Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (68 page)

Let the cookies stand on the sheet for a minute or so to firm, and then slide the foil off the sheet and transfer the cookies with a wide metal spatula to racks to cool. Store airtight.

NOTE:
If, after the cookies have cooled, they are not crisp, you may replace them in the oven briefly to bake a bit longer.

Chocolate and Peanut-Butter Crescents

66
C
OOKIES

These are small, candylike cookies that take time and patience. They have a crisp chocolate dough wrapped around a peanut-butter filling and are formed into crescent shapes.

COOKIE DOUGH

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ pound (1 stick) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon dry powdered instant coffee or espresso

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt and set aside. In the large bowl of mixer cream the butter. Beat in the vanilla and sugar. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly mixed. On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating until thoroughly mixed. Transfer the dough to a small bowl for ease in handling and set aside at room temperature.

Prepare the following filling.

FILLING

½ cup smooth (not chunky) peanut butter

½ cup strained or sifted confectioners sugar

In a small bowl thoroughly mix the peanut butter and the sugar, or place them on a work surface and knead them together with your hands.

Adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

To shape the cookies: On a large piece of wax paper or aluminum foil place the cookie dough in mounds, using a slightly rounded teaspoonful (no more) of the dough for each mound—in order not to make them too large it is best to measure with a measuring spoon. Instead of doing all at once you may prefer to measure only a fourth or a half of the dough at one time.

Then do the same with the filling, using a level ¾ measuring teaspoon for each mound. Roll them
between your hands into small balls. If it is too sticky to handle simply leave it in mounds and use a knife or small spatula to lift the mounds. Place these on other pieces of wax paper or foil.

Pick up one mound of the dough, roll it between your hands into a ball, and flatten it between your palms until it is very thin. Then, place one ball or mound of the filling in the center of the flattened dough. With your fingers bring the dough around the filling and pinch the edges to seal. Roll the filled dough between your hands into a cylindrical shape about 2 inches long with very slightly tapered ends. Place the cookie on an unbuttered cookie sheet and as you do, turn the ends down slightly to form a short, fat crescent.

Continue shaping the cookies and placing them ½ to 1 inch apart—these do not spread.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are barely firm to the touch. Reverse the cookie sheet front to back once to insure even baking.

OPTIONAL TOPPING:
Confectioners sugar or vanilla sugar (see Note). While the cookies are baking spread out a large piece of wax paper or aluminum foil and sift or strain 1 to 2 cups of the sugar onto the paper or foil, forming a mound of sugar.

As soon as the cookies are done immediately transfer them with a wide metal spatula to the mound of sugar and roll the cookies around to coat them thoroughly with the sugar.

Then place the cookies on another piece of paper or foil to cool. When the cookies are cool, roll them again in the sugar.

NOTE:
To make vanilla sugar: This must be prepared ahead but can be kept for a long time (and can be used for topping all kinds of cakes and cookies). You will need a few vanilla beans (available in specialty food stores). Place the beans on a board and with a sharp knife split them the long way. Fill a 1-quart jar that has a tight cover with confectioners sugar and bury the beans in the sugar. Cover tightly and let stand for at least several days or a week before using—the sugar will have absorbed the flavor of the beans. Sift or strain the sugar immediately before using, as it will absorb some moisture from the beans and become lumpy—it will have to be strained again even if it was done beforehand. As the sugar is used it may be replaced. If you replace the sugar often, the bean itself should be replaced after a month or two.

Chocolate Tartlets

60-75
T
INY
T
ARTLETS

These are tiny cookie cups with a baked in chewy chocolate filling. To make these dainty French cookies it is necessary to use very small, shallow individual tartlet molds; they may be plain or fluted. Mine are French; they are assorted shapes and they vary in diameter from about 1 to 2 inches. There are Scandinavian ones, generally a little larger, made for Sandbakelser cookies—they may be used for these tartlets. Or you may use plain round, shallow French tartlet pans about 2 to 2¾ inches in diameter and ¾ inch deep. These little pans should be washed with only hot soapy water; anything rougher would cause the cookies to stick. Don’t make these if you are in a hurry; they take time.

FILLING

4 ounces (generous ½ cup) blanched almonds

6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate morsels

2 eggs

1 teaspoon instant coffee

¼ teaspoon almond extract

½ cup granulated sugar

In a food processor, a blender, or a nut grinder, grind together the almonds and the chocolate—these must be ground fine. (In a blender it will probably be best to do it in two batches, using half of the nuts and half of the chocolate in each batch.) Set aside.

In the small bowl of an electric mixer at high speed beat the eggs for about 5 minutes until very thick and pale in color. On low speed mix in the coffee, almond extract, and sugar, and then gradually beat in the ground almond-chocolate mixture. Transfer to a small, shallow bowl for ease in handling and set aside at room temperature.

PASTRY

6 ounces (1½ sticks) butter

Scant ¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup granulated sugar

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer (with clean beaters) cream the butter. Mix in the salt, vanilla, and sugar, and then gradually add the flour, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula. The mixture will be crumbly. Turn it out onto a board or smooth work surface. Squeeze it between your hands until it holds together. Then, with the heel of your hand, break off small pieces of dough (about 2 tablespoonfuls at a time), pushing away from you on the work surface. Form the dough into a ball. If it is not completely smooth break it again.

Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

With your fingertips press a small amount of the dough into each tartlet mold (the molds do not have to be buttered). The pastry shell should be ¼ inch thick or a little less, and it should be level with the rim of the mold—use your fingertip to remove excess dough above the rim.

Place the molds on a cookie sheet or a jelly-roll pan. With a demitasse spoon or a small measuring spoon, place some of the filling in each shell. The filling may be mounded a bit above the edges but only a very little bit or it will run over. It is not necessary to smooth the filling, as it will run slightly and smooth itself as it bakes.

Bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is barely colored. Reverse the cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan front to back once to insure even browning. Do not overbake these or the filling will be dry instead of chewy.

Remove from the oven and let stand until just cool enough to handle. Then invert each mold into the palm of your hand and, with a fingernail of the other hand, gently release and remove the mold.

NOTE:
If you do not have enough molds to bake these all at once the remaining pastry and filling may wait at room temperature.

A Note About the Author

MAIDA HEATTER is the author of seven dessert books, the latest being
Maida Heatter’s Brand-New Book of Great Cookies
. Two of her previous books—
Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Cookies
and the
New York Times
best-seller
Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts
—were awarded the James Beard Book Award. She is the daughter of Gabriel Heatter, the radio commentator. She studied fashion at Pratt Institute and has done fashion illustrating and designing, made jewelry, and painted. But her first love has always been cooking. She taught it in classes in her home, in department stores, and at cooking schools across the country. For many years she made all the desserts for a popular Miami Beach restaurant owned by her late husband, Ralph Daniels.

She prepared the desserts for the 1983 Summit of Industrialized Nations at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, for President Reagan and six other heads of state.

Ms. Heatter’s late daughter, Toni Evins, a painter and illustrator, did the drawings for the first six of Ms. Heatter’s books.

Photographs of chocolate by Susan Mitchell.