Oh Gosh, Oatmeal Ganache Sandwich Cookies!

December 2017

If you haven’t done so already, it’s that time year to break-out your best cookie recipes and fire-up the oven! Growing-up, we had no shortage of cookies in our house for the holidays. My next-door neighbor used to bake batches and batches of cookies and pile them atop a massive tray that she delivered to our house on Christmas Eve. As a kid, it was one of the many magical moments of the season. I can still recall the variety: snickerdoodles, peanut butter blossoms, pepperkakers, something nutty, and something gloriously chocolate-minty!

I feel lucky to have had such a sweet childhood. And now, I live blocks from one of the oldest and most famous bakeries in Chicago—Dinkel’s. It’s been around since 1922, known for many baked goods including danishes, donuts, coffeecake, strudel, brownies, pies, and—of course—cookies. There are a few consistent (and noteworthy) characteristics between my childhood neighbor’s Christmas cookies and Dinkel’s famous cookies:

  1. They’re not grandiose in size. In fact, they’re rather small as if to say, “We have so many other factors in our favor, we don’t need to be big!”
  2. They’re not overly sweet. They beg for a cup of coffee, cappuccino, or glass of milk as their companion, not a toothbrush.
  3. Their texture is out-of-this-world. It’s as if the whole cookie, not just the chocolate, could melt in your mouth.

As I’ve recently studied-up on the science of baking, I’ve learned that this last characteristic is due to adequate “creaming” of the butter and sugars (3-5 minutes with an electric mixer). It is also due to the correct balance of baking soda and baking powder relative to other ingredients…and the time at which these dry reactives are combined with wet ingredients and then exposed to heat. This article from Bon Appétit’s “Basically” series perfectly describes the science behind baking soda and baking powder. Read-up or just remember that these two ingredients are not one and the same. They each have important jobs to do—at different reaction points in the baking process—to elicit that light, crispy, melt-in-you-mouth cookie texture. Oh, and take seriously the step of waiting to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients until right before you shape and bake—it matters!

I’ve used all of the above lessons and inspiration to develop my Oatmeal Ganache Sandwich Cookies. They’re on Santa’s wishlist this year!

Click here to give this recipe and try and tell me what you think.

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