TKO

My mysterious, tough, and handsome roommate R's parents are in town this week, so we did a family dinner this past Sunday.  He grilled up some fish tacos, I contributed some homemade oreos... and the other guys mostly ate food off of our work surface when I wasn't looking.  It all made for the loveliest of evenings :-).

I started the day planning on making a vegan fig tart with a pear and red wine cream.  How did that progress to homemade oreos you ask?  Well, apparently figs aren't in season (which I should have known) and there are none to be found in the Bay Area.  So the only logical conclusion was to make a dessert whose main ingredients are butter and chocolate.

Oh, that isn't the most logical conclusion?  Well don't judge, because it was the decision I made.  And oh boy, it was a delicious decision.  This is the infamous Thomas Keller Oreo recipe that consists of a chocolate shortbread cookie made from high quality cocoa powder with white chocolate ganache sandwiched in-between.  The dough took a little bit of love to come together, but once it did, it turned into this sultry, uber chocolatey business... whose flavor I BARELY tasted while baking, nope... not even a bite.  I wasn't really interested in the buttery chocolate mess that covered my hands.  Nope, not me.  Lucky for me, while rolling the dough out, my wild-eyed and unwashed roommate M (who hadn't slept more than 4 hours in 2 days) came crawling in and eagerly stuffed this dough into his unshaven face.  So with him as my taste tester, I confidentially put the chocolate shortbread cookies in the oven.

In walks my jovial but special (also my partner in all beignet related crimes) roommate N, to assist with both the post-baking taste testing and with the disposal of the excess dough (he is taking a pottery class that came in handy).

I allowed the chocolate shortbread to cool, and then piped the white chocolate ganache between two cookies.  If you can get through this whole recipe without losing at least 6 cookies worth of dough, then I commend you (and that is with or without living with 3 male engineers).  Another thought, kindly put forth by tall, dark, and handsome R's mom, was that this dough would make a delicious pie crust... genius!  I'm thinking filling it with some sort of banana coconut business?

Thomas Keller's Oreo

Materials:

• 1/2 heavy cream
• 8 oz white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpous flour 
• 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baked soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 15 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks and brought to room temperature 

Method:
For the filling

1. Bring the heavy cream to a boil over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the white chocolate.
3. Allow to sit for 1 minute.
4. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and incorporated.
5. Place in refrigerator while you make the cookies.

For the cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Work in the butter, one chunk at a time until it forms a dough.
• I did this by hand, and it ended up taking a while... so don't be alarmed if at first it is a crumbly mess... just keep working it!
4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into two balls.
5. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.
6. Cut out the cookies with a 2 inch cookie cutter.
• Confession: I don't own any cookie cutters, so I used the rim of a wine glass.
7. Transfer the cookies to baking sheet.
8. Repeat this for the second ball of dough, and then again for any scrap pieces.
9. Bake for 12 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheet for about 5 minutes, for the cookies will be very fragile at this point.
11. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool.

To assemble

1. Lay out half off the cookies with the bottom side up.
2. Remove the ganache from the refrigerator and whip to fluff up and then transfer to piping bag.
3. Top each bottom with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the filling.
4. Top with another cookie and press lightly to disperse filling.
5. I suggest popping them in the refrigerator for a few before serving, to allow the filling to set up again.
6. Enjoy!