Thursday, April 15, 2010

Chocolate Rings and Viennese Linzer Squares

Frankly rolled cookies like the Chocolate Rings are at best a labor of love and at worst a pain. The dough is very buttery and so it rests in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. When you take it out it is as hard as a rock so you have to beat it with the rolling pin. Nice image. Then you flour the surface and the rolling pin and the dough still sticks as you roll it out ... well you get the picture. It is a mess. Finally I resorted to rolling the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap. Also this recipe for whatever reason specified a ring shape. I could have cut the dough into any shape I chose but I honored the recipe and voila, chocolate cookies in the form of rings. In this recipe the chocolate comes in the form of cocoa powder versus melted chocolate. I am not a fan of chocolate so the cookie tastes okay to me but not great. 
The distinguishing characteristic of Linzer-type dough is the addition of hazelnuts. This version is a bar cookie. In this case the dough was formed in the food processor. The Viennese Linzer Squares were interesting to put together, half of the dough is laid down in the bottom of the pan then you put the raspberry preserves and then you pipe a criss-cross design on the top and pop it into the oven. As you may recall this was my second try with this recipe. In my first attempt I forgot the sugar and it turned out terribly - sort of edible but the dough didn't spread as it baked. So sugar is important. This version emerged from the oven light and fluffy and tastes great. 

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