Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

  • Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

    Why have one cookie when you can sandwich two together with a particularly decadent chocolate ganache frosting?

    And don’t cheap out on the cookie size, alright?  The joy of a cookie sandwich is to bite into the sloppiness of two regular sized cookies, feeling giddy because you get TWO of them with even more joy glueing them together.  It’s still tasty when you bite into two mini sized cookies sandwiched together with creamy chocolatey frosting, but we also know it’s undeniably underwhelming.  I’m all about more joy.  More cookie.  More frosting.  More Sweets, Please!

    (I am sorry for the fact that the cookie dough in this recipe is a bit of a B.  You know it’s worth it, or I wouldn’t lead you down the path, but you definitely need a lot of Time* to let the dough sit in the fridge and contemplate its own greatness.  It’s not hard to make, just drawn out in a suspense-building kind of way.  So start this recipe the day before you actually want to eat these cookie sandwiches… which means you need to get up right now and start.  Time well spent- I promise.)

    Adapted from my Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (which is really from Jacques Torres):

    COOKIE DOUGH:

    2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake/pastry flour

    1 2/3 cup bread flour**

    1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

    1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

    1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

    1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

    1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed

    1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

    2 eggs

    2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

    1 1/4 pounds (or 2 1/2 cups) bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks (at least 60 percent cacao content)

    COOKIE FILLING:

    1 cup whipping/heavy cream

    1 cup plus 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips

    Sea salt for garnish (optional)

    1. COOKIE DOUGH:
      1. In a medium bowl, sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
      2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light (about 5 minutes).
      3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.  Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined (5 – 10 seconds).
      4. Drop chocolate chips/pieces in and mix until just combined.
      5. Scoop tablespoon size amounts of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, wrapping with plastic wrap (or store dough balls into a container that you can comfortably store in the fridge).  (You will likely scoop more dough mounds than you will actually bake onto each sheet; you can separate them before you bake them.)
      6. Refrigerate for 24 – 36 hours.  (Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours or frozen & thawed in the fridge for use at a later time).
      7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°.  Spread 12 dough mounds onto each parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with sea salt (optional) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 10 – 12 minutes.  Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies off sheet and onto the rack to cool.
    2. GANACHE:
      1. Place chocolate in a large, heat-proof bowl.  In a small saucepan, heat cream over medium-high heat until just about to boil, then pour over chocolate.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.  Allow to cool in fridge for about 1 ½ – 2 hours (to firm up to a piping consistency; don’t be alarmed that it will be quite runny while it’s still warm- it WILL set).
      2. Pipe chilled ganache on the flat side of one cookie.  Gently place the second cookie bottom onto ganache layer, pressing gently to secure the cookie sandwich.  (Or just scoop a bit of ganache using a little cookie scoop or teaspoon.)

    Tips:

    • More cookie tips?  Check out the original post.
    • *No Time?  Cheat.  But a store-bought kind and call it a day.  Whatever.
    • **Two kinds of flour.  Really?  I didn’t argue with the original recipe by Jacques Torres.  But I’m pretty sure that all-purpose flour will work just fine.  If you skip the pastry flour and use all-purpose for the whole thing, well, I can’t vouch for that but I’m sure it won’t kill you.  Or make you sick.  Just use a tablespoon or two less- yeah, two less.
    • These will look gross if you sandwich them with too much frosting and then try and transport them so that the ganache ends up smearing all over everything (like the cookies and the sides of the containers and then all over your hands).  Bottom line: don’t use too much ganache (bad answer), or wrap securely.
    • These freeze well if well wrapped.  

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    June 25th, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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