By Chris Morocco, Epicurious
Melt tahini with chocolate in whatever shade you please for a glossy bittersweet filling that will sandwich together rich cocoa shortbreads. As long as you have one large and one small cookie cutter, they don’t have to be the same shape. Feel free to mix and match diamonds, squares, and teardrops.
Melt tahini with chocolate in whatever shade you please for a glossy bittersweet filling that will sandwich together rich cocoa shortbreads. As long as you have one large and one small cookie cutter, they don’t have to be the same shape. Feel free to mix and match diamonds, squares, and teardrops.
Yield
Makes 20–30 (depending on size)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- White sanding sugar (for sprinkling)
- 1/2 cup white, milk, or dark chocolate chips or wafers (disks, pistoles, fèves)
- 2 Tbsp. tahini
Special Equipment
- Assorted 2"–3" and 1"–1 1/2" cookie cutters
Preparation
- Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and 1 tsp. salt in a medium bowl to combine. Beat granulated sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat to incorporate about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients. Beat just until the dough comes together. Divide in half and pat each into a disk; wrap tightly in plastic. Chill just long enough that dough is rollable and no longer sticky, about 30 minutes.
- Working one at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper until 1/8" thick. Slide onto baking sheets, still sandwiched between parchment, and chill until very firm, about 1 hour.
- Place racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350°F. Carefully peel away top sheets of parchment from the dough and punch out cookies with larger cutters. Punch out centers of half of the cookies with smaller cutters. Carefully transfer whole cookies with a spatula to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing 1" apart. Sprinkle remaining cut-out cookies with sanding sugar, then transfer to another parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake cookies until edges are set, 7–10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets. Repeat process with scraps (chill the dough again before punching out shapes).
- Melt chocolate and tahini in a bowl in a microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring after each, until chocolate is melted (or melt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water; do not let bowl touch water). Stir to combine and season with salt. Spread filling over whole cookies; top with cut-out cookies.
Do Ahead
Cookies can be assembled 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
