How's your weekend going so far? If you need a break or have 30 minutes up your sleeve I definitely recommend whipping these up!! They are SO delicious and a great sneaky treat to get you through the day!
Chocolate melting moment cookies
200 g soft, unsalted butter
100 g icing sugar
50 g Dutch process cocoa powder
1-2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 extra large egg whites
225 - 250g plain flour
1-2 handfuls dark choc chips (optional)
Optional
Piping bag fitted with star tip nozzle (I used the French Star tip or Wilton 8B)
Method:
These can be made with a stand mixer but I used the food processor for ease and speed. If using the stand mixer I recommend passing the icing sugar and cocoa powder through a sieve, I found that the food processor breaks the clumps down without sieving. Add the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor and mix or blitz together until everything is evenly blended together. Add the egg whites and blend again. Pour in the flour and blend again until everything is evenly combined. If using the food processor you can use the lesser amount of flour. If creating these cookies in a mixer use the full 250g.
Scrape down the sides of your bowl one last time to make sure everything is incorporated. The mixture should feel quite soft so that it can be piped. If it feels too firm to pipe simply roll teaspoonfuls into balls and flatten with a fork las you would for traditional melting moments
OR (this step is completely optional) Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle and transfer half of the mixture into the prepared bag. Pipe into small rosettes on a lined baking tray. Add a chocolate button into the centre of the rosette. Chill the piped or rolled cookies on a baking tray for 20 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees C (fan forced) and bake cookies for 13-15 minutes or until baked through. It can be difficult to tell when these cookies are ready so to check remove one cookie from the oven, leave for a moment and break open, the centre should be soft and fully baked. Try not to over-bake these cookies as the cocoa powder can make them a little dry.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. While the cookies are baking create the Simple Espresso Buttercream
You'll Need 125 g soft unsalted butter
260 g pure icing sugar (sifted)
20 ml espresso shot (hot)
Piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (I used a generic plastic star tip)
I really recommend making this in a food processor if you can, it's so quick and simple. If not create just as you would a regular American Buttercream.
Place the soft butter and icing sugar into the food processor and process until the mixture becomes smooth and pale (1-2 minutes). Scrape down the sides if needed and add in the hot espresso. Quickly process the mixture together. The hot espresso is essential as it helps to gently dissolve the icing sugar and creates a smooth mixture.
At this stage the buttercream will look really loose and won't hold it's shape. Place into a bowl and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes, stirring together after the first 20 minutes. Allow the buttercream to chill until it's a pipeable consistency.
Once the buttercream is ready for piping, find cookie pairs and place them close together ready for filling. Fill your piping bag and pipe the espresso buttercream onto one cookie, pick the cookies up in your hands and sandwich together with it's pair. Keep filling until all of the cookies are sandwiched together. Dust cookies with icing sugar and serve! These cookies are best served at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in a really cool & dark place for 3-4 days or in the fridge during the summer. Allow the cookies to come back to room temp for 20-30 minutes before serving for best flavour & texture!
Enjoy!
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