Chocolate candy-cane rings

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ cup All purpose flour
2 tablespoons Unsweetened cocoa powder
⅛ teaspoon Baking powder
6 ounces Unsweetened chocolate; (not bittersweet)
1 Stick unsalted butter
1 cup Sugar
2 larges Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Parchment paper for lining baking sheets
8 smalls Candy canes; (about 2 1/2 ounces total)

Directions

Into a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Chop chocolate and in a small heavy saucepan melt with butter over very low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar.

Transfer chocolate mixture to a large bowl and cool 10 minutes. Stir in eggs and vanilla until just combined. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.

Halve dough and roll out each half between sheets of waxed paper into an 11½-inch round (about 3/16-inch thick). Remove top sheet of waxed paper from each round and with a 1 ½-inch round cutter cut rounds, leaving all of dough on waxed paper. Cut a ¾-inch diameter hole in center of half of rounds (use wide end of a pastry tip). Do not remove any of cut outs from dough; keep rounds intact on waxed paper. Replace sheets of waxed paper and stack dough on a baking sheet. Chill dough until firm, at least 4 hours, and up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Finely chop candy canes. Transfer dough rounds, still between sheets of waxed paper, to a work surface. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from each dough round. Replace waxed paper loosely and flip over each waxed paper enclosed dough round. From each dough round remove and discard sheet of waxed paper now on top (this process prevents cookies form sticking to waxed paper). Lift cut out centers and scraps from waxed paper and reroll them to make more 1 ½-inch solid rounds and rings in same manner, chilling until firm. Center rings on top of solid rounds and fill each center with about ¼ teaspoon chopped candy cane.

Arrange cookies about ½-inch apart on baking sheets. Bake cookies in batches in lower third of oven 8 minutes, or just until candy begins to melt (not liquefy). With a spatula transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Cookies keep, layered between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers at room temperature, 1 week.

Yield: About 60 cookies

NOTES : Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine Recipe by: Cooking Live Show #CL9032 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by "Angele and Jon Freeman" <jfreeman@...> on Feb 7, 1998

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