Melancholy Mommy - Espresso Shortbread with White Chocolate

Yep, sooner or later you know it had to happen.  Another shortbread recipe.  This one is my mother's fault.  She purchased some shortbread at the grocery store after reading the ingredient list, which seemed to be OK, since if contained Flour, Sugar, Butter and Coffee.  Sounds OK to me too.  BUT (there's that big but again)  They had dipped the shortbread in fake white chocolate, composed of Palm Kernel and Palm oils with some cane juice and ground coffee.

While I applaud their use of cane juice, I really get annoyed when companies try to pass off Palm Kernel oil and Palm oil as being white chocolate.  (ie. Nestle White Morsels, Guittard "Au Lait" and several "White Chocolate" candy bars like Hershey's Cookies and Cream)  They aren't EVEN close.  White Chocolate, being made from Cocoa Butter, melts in your mouth at 98 degrees (just like regular Chocolate).  Palm Kernel oil doesn't "melt" until about 107F (I use to make soap).  Thus it leaves a greasy feeling in your mouth.  To make a long story short, it's like eating sugar laden Crisco. YUCK!

Needless to say, my mom was a little upset that they had ruined a perfectly good shortbread.  She thought she could power past the fake coating.  Alas, she could not.  I tried one, they were gross.

So I made these especially for her, to lift her from her melancholy state of mind.  Now she's all kinds of happy... and somewhat hyper for that matter.

Espresso Shortbread

1 1/2 tsp Espresso Powder
1 1/2 tsp Hot Water
Pinch of Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
4 oz (8 TB) (113g) Unsalted Butter
2 oz (1/4 cup) (57g) Brown Sugar (you can use Granulated Sugar if you like)
6 oz (1 1/3 cups) (170g) AP Flour

Coating:
1 1/2 oz REAL White Chocolate
1/8 tsp Espresso Powder

Combine Espresso Powder and Hot Water in a small bowl, stirring with a fork or spoon until dissolved.

the pinch of Cinnamon,

and the Salt, stirring to combine.

Place Butter in the bowl of a mixer along with the Espresso mixture.

Beat until well combined, then add the Brown Sugar.

Continue beating until everything is smooth and creamy looking.

Slowly incorporate the Flour, just until the dough begins to pull together into little clumps.

Turn the crumbly dough out onto a piece of waxed paper and press together into a disk with your hands.

Wrap the disk with the waxed paper, then wrap the whole thing with plastic wrap to retain moisture.

Chill the dough for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325F (162C) degrees and turn the disk out onto a well floured surface and roll to 1/4 inch (6mm) thick.

Using a well floured cutter, cut out shapes.

Move, with a floured spatula, to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 13-18 minutes or until the bottoms are just beginning to color and the shortbread feel firm to the touch in the center.

Move to a cooling rack.

Combine White Chocolate and Espresso powder in a small bowl.

Melt the White Chocolate in the microwave stirring until smooth.
Grab a large paint brush (I find it easier to paint than dip) and paint half the shortbread with espresso chocolate.

Let your imagination run wild......  :)

Allow the chocolate to sit for at least 1 hour to firm up again.

Then box them up and give them to your mother.  :)  Just don't let her eat more than 2 at any given time or you may find her bouncing off the walls.  ;)

Mangia!!
~~

Barry White in a Cookie

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned how I experience inspiration on a regular basis when chatting with my fellow BakeSpacers on the forums. This was especially true on World Nutella Day last week. Thanks to Spryte, again, and Joe, my friend from Yuma, who is also a BakeSpacer.
You see, Spryte has this incredible Rolo Cookie Recipe.... Decadently delicious. So good, that I have to take them to work, or I will sit and eat them all. And Joe reminded me that Ferrero Rocher has a Nutella-ish filling (I think the hazelnut content is higher, but that is not really the point). Thus, the two thoughts merged into one and Spryte's Rolo Cookies became a sort of "Ferrero Rocher" in cookie form.

Oh, Yeah.... One bite, and all I can hear is Barry White singing "I can't get enough of your love, Babe"

Now I had to try this twice, cause I messed up the first time. I got a little carried away, with trying to solidify the Nutella, I had scooped it out of the jar and onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then threw it in the freezer for 24 hours. That was a mistake. Because it was soft when I was scooping it out, it had little pointed peaks, of course, it froze that way, and wrapping the dough around it was a pain, and it was still too cold to melt properly during baking so the cookies ended up looking like this:

Yeah, it's either a derby or The Flying Saucer cookie has landed!!! NOT exactly what I was going for...

So I made 2 alterations, one to change the firmness of the Nutella and one to the batter itself to increase the acidity a little bit, and everything turned out JUST fine. Although you will have to plan ahead to make these, I personally think they are worth the trouble...

Ferrero Rocher Cookies (or Barry White Cookies)

1-13 oz jar of Nutella - Chilled (It makes it easier to scoop)
2 1/2 cups AP Flour
3/4 cup Natural Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder (This increases the acidity and reduces spreading a little bit)
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup of Hazelnuts, Chopped
1 TB Granulated Sugar

The Night Before:
Scoop chilled Nutella with a melon baller onto a parchment lined baking sheet and chill 4 hours or overnight. (You want them to be about 1 1/2 - 2 tsp rounds)

The Next Day:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add vanilla and stirring until combined.
Add the flour mixture and blend until a soft dough is formed.

In a small bowl, combine chopped nuts with 1 TB Granulated sugar.
Remove Nutella from the refrigerator.
Wrap 1 TB of cookie dough around each Nutella ball.

Roll in hazelnuts mixture and place a parchment lined baking sheet.

Return Nutella to the refrigerator when not in use, to keep it solid.
Bake Cookies for 10 minutes.
Remove and let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

A very sensual and sexy cookie, especially when paired with Champagne... Perfect for Valentines day... or World Nutella Day... or, honestly, ANY day you just need to have Barry White singing in your head.....


Mangia!!!
~~