Walnut Shaped Cookies with Chocolate Ganache Filling Chocolate cookies walnut cake delicious dessert 

 

Walnut Shaped Cookies with Chocolate Ganache Filling

I am sure that many of you know these delicious homemade cookies. They are exquisite, beautiful and very tasteful. Nice flavored and tender, stuffed with various fillings, from marmalade to buttercream and from caramel to Nutella, these cookies are just wonderful. I’ve known them since childhood and I’ve always loved them. They are traditional holiday cookies in my country (Romania) since forever. I believe that every Romanian mom used to prepare them for her kids. I guess these cookies came from Russia (Печенье „Орешки” – Oreshki) but they traveled all the world, from Turkey (Ceviz şeklinde kurabiyeler) to Indonesia (Makanan ringan manis berbentuk seperti kenari) and South Korea (Hodugwaja 호두과자); from Spain (Galletas de la forma de las nueces) to Armenia (ԹԽՎԱԾՔԱԲԼԻԹ «ԸՆԿՈՒՅԶ»); from Germany (Walnuss-Form-Plätzchen) to Israel (אגוזי עוגיות); from Czechia (Plněné ořechy) and Poland (Ciasteczka orzeszki) to Nederlands (Koekjes in de vorm van een okkernoot); from France (Biscuits en forme de noix) to Alger (El Djouza) and Tunis (Zouza).

The dough is quite classic and it contains butter, eggs, sugar and flour. Flavors are optional and added to taste: rum, lemon, vanilla. The traditional filling is made from ground biscuits, cocoa and butter (or margarine). I like very much the homemade plum&walnut jam filling. But my daughters love chocolate and for this time I chose to use a chocolate ganache&grounded walnuts filling. The result was incredible 🙂

 

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Ingredients  Walnut Shaped Cookies with Chocolate Ganache Filling

(for 70-80 walnut cookies)

 

► For the shells

  • 200 g soft butter (60% fat)
  • 100 g vanilated powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 500 g all purpose flour
  • flavors to taste

 

For the chocolate ganache filling

  • 100 g dark chocolate
  • 300 g whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 70-100 g ground walnuts

 

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Directions Walnut Shaped Cookies with Chocolate Ganache Filling

 

• Preparing the shells:

Sift together flour and baking soda. Mix butter with powdered sugar until creamy. Add in order: eggs (one at a time), lemon zest, lemon juice and flavors. Finally incorporate the dry ingredients. You will obtain a chunky cookie dough.

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Wrap it in a plastic foil and put in into the fridge for at least one hour. Then discard the plastic wrap, divide the dough into small pieces of about 6 g each and roll them into a ball shape.

I have metal mold which is actually a press that is used to cook on the stove. Preheat the mold over medium heat. Grease the walnut mold with vegetable oil, top and bottom, using a silicone brush (or a cooking spray). Place a dough ball into each cavity (my mold has 16 cavities) then close the press to give them a walnut shape.

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Keep the mold pressed and cook on top of the stove for about 1-2 minutes (depending on heat intensity), then flip to the other side and cook for another 1-2 minutes. When the cookies are set and lightly brown and they can be removed easily from the mold. You can check if the shells are baked by opening slightly the press.

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Release the cookies from the mold into a large bowl. Grease again the mold and bake another batch of 16 cookies and repeat the procedure until all dough is consumed. From this recipe and using my mold I got 150 shells. Trim the edges of the shells, if necessary (i used a little embroidery scissors).

 

• Preparing the filling:

Chop the chocolate into a large bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 1-2 minutes, then mix (using a sauce whisk) until all chocolate melts and the mixture gets homogeneous. Allow to cool (it needs 30 to 60 minutes depending on season), then add cocoa (if used). Finally incorporate ground walnuts gradually, until the composition is creamy but stable.

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Fill each cookie shell with chocolate-walnut mixture and stick the halves together to make a sandwich cookie which looks like a walnut. Repeat this step with all the cookie shells. These cookies are a bit time-consuming but they worth it. And they can be stored in an airtight container up to 1 week.

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