photo courtesy of Chris Rochelle @ CHOW
This certainly is “not your mama’s sandwich cookie”, especially if yo mama had crap for a palate! SF’s beloved two-wheeled pastry vendor Bike Basket Pies took on chocolate cookies and proved that their keen flavor sensibilities don’t stop at da pies! These chocolate wafer cookies are sprinkled with fancy salt and surround a silky a smooth layer of lavender cream…so put on your Chanel suit and make some already!! Continue reading for recipe…
Bike Basket Pies’
“Chocolate wafers with lavender chocolate ganache”
(makes about 25 sandwich cookies)
The cookie dough needs at minimum an hour to chill, but a couple hours/overnight is best. It is essentially an icebox cookie. The ganache needs 10-30 minutes to set, but once it’s mostly cooled yet still liquidy it can go on the cookies.
INGREDIENTS:
For the cookie:
6.75 oz flour
.5 oz cocoa powder, dutch process
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
13 tbsp butter, softened
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 oz baking chocolate, 72%, melted over a double boiler
For the ganache:
1/2 cup cream
12 oz baking chocolate, 72%
1 tbsp dried lavender flowers
Some fancy schmancy salt (I used salt from Utah, but your favorite finely ground sea salt will work great).
Make the cookies.
1. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a food processor.
2. Add the butter in chunks, pulse to combine.
3. Combine milk and vanilla.
4. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, slowly add to the milk and vanilla.
5. With the processor running, add the milk/vanilla/chocolate mixture. Run until it is mostly all stuck together.
6. Empty dough into a bowl and mix with your hands to make sure it’s all incorporated.
7. Form into a log and wrap with waxed paper, put in the fridge.
8. Chill for at least an hour, but overnight is best.
Bake the cookies.
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Make sure your oven racks are at the very top and very bottom. Get out two cookie trays. Put parchment paper on them.
2. Slice the cookie dough into about 1/4″ slices or thinner, place on the cookies sheets about an inch apart.
3. Bake 2 trays at a time, for 11-13 minutes, after 6 be sure to flip them (back to front and top to bottom). The cookies will puff up and as they fall, that’s when they’re done.
4. Cool on a cooling rack. When they’re hard, a minute or two later, they can be transferred directly to the rack.
Make the ganache.
1. Add the lavender to the cream, put in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Stir, cover, remove from heat, and let steep for 10 minutes.
3. Use a sieve to filter out the lavender flowers.
4. Bring the cream back to a boil, turn off the heat, add the chocolate, cover and let sit for 3 minutes.
5. Whisk until smooth, let set for 15-30 minutes (30 is best).
Assemble the cookies.
1. Spoon a little ganache onto a cookie, face down, sprinkle with a little fancy schmancy salt to taste, top with another cookie (face up). Press together, YUM.