Chocolate Raspberry Heart Sandwich Cookies

By á-4939

Double the deliciousness with these scrumptious Chocolate Raspberry Heart Sandwich Cookies!

Ingredients

• 1 cup toasted hazelnuts, ground
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (OR 1 cup Earth Balance or other veggie spread)
• 1 cup white sugar (OR unbleached organic cane sugar)
• 2 large egg yolks (OR 2 Tbsp tapioca flour OR corn starch + 2 Tbsp or more unsweetened almond milk - enough to make a soft dough
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 90mins

Preparation

Step 1

Toasted Ground Hazelnuts:
Preheat oven to 325°F

Place nuts on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes

Allow to cool, place in a cloth towel, and rub gently to remove skins. Don’t worry if you don’t get all of them off.

Grind nuts with 1/4 cup white sugar in a food processor until they form a coarse meal

Cookie Dough:

Mix flour, cocoa, and salt together in a bowl

In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract

Vegan: Add tapioca flour to the dry ingredients. Mix non-dairy milk with the butter and sugar

Melt the chocolate chips and add to the liquid ingredients

Add hazelnut mixture to the liquid ingredients, mixing well. Beat in flour mixture until completely incorporated

Form the dough into a ball, cut in half, and form 2 disks.

Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until firm.

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Grease cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper.

Roll each disk of dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out 40 cookies using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter.

For the top layer, use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut a 2nd heart in the center of 1/2 of the cookies.

Transfer the cookies to baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely on racks.

Lightly dust the top cookies (with the center heart cut-out) with powdered sugar while still a little warm, so the sugar will stick.

Spread each cooled bottom cookie with 1 teaspoon of jam, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the edge, and cover with a top cookie.

Tip: Make this a vegan cookie recipe by substituting vegetable spread instead of butter. In that case, leave out the salt, as veggie spread is quite salty. Substitute tapioca flour plus non-dairy milk for egg yolks. Use enough non-dairy milk to make a rollable cookie dough.