to tell as they’re already brown!
Leave to cool completely on the trays. The cookies are very fragile, especially so while still warm. Once cooled use a small spatula or knife to move them. Pair them up so they’re roughly in pairs of the same size and shape. Turn over one half of the pair, if you’re using the white chocolate drizzle across the tops now, or wait until you’ve assembled them, either works. I used a piping bag with a small snip at the end or use a spoon.
5. Fill another piping bag with the cooled ganache filling, it needs to be a soft spreadable and pipeable consistency. If it’s too sloppy place in the fridge for a little while, if it’s too stiff heat very briefly in the microwave and stir, repeat until you are happy. Place some in the piping bag and fill the upturned cookie with a line of luscious filling, pop the top on and leave until the white chocolate is set. Enjoy ♥
