Description
These spicy chocolate sandwich cookies are inspired by Mexican hot chocolate.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup dutch process cocoa
- ½ tsp kosher salt (omit salt if using earth balance buttery sticks)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 stick of earth balance shortening (not the salted version)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 6 tbsp aquafaba
- 1 tsp vanilla
Ganache Filling:
- 6.5 oz of chopped dark chocolate 60-70% (roughly 1 heaping cup)
- ½ cup of full fat canned coconut milk
Instructions
Cookies:
- Whisk the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cayenne together in a bowl. Set aside for later.
- Cream the earth balance together with the sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle for approximately 1 minute. Add the aquafaba 1 tbsp at a time until just incorporated, add the vanilla with the last tbsp of aquafaba. Don’t over mix.
- Turn the mixer down to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. Mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. You may need to scrape down the mixer once halfway through.
- Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silpat.
- Using a teaspoon or melon baller, scoop out small mounds of cookie dough. Spread them out about 2 inches apart because these cookies spread when baked. In between batches, be sure to keep the cookie dough in the fridge so it stays chilled.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. They will look a bit puffy when you pull them out, but they settle to be nice and crackly. Let them rest for 1 or 2 minutes before moving them to a drying rack.
Ganache Filling
- Heat coconut milk over medium low heat until it starts to bubble around the edges.
- Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until completely smooth.
- Chill on the counter and then move to the fridge so it can cool and firm up a bit.
Assemble:
- Once the cookies are completely cool and the ganache has firmed up a bit, it is time to fill the cookies.
- Fill a large piping bag with the chocolate ganache and cut a small whole at the tip of the bag.
- Pipe the filling onto half of the cookies, leave space around the edges so you can squish them together without goo coming out the sides.
- Try to work quickly so the ganache in the bag doesn’t melt. If it gets to soft, put the bag back in the fridge to warm up a bit.
- Once you’ve piped the filling on half the cookies, sandwich them together with the other halves. Give them a firm squeeze so they stick together.
- Store the cookies in a cool, dry place or in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
I prefer the plain Earth Balance shortening sticks. I find it makes better tasting cookies. If you have the salted kind, be sure to omit the salt.