Chocolate Cream Cookies

1 cup (240 ml) semi sweet chocolate chips or 6 ounces (170 grams) semi sweet chocolate, chopped

Chocolate Cookies: In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate). Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Then add the sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Keep stirring (with a spatula or wooden spoon) until the batter comes together and you have a smooth and soft dough (like putty). Divide the dough in half and let sit at room temperature for about one hour or until firm enough to roll into a log shape.

With your hands, roll each half of dough into a log shape that is about 5 inches (12.5 cm) long. Place the logs at one end of a 12 inch (30 inch ) square of parchment or wax paper and roll up, trying to keep the round log shape as you roll. Refrigerate until firm. This will take several hours, or overnight. Check logs after about an hour, if the logs are not perfectly round, remove from refrigerator and re-roll until you have a nice round shape. You may have to do this a few times. At this point the logs can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about one week or they can be frozen for about one month. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the log into 1/4 inch (6 mm) slices. Place cookies on the baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Bake for about 17 - 22 minutes or just firm to the touch. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Take one cookie and spread about 1 tablespoon of filling on flat side of cookie. Top with another cookie, flat side down, and gently press together.

Cream Filling: In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the milk and beat until filling is of spreading consistency. Filling can be covered and stored at room temperature for a day or two, or in the refrigerator for about 10 days. Bring to room temperature before using.

A lovely deep chocolate flavor. A buttery crisp texture. And a delicious buttery sweet cream filling. That is a Chocolate Cream Cookie. This is a sandwich cookie at its best. I must say, they are highly addictive. And while the kids may want to dunk theirs in a tall glass of cold milk, I prefer mine with a strong cup of coffee.

This recipe is one I adapted from Joanne Chang's excellent baking book "Flour", which includes recipes from her popular Boston bakery by the same name. This Chocolate Cream Cookie starts with a chocolate cookie which is quite similar to a chocolate wafer cookie. The batter contains both semi sweet chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder. You can use either semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or you can cut up your favorite bar of semi sweet chocolate. The cocoa powder can be either Dutch processed or regular unsweetened, but my preference is Dutch processed (Valrhona). I love how we do not use an electric mixer to make this batter. It is more like a brownie batter as you just mix everything together in one big bowl until it comes together to form a smooth soft dough (like putty). What's interesting it that once the batter is made, it is divided in half, and left to sit on the counter for about an hour or until it is firm enough to roll into a 5 inch (12.5 cm) log shape. Now, due to the texture of the dough, when you roll it, it has a tendency to flatten, so the shape is more oblong than round. But don't worry, this can be recitified. Just roll each log in a piece of parchment or wax paper and place in the refrigerator. Then, after about an hour of chilling, simply remove each log from the refrigerator and re-roll into a round shape and place back in the refrigerator (you may have to repeat this step a few times until you get a nice round shape) until the logs are firm (several hours or preferably overnight). At this point the logs can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or they can be frozen for about a month. That means you can have cookies on demand so you don't have to bake the entire log at once. Slice off as many thin rounds as you like and bake just until firm to the touch. Let cool and as you wait make the creamy sweet filling which is actually a confectioners frosting made with confectioners sugar (powdered or icing), butter, vanilla extract, and a little miilk. The good thing is that the filling, like the cookies, can be made and stored in the refrigerator for about 10 days. Just bring to room temperature before using.

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