BAKED: Black Forest Cookies

2011-12-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of a cake in cookie form and I was especially excited because I love how the black forest cake reminds me of my childhood. For some reason my mother always bought black forest cake for birthdays and to be honest, I never understood why people loathed this German classic that much. Well, call me crazy but I loved the chocolate sponge with whipped cream and preserved cherries. If it were up to me, I'd've added a tablespoon of kirsch to this wonderful, rich batter, but I didn't have it on hand.
Anyway this recipe is from my latest obsession - Baked: New Frontiers in Baking - the cook book by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

Black Forest Cookies
Yield: 24
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

3/4th / 80g. cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz / 450g dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), coarsely chopped or in buttons
10 tbsp / 150g unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup / 6 oz. / 170g semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup / 6 oz. / 170g white chocolate chips
1 cup / 6 oz. / 170g dried cherries
A tablespoon of kirsch if you want to go all out

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large nonreactive metal bowl (I used a pyrex bowl), combine the dark chocolate and butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth (almost velvet like). Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs sugars on high speed until the mixture is pale and thick, about 5 minutes.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and beat again for 10 seconds.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, about 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and dried cherries. The dough will look very loose, but it will harden in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight (mine lasted in the fridge for two days).

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. (Note: I used a piping bag and cut about a 2cm hole without a nozzle because I found that it was VERY sticky and difficult to manage, this was much cleaner. Also, when putting the batter into the oven do not let the mixture stand outside it has to be COLD, fridge cold before it goes in. If your oven isn't large enough to fit all the cookies in put the batter in fridge in between baking each sheet. Remember it has to be cold or your cookies will look like soup - that happened to my first batch.) Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until the tops of the cookies are set and begin to show a few cracks, Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before removing from the pans and serving.
Don't be too anxious and take them off before cooling or they'll fall apart! This batter is a very delicate batter seeing as the ratio of chocolate to flour is almost 10:1! It will be sticky and it will be a pain to clean up, but it tastes like gateaux-cookie heaven!

For people who live in Singapore, I bought my dried cherries from Jasons market place at katong mall. Fairprice has it from time to time and my chocolate is from red man I buy mine by the kilogram.

eat my hair

BAKED: Black Forest Cookies