[Cookie 061] Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Remember when I mentioned last week about the craziness that is Dean & Deluca? Well, I still stand by everything I said (and today I plan to head on over there and buy a little something called Sir Francis Bacon's Chocolate Covered Peanut Bacon Brittle--don't judge me), but I also mentioned that they sell Chocolate Mint Sandwiches in a set of 27 for $65. And that I have a recipe for you to make your own. And that we can all put 2 and 2 together and realize that this will probably save us a penny or two, right?

Now, in theory, I would think that no amount of physical labor and/or exquisite Valrhona chocolate could ever justify a price like that at...well...anywhere, but truth be told, I would need some substantial compensation in order to make these guys again. They were very tasty, chocolatey and super minty, but they actually took quite a bit of effort.

Let me elaborate, oui? Making the dough--a total breeze, no big deal. But things got a little sticky (pun...intended) during the rolling and re-rolling of the dough. This stuff does not want to leave the warm comfort of your cutting board. It coils itself tightly around your rolling pin like a boa constrictor around an innocent and unsuspecting daschund. No amount of powdered sugar or flour will allow your rolling pin free reign over the sticky expanse of dough. Really, I tried.

So, seeing as I was working with my dad, Fix-It Man 2010, he suggested that we abandon the rolling pins (we tried every variety that we owned, all to no avail) and use our bare hands instead. So we pressed down on this metaphorical boa constrictor (I should abandon that metaphor I think...) wherever we saw lumps and bumps, and eventually got it thin enough to work with. Unfortunately this meant less than perfect cookies, because the dough was never uniformly thin, but what can you do! Gotta make it work once you've already invested a couple sticks of butter and about 30 pounds of cocoa.

Side tangent: We had leftover ganache, so we thought, "Hey! Minty hot cocoa anyone? Hell yes!"

It didn't work. As you can see. Good try, though.

Pressing on (har har), we began to cut circles of dough out. Obviously, this wasn't too simple either considering that the dough had seeped about halfway through the thickness of our wooden cutting board. But we ended up with enough circles to make quite a few sandwiches.

After baking the cookies, you fill the centers with the minty filling--which is easy--and the you let them dry. Make sure you stick them in the fridge for that so they can be easily dipped into the ganache later. Yep, that's about it. It's a fun recipe if you ignore the trials of rolling the dough, so I still suggest you try it if you're feeling feisty! Plus, they are a chocolate lover's dream come true. So dense. So dark. So rich, minty, indulgent, awesome, make them, bake them, do it, I compel you.

And when you're done, maybe you'll be more likely to spend $65 on some more. Or maybe you won't. But maybe you'll understand. Or maybe you won't. I still don't. Whatever.

Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

• FOR THE COOKIES
• 1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• Confectioners' sugar, for work surface
• FOR THE GANACHE
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• FOR THE GLAZE
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped

Directions

1. Make cookies: Whisk together cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg until well blended. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer dough to a work surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter; space 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining scraps of dough. Bake cookies until firm, rotating sheets halfway through, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
3. Meanwhile, make ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chocolate. Cook, stirring constantly until chocolate is smooth. Stir in peppermint extract. Let cool slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Spoon 1 teaspoon ganache onto the bottom of 1 cookie; sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and ganache. Refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes.
5. Make glaze: Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring constantly. Let cool slightly. Dip one flat side of each sandwich into melted chocolate to coat; gently shake off excess. Place sandwiches, chocolate sides up, on wire racks set over baking sheets. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Cookies can be refrigerated in a single layer in airtight containers up to 2 days.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 4/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 3/5
Attractiveness: 4.5/5
Is it worth it?: I don't really think it's worth the effort involved, but hey, what does it matter what I think anyway?

{Pairings}
Drink: Dark chocolate cookie = milk. You should know this by now.

Song: One Piece at a Time -- Johnny Cash
Activity: Assembly line. Imagine: get all your friends in the kitchen, one person bakes, one fills, one sandwiches, one glazes. Bada-bing bada-boom! You are Dean & Deluca!