Chocolate-Almond Sandwiches
Submitted by paramedicswife
Crisp cocoa-almond cookies filled with white chocolate ganache. Slice-and-bake dough makes shaping simple, and the thin, snappy wafers pair beautifully with the creamy filling.
YIELD
28 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
60 minGround blanched almonds and Dutch-process cocoa powder give these slice-and-bake cookies a deeply nutty, bittersweet crunch that shatters when you bite through.
The dough comes together by creaming butter with the almond-sugar powder first, then folding in the cocoa-flour mixture. It will look crumbly and dry for a minute. Keep stirring. It pulls together into a smooth, dark dough that rolls easily into logs.
Chilling is key here. The first two-hour rest firms things up enough to reshape the logs into even cylinders. The second four-hour chill gets them solid enough to slice cleanly into thin rounds. Rush this and you’ll get squished, uneven cookies.
Watch the oven closely. At a quarter-inch thick, these go from perfectly set to scorched on the bottom in about a minute. Pull them when they look barely done and let the residual heat finish the job on the cooling rack.
The white chocolate ganache filling is whipped after chilling, so it spreads light and creamy between two matched cookies. Pair same-size rounds together for a polished sandwich that holds up for a full week in the fridge.
Kitchen Tips
- Use Dutch-process cocoa specifically. Natural cocoa reacts differently with the baking powder and changes both rise and flavor.
- A sharp, thin knife gives the cleanest slices. If the dough crumbles, let it warm up for just 2-3 minutes before cutting.
- Don’t skip whipping the ganache. Unwhipped, it’s too dense and will squeeze out the sides when you press the cookies together.
Variations
- Dark chocolate ganache: Swap the white chocolate for bittersweet and reduce cream slightly for a richer, less sweet filling.
- Espresso kick: Add 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder to the cocoa-flour mixture for a mocha twist.
- Hazelnut version: Replace blanched almonds with toasted hazelnuts for a Nutella-inspired flavor.
Ingredients
Directions
Cookies: Grind almonds with sugar in food processor to a fine powder.
Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a medium bowl.
Cream butter in a large bowl.
Add almond mixture; beat until smooth and fluffy.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in cocoa mixture.
Dough will seem dry at first, but stir until it comes together.
Divide dough in half. Spoon each half onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Roll in a log, about 1½ inches in diameter.
Wrap in waxed paper.
Refrigerate 2 hours. Roll each log again to an even round shape.
Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375℉ (190℃).
Cut each log in about ¼ inch thick slices with a thin sharp knife.
Put slices on ungreased baking sheet, about 1½ inches apart.
Bake 10 to 11 minutes or until cookies are just set; they burn easily on the bottom.
Carefully transfer to racks with a metal spatula; cool completely.
Ganache: Put white chocolate in a small bowl.
Bring cream to a full boil in a small heavy saucepan.
Pour over chocolate all at once.
Stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth.
Cool to room temperature.
Refrigerate 30 minutes, stirring occasionally with whisk, until cold and thick, but not set.
Whip mixture at high speed 3 minutes or until lighter in color and thickened.
Spread about 2 teaspoons ganache on flat sides of half the cookies.
Sandwich each with a flat side of a second cookie, choosing cookies of the same size to put together.
Refrigerate 15 minutes to set before serving.
Cookies can be kept, covered, 1 week in the refrigerator.
Serve at room temperature.
Makes 28 cookie sandwiches.
White chocolate ganache is the filling of these thin, extra- crisp, cocoa-almond cookies.
The cookies are easy to shape - the dough is simply formed into cylinders and sliced.
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