CrémeBrulée
Assistant Cook
Sarah Bernhardt cookies
These delicious confections were created in honour of and named after actress Sarah Bernhardt. They are a great favourite of mine, and I try to make some every year for Christmas. They are well worth the effort.
Macaroons:
400 g. finely ground, blanched almonds
600 ml. icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
5 eggs, separated
Mix together the ground almonds and icing sugar. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold in the almond/sugar mixture. With a teaspoon, put small dollops of dough on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, and bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are a light golden colour. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula while still hot. Allow to cool completely before adding the filling.
Filling:
150 ml. sugar
2 tbs. baking cocoa
150 ml. water
300 g. butter, soft
2 1/2 tsp. instant coffee powder (optional)
Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and cook until the sugar is melted and a thin syrup has formed. Remove from the heat and cool. Beat the egg yolks until light and fluffy and slowly pour the cooled syrup into them, stirring constantly. Add the soft butter and mix well. Add cocoa and instant coffee powder (if using). Put in the refrigerator to cool. Spread the cooled crème on the underside of each cookie, forming a small mound in the center. Put in the refrigerator. The crème needs to be cold and stiff before proceeding on to the next step.
Coating:
250 g. dark chocolate (I always need more, at least 300 g.)
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Cool to about 40°C (use a candy thermometer). Coat the crème-covered part of the cookies with melted chocolate. Serve cool or frozen with hot cocoa or strong coffee.
-These cookies can be stored frozen. I once forgot a batch in the freezer until Easter, and they were fine, so they will keep at least four months frozen in a tightly closed container.
-Try different flavours of crème fillings - any recipe for buttercream icing can be used.
-I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure that Nutella would make a lovely filling...
These delicious confections were created in honour of and named after actress Sarah Bernhardt. They are a great favourite of mine, and I try to make some every year for Christmas. They are well worth the effort.
Macaroons:
400 g. finely ground, blanched almonds
600 ml. icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
5 eggs, separated
Mix together the ground almonds and icing sugar. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold in the almond/sugar mixture. With a teaspoon, put small dollops of dough on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, and bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are a light golden colour. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula while still hot. Allow to cool completely before adding the filling.
Filling:
150 ml. sugar
2 tbs. baking cocoa
150 ml. water
300 g. butter, soft
2 1/2 tsp. instant coffee powder (optional)
Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and cook until the sugar is melted and a thin syrup has formed. Remove from the heat and cool. Beat the egg yolks until light and fluffy and slowly pour the cooled syrup into them, stirring constantly. Add the soft butter and mix well. Add cocoa and instant coffee powder (if using). Put in the refrigerator to cool. Spread the cooled crème on the underside of each cookie, forming a small mound in the center. Put in the refrigerator. The crème needs to be cold and stiff before proceeding on to the next step.
Coating:
250 g. dark chocolate (I always need more, at least 300 g.)
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Cool to about 40°C (use a candy thermometer). Coat the crème-covered part of the cookies with melted chocolate. Serve cool or frozen with hot cocoa or strong coffee.
-These cookies can be stored frozen. I once forgot a batch in the freezer until Easter, and they were fine, so they will keep at least four months frozen in a tightly closed container.
-Try different flavours of crème fillings - any recipe for buttercream icing can be used.
-I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure that Nutella would make a lovely filling...
