Recipes

Walnut Christmas Cookies with Chocolate Espresso Ganache

Total Time

90 min

Serves

Dietary Fit

Prep Time	90 min
Total Time	90 min

Calories	210 cal
Total Fat	15 g
Carbohydrates	15 g
Protein	3 g

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for 25 cookies

For the Dough

80 g California walnuts
250 g wheat flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
150 g cold butter
70 g icing sugar
1 egg

For the Ganache

150 g dark chocolate (60%)
100 g whipping cream
50 ml espresso

Decoration

approx. 200 g dark chocolate couverture
25 California walnut halves
Flour for rolling out

PREPARATION

Roast the walnuts in a pan without fat until golden brown. Allow to cool and finely grind in a food processor.
Mix the flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add the butter in small pieces and knead everything with your fingers until it forms a fine crumbly mixture, with no visible pieces of butter.
Add the ground walnuts, icing sugar and egg, then quickly mix to form a homogeneous dough. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for approx. 1 hour.
While the dough is resting, prepare the espresso ganache. Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate along with the espresso. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then stir well. Cover the chocolate mixture and place in the fridge to cool for about 1 hour. Check its firmness periodically, it should be spreadable for easy application on the cookies.
Roll out the walnut dough in portions on a floured work surface to a thickness of approx. 5 mm. Cut out approx. 50 cookies. Place the cookies on two baking trays lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven (electric oven: 180 °C/ fan oven: 160 °C) for 8-10 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack.
Melt the dark chocolate couverture over a hot water bath. Dip the tops of half of the baked cookies into the chocolate coating. Place them on baking paper and top each with a walnut half while the chocolate is still liquid. Let it set.
Transfer the ganache into a piping bag with a large opening. Spread it on the remaining cookies. Place the chocolate-coated tops on them and press down gently.