Chocolate & Brandied Cherry Thumbprint Cookies

Baking cookies for a bake sale. Instead of baking something new, I'm going back to cookies I baked last Christmas for friends.

I can't recall where exactly I got this recipe, but I'm sure if I wasn't lazy, I could do a "Google" and find the original and tell you where I got it. But, seeing that it is 12:22 and I've only my second dozen cookies in the oven and that I haven't been feeling too well lately, I'm hoping that you'll let me off the hook. In any event, the recipe isn't mine, and the idea isn't original, but I'm filling the "thumbprints" with ganache, and a brandied cherry half-the cherries I brandied myself a couple of years ago.


226 grams butter
272 grams sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
40 grams yolks
115 grams Dutch cocoa
2 tsp salt
272 grams flour
30 grams cream

Cream together room temperature butter and sugar, with vanilla paste. Add yolks, scraping after adding and mix until incorporated. Add sifted dries, then cream, mixing until dough comes together.

Allow dough to rest. You may chill the dough, but tonight I let it rest on the counter. Yes, laziness overruled.

I portioned my cookies with a #60 scoop, rolled them into balls, rolled the balls in sugar, lined them up, 12 to a half sheet pan lined with a Silpat. I gently flattened each cookie with the palm of my hand, then used the handle of a spoon to make my indentions in the center.

According to my gas oven, at 350ºF, I baked the cookies for 12 minutes, turned, re-pressing the centers gently, then baked them another 5 minutes. You'll have to adjust according to your oven, but the cookies should be set in the center, not doughy.

For the ganache I simply used dark chocolate and heavy cream with a 2:1 ratio.  I filled the centers, gently pressed half a cherry in and let them set.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Um . . . Photos???
11:01 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2O Pain au Lait Rolls

Image
Last year for my birthday, I had the pleasure of dining at L2O, a fine dining restaurant that tastefully uses "molecular gastronomy" here in Chicago. I'd done a stage there, unfortunately it did not work out, but I am still quite impressed with Laurent Gras' food philosophy, how well run and organized the kitchen was, as well as the vibe between the cooks. Anyway, months later I had the pleasure of receiving the recipe for their pain au lait rolls via email from Time Out Chicago . These rolls were so good that I chose them more often than the others that were offered in selection from their bread basket. I'd filed the recipe away, and recently had the pleasure of making some for a dinner party. Initially the recipe was converted from weight in ounces to volume, so when I made it, not only did I double-check the accuracy (I found discrepancies) I converted it to a more accurate gram measure. So, pulling out my measuring cups, I converted it correctly to grams...
Read more

Key Lime Pie

Image
I will admit that I don't like a lot of citrus desserts.  I like my lemons sour-I eat them with salt-and I'm not too keen on key lime pies, though my mother loves them.  Making lemon curd is torture to me.  To stand over the pot, stirring the mix of yolks, lemon juice and sugar while smelling the proteins in the yolks coagulate is not a thing of pleasure.  I honestly think it stinks myself, but to each his/her own.  This doesn't mean I don't make the things I don't like very well.  In the world of pastry, you have to cook for your guests and customers, even if that means making something you don't eat. When changing jobs, going into a new kitchen and executing the previous chef's menu, you're torn between keeping their style, and asserting your own (these events are often booked months in advance, and some have tastings where the expectations are established).  So when I read Deconstructed Key Lime Pie on the menu, like a flip book, the ideas flicker...
Read more

Taste of Chicago

Image
Bear with me. I took photos when I went yesterday, but since those photos include my friend's daughter, I won't post them here. Instead, I'll feature the biggest reason I returned to the Taste this year: the Original Rainbow Cone. I introduced myself to this addicting delight last year. The only day I had off to go to the Taste was on the last Saturday of the event (I believe) and it was the worst day to go. Everyone and their aunt-uncle-cousin-grandma-greatgrandpa-was there. I had to fight to get to the food, fight my way out to Buckingham Fountain to enjoy the view of the lake and to eat my food without an elbow in my face, then fight my way back into the crowd to start all over again. I don't know how I ended up in the monster of a line for the ORC, but I did know that it had to be worth it, seeing as how I practically had to fight to keep my place in line. When I finally got to the counter, I took my cone back out to free space and began to enjoy the best ...
Read more