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Walnut Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

 

Sun came out this morning!
Still pretty cold but it feels much better having the blue sky above, a really nice change.
 
This past week I had a sudden urge to make my mom’s favorite cookies, we’d make these around Christmas time but ever since I moved to US I haven’t made these in ages.
When growing up, in Winter time all the parents from the neighborhood would make us an ice skating “ring” outside on the playground. They  hosed the concrete part of the playground with water until the thick ice was formed for us to  skate on. It seems so unreal when I think about it, but it was very much real, it was ice and all.  I could see the  ice skating area from my room, which was pretty cool.
I guess you are wondering why am I telling you this, right? Well, there is a connection between these cookies and the ice skating.
My mom would store these cookies in a narrow pantry,  located just by the entrance door  in our hallway.So every time I took a break from the skating, I’d go up to the pantry and took several of these chocolate coated cookies( thinking my mom would never know) and stuff them into my pockets, no matter chocolate melted and made a mess; funny is  mom never complained about that, not once.
 
 
 
Heart Cookie Jewels
 
Almond Cherry Cookies Recipe
 
Cookie Dough
1 stick butter (113grams)
 
2 egg yolks
60 grams  dry cherries( you can use raisins as well)
2tbl dark rum or Chambord raspberry liqueur
85 grams powdered sugar
240 gram all purpose flour
20 grams ground almonds or walnuts
 
 
Filling
100grams ground almonds or walnuts
110 grams powdered sugar
2tsp meringue powder
2 1/2 tbl warm water
1/2 tbl dark rum or other liqueur you like
 
Chocolate Coating
 100 grams bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup crisco
 
White Modeling Chocolate
 
200 grams white chocolate, chopped
1/2-2tbl corn syrup
 
 
COOKIE DOUGH
1 stick butter (113grams)
2 egg yolks
 60 grams  dry cherries( you can use raisins as well)
2tbl dark rum or Chambord raspberry liqueur
85 grams powdered sugar
240 gram all purpose flour
20 grams ground almonds or walnuts
 
Soak cherries or raisins in dark rum or raspberry liqueur ( at least for 4 hours, best overnight), once soaked, chop finely.
 
In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, ground almonds. Add room temperature butter, egg yolks, finely chopped cherries.
Using your hands make the dough, wrap it in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
 
BAKE COOKIES
 
oven 350F(176C)
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
 Lightly flour your work surface, roll the cookie dough into about 3mm(little less then 1/8 inch).It should be rather easy to work with this dough. Run a spatula under the rolled  dough to make it easier to remove cut outs. Cut as many small hearts as you can, transfer them onto your cookie sheets.
Bake for about 6-7 minutes, until edges just begin to get lightly golden, be careful not to burn them.
Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes, remove from the cookies sheets onto the cooling rack.Let cool completely before filling
 
FILLING
100grams ground almonds or walnuts
110 grams powdered sugar
2tsp meringue powder
2 1/2 tbl warm water
1/2 tbl dark rum or other liqueur you like
 
In a small cup whisk together 2tsp meringue powder and warm water, until foamy.
In a medium bowl combine ground almond and powdered sugar,add liquid and liqueur.Combine well, it will look like it is not going to come together at first, just keep stirring, it will come together into a thick mass.

 

SANDWICH COOKIES
 
 
Make Sandwiches.
 
CHOCOLATE COATING
 100 grams bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup crisco

 

Melt chocolate with crisco in a double boiler, or over a pot of simmering water.
When smooth, remove from heat and let cool slightly. Chocolate coating is ready to be used once it coats the back of the spoon.
Line a tray with a piece of wax paper.
Dip each heart cookie sandwich in the chocolate, taking care to coat the filling area and part of the bottom cookie. Rest freshly coated Hearts on the wax paper. Once you are done with all the cookies, let the chocolate harden, you can put into the fridge to speed up the process.
* I should add that while the coating was still wet, I sprinkled a little bit of Rainbow Disco Dust, 3 grams
 on each cookie.
 Once the chocolate coating is set, you can either enjoy the cookies or continue with me to the next step…

 

WHITE MODELING CHOCOLATE
 
200 grams white chocolate, chopped
1/2-2tbl corn syrup
 
You can prepare modeling chocolate and jewels before hand.
 

Melt the chocolate over double boiler, or in a heat proof bowl set over pan with simmering water. Stir the chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir, until it has cooled a little.Stir in the corn syrup. Mixture will stiffen immediately, this is normal. Stir until completely combined.Scrape the chocolate and wrap it in the plastic wrap and store in the plastic bag.Place the bag into the fridge for several hours. Remove from the fridge and knead until pliable.If it is too hard to knead the whole piece, just cut of small pieces and work with a small piece at a time.At this point you can create anything you’d like, roses, robes, cut out decorations etc. CHOCOLATE DECORATIONS – JEWELS

You need 
 Silicone mold  ( I used the same mold to make sugar diamonds)
White Modeling Chocolate(recipe above)
Luster Dust – more on how to use luster dust can be found here
Lemon/Orange Extract or other spirit that is high in alcohol content, I use McCormick Extacts that are high in alcohol content.
Small Brush

Fill desired shapes with modeling chocolate, put the filled silicone mold into the fridge for a few minutes, this helps a lot, modeling chocolate will get little harder and it will be easier to unmold your jewels and maintaining clean edges. Carefully unmold jewels .Gently place jewels on the wax paper.
Paint with desired luster dust colors.I used Wilton Luster Dusts and McCormick Pure Orange Extract, 1-Ounce Unit (Pack of 6)

I found out that Mint, Lemon and Orange McCormick Extracts have high enough alcohol content therefore are are suitable to use with luster dust for painting purposes.

COOKIE  JEWEL ASSEMBLY

you need
little bit of  melted white chocolate candy melts

small pastry bag, or a plastic bag

Melt few pieces of chocolate.
Scrape melted chocolate into a plastic bag.
Make a small opening  in the corner of  the bag.

Pipe a small dot on the cookie, place your chocolate jewel on the top,
 this will work as glue.
Pipe dots around the jewel, let harden or place into the fridge for a few minutes.
Paint the dotted line with pearl luster dust.
Orange and chocolate compliment each other so I thought this would be a great flavor combo.

 



~♥~

I love bite size treats, don’t you?

 

 

 

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6 Comments

  1. Maria,
    I'm not sure If I understand correctly, I don't sell these gemstones, you can make your own using a mold and modeling chocolate. Hope this helps

    Maria,
    Eu não tenho certeza se eu entendi, eu não vender essas pedras, você pode fazer seu próprio chocolate utilizando um molde e modelagem. Espero que isso ajude

  2. I think your mum left them there knowing you would be popping in for a few. What a lovely memory to share. My grandmother used to make something which seems similar but the recipe has been lost, I have the book but it is written in German or Czech. Must try these.

  3. WOW! These are absolutely beautiful and look delicious. And I love the sweet story about your mother. She must have been one of the special ones.

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