Chocolate Shortbread Sandwiches
Melted chocolate glues the cookies together and keeps them snappy while balancing their sweetness with its bitter edge. You can use chopped bittersweet chocolate instead of the chips here if you prefer.
Bittersweet Chocolate Shortbread Sandwiches
Category
Sweet
Servings/Yield
Makes about 75 cookies
Author
Lior Lev Sercarz, from "Mastering Spice" by Lior Lev Sercarz
Ingredients
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13⁄4 teaspoons poppy seeds (7 grams)
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1 teaspoon ground ginger (2 grams)
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1⁄2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder; 1 gram)
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1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (1 gram)
Mix together the poppy seeds, ginger, amchoor, and nutmeg.
13⁄4 cups all-purpose flour (235 grams)
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder (2 grams)
1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt (2 grams)
1⁄2 cup (8 tablespoons) salted butter (114 grams), preferably European (85% fat), cold and diced
3⁄4 cup sugar (144 grams)
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1⁄2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (3 grams)
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3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (25 grams)
1 large egg (51 grams)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (180 grams)
Spice Blend
COOKIES
Directions
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and spice blend together in a medium bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until well blended but not fluffy. With the machine running, add the vanilla first and then the olive oil, beating until smooth and scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the egg and beat just until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated
Turn the dough out onto a very large sheet of parchment paper. Pat into a rectangle and cover with another very large sheet of parchment. Roll the dough into a 12 × 7-inch rectangle that’s a scant 1⁄4 inch thick, lifting and replacing the top sheet as needed to smooth out any wrinkles in the paper. Use a bench scraper or spatula to press in all four edges to keep them even and straight, and roll lightly again to achieve an even thickness. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. If you’re in a rush, you can freeze the dough until stiff, about 15 minutes.
Remove the top sheet of parchment. Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-inch squares. Chill again if the dough has softened. Transfer the squares to two parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Chill again while the oven heats. You want them to be firm if they have softened.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake one sheet at a time until the shortbread is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets on wire racks.
Microwave 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (180 grams) in a microwave-safe bowl for 20 seconds. Stir and repeat until the chocolate is just melted.
Spread a heaping 1⁄2 teaspoon of the melted chocolate (2 grams) on a cookie and sandwich it with another. Repeat with the remaining chocolate and cookies. Let stand until the chocolate is firm. The sandwich cookies will keep in a tin at room temperature for up to 1 week or in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Recipe Note
Recipe from "Mastering Spice" by Lior Lev Sercarz.
Photo © Thomas Schauer
Questions? Contact helen@laboiteny.com
