Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

November 26, 2013 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 23 Comments

Hello my friends! I hope everyone is doing well; I missed you all! 🙂 I took an involuntary baking break while I was trying to complete some remodeling projects in the house before the winter gets here. I have not completely abandoned my artistic expression, I started two paintings and plan to finish them before the end of the year and I’ve discovered a new passion: poetry. I’ve always liked reading poetry, but have never tried to write anything. Well, a few weeks ago a “What if I tried” thought crossed my mind, so I started thinking and putting the words together and for now they sound very good to me. I am not sure if I am going to share it with the world yet, but I am sure of one thing: writing poetry brings me so much joy!

My hope is that these chocolate sandwich cookies will bring you joy of making and of course joy of tasting! They are a treasured recipe from my old-yellow-falling-apart recipe book that I started when I was about thirteen years young. These cookies are not too sweet. Cocoa gives them just a hint of gentle bitterness and the vanilla frosting just a right amount of sweetness.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

[Printable recipe]

Cookies:

250 g (8.8 oz) flour
65 g (2.2 oz )powdered sugar
50 g (1.8 oz) cocoa
13 g (2.5 tsp) baking powder
1 egg
185 g (6.5 oz) unsalted butter (room temperature)

Frosting:

500 ml (2 cups) milk
4 TBSP flour (or corn starch)
150 g (5.3 oz) powdered sugar
2 packs vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
160 g (5.6 oz) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 egg yolk (optional)

Chocolate glaze:

75 g (2.6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate
50 g (1.8 oz) unsalted butter

Preparation:

For the cookies, combine all dry ingredients and mix for a few minutes. Add egg and butter and mix on slow until resembles a crumbly mixture. Flour your working surface and knead the dough by hand until nice and smooth. Flatten it, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
While the cookie dough rests in the fridge prepare the filling.
Mix the flour with a couple of spoons of milk until smooth. Let the milk boil at a low temperature and pour the flour mixture into boiling milk. Whisk constantly until it starts thickening, then remove from heat and let it cool completely.
In a mixing bowl combine butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix all together. You may add an egg yolk for a nice color, but it’s not essential. Now add this mixture to the flour base and whip it at high speed until well combined and fluffy.
Now line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured surface roll out the cookie dough to about 1/2 cm (or 3/16 inch) thick and cut out cookies with a round cookie cutter (about 3-3.5 cm or 1 ¼ inch in diameter)
Bake at 180 C or 350 F for about 12-14 minutes.
Cool down completely. Glue two cookies together with the frosting.
Melt chocolate and butter, let cool down for a few minutes and pour a teaspoon of the glaze on the top of each cookie.

No bake Blueberry-Yogurt Cake + DIY Chocolate Leaves Decoration

August 13, 2012August 16, 2012 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 45 Comments

I love using seasonal, local fruit and veggies for baking/cooking. You must admit there is no better fruit than the kind that has been allowed to ripen properly in the sun, as God intended. Since blueberries are one of my favorite fruits, I just try to use them as much as I can while they are in season in my neck of the woods. This refreshing blueberry-yogurt cake is my own creation – no baking necessary, pretty simple to make and very tasty!

No bake Blueberry-Yogurt Cake Printable recipe

Crust:

1/3 of a Honey Graham crackers pack (crushed) – about 5 oz or (136 g)
1.8 oz (50 g) blanched ground almonds
1.8 oz (50 g) butter (softened)
1/ 2 cup (100 g) sugar
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Filling:

15.8 oz (450 g) blueberries (washed and blended)
15.8 oz (450 g) plain yogurt
Zest of one small lemon
½ cup (100 g) of sugar
About 2 cups (450 ml) heavy cream (whipped)
¼ cup (50 g) of sugar
2 envelopes (14 g) plain gelatin
4 Tablespoons of water

Decoration:

Handful of blueberries
25-30 small rose leaves (untreated)
1.8 oz (50 g) white chocolate
1.8 oz (50 g) semi-sweet chocolate
2 teaspoons cooking oil

For the crust crush the graham crackers, add almonds, sugar, sifted cocoa and butter at the end. Mix well and press the mixture into the bottom of a 8.5 inch (about 22 cm) spring cake form.

For the filling wash the blueberries, blend them and set aside. Whip the cream with sugar, cover and leave in the fridge until needed. Mix the plain yogurt with sugar and lemon zest in one bowl and add the blended blueberries to it. In a sauce pan mix the plain gelatin with water and leave it resting for about 5 minutes. Heat it at a low temperature until gelatin melts, but do not let it boil. Pour about 1 cup of blueberry-yogurt mixture into gelatin. Mix it well and then pour everything back into the remaining blueberry mixture. Gently fold in the whipped cream and once again mix until well blended. Pour the mixture onto the crust, cover with plastic and leave it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

For the decoration wash your rose leaves and pat them dry. Melt both chocolates in separate dishes and add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil to each, mix well. Take a small brush and brush the bottom side of each leaf and place them on a flat surface (such as a tray) that can fit in your freezer. When done, place the leaves in the freezer for a few minutes. Take them out and brush them with chocolate once again. This time leave them in the freezer until ready to decorate.

Remove the cake from the spring form. Take the leaves out of the freezer and quickly start removing rose leaves so that you only get chocolate leaves. Arrange the chocolate leaves on the top of the cake (let your imagination guide you). Put some fresh blueberries around the leaves.

This cake is very refreshing and light for the hot summer days, when you don’t feel like baking and still want to have a nice dessert!