Black Forest Cookies: Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwiches With Kirsch Cherry Jam and White Chocolate Cream

Black forest cookies capture the flavor of the classic cherry-chocolate cake in a small sandwich cookie: cocoa-hazelnut dough, whipped white chocolate cream and cherry jam with a splash of kirsch.

They look like Linzer cookies but taste entirely different. The secret is ground hazelnuts and finely grated dark chocolate right in the dough. After baking, the top cookies with the heart-shaped cutout are dipped in white chocolate and pressed into grated dark chocolate, then everything is joined with a ring of whipped cream and a cherry jam center. The Black Forest in southwest Germany gives the cake, and these cookies, their name.

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Finely grate the 1 oz (25 g) of dark chocolate.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl. Add the ground hazelnuts, salt and the finely grated dark chocolate and mix together.
3. In a second bowl, beat the softened butter with the brown sugar until creamy. Then beat in the egg.
4. Swap the mixer beaters for dough hooks and work in the dry mixture. Finally, knead the dough smooth by hand.
5. Press the dough flat, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
6. Meanwhile, split the white chocolate into two halves (1 3/4 oz / 50 g each) and chop both coarsely.
7. After 1 hour, take out part of the dough (keep the rest chilled) and roll it out on a floured surface. If the dough tears while rolling, knead it briefly by hand, flour it well and roll again.
8. Using a fluted round cutter, cut out half of the cookies with a heart-shaped hole in the center and the other half as solid fluted rounds without a hole. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (72 halves in all, for 36 filled cookies).
9. Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) (top and bottom heat) for 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely.
10. Meanwhile, make the cream: bring the heavy cream to a boil in a saucepan and pour it over the first 1 3/4 oz (50 g) of chopped white chocolate. Stir until smooth and the chocolate has melted completely. Pour into a narrow, tall container and chill in the refrigerator.
11. Melt the remaining 1 3/4 oz (50 g) of white chocolate in a double boiler. Brush the tops of the cooled cookies with the hole with the melted white chocolate, immediately press them into a bowl of grated dark chocolate and set aside to set.
12. Take the chilled white chocolate cream out of the refrigerator and whip it with a mixer until stiff.
13. Turn the solid cookies smooth side down and, with a piping bag fitted with a 3/8-inch (8 mm) plain tip, pipe a ring of white cream around the edge of each.
14. Warm the cherry jam briefly in a saucepan, stir in the kirsch and let it cool slightly. Use a plastic bag with a snipped corner to fill the center of each cream ring with the cherry jam.
15. Finally, place the top cookies with the hole on the bottoms and press lightly. (Alternatively, you can put the top on first and fill the hole with cherry jam afterward.)

Video Recipe

Tips for Perfect Black Forest Cookies

• Chill the dough for the full hour. Cold dough rolls out cleanly and keeps its fluted edge.
• If the dough cracks as you roll, knead it briefly in your hands, flour the surface generously and roll again.
• Chill the white chocolate cream completely before whipping, or it will not get stiff.
• The jam contains kirsch, a cherry brandy, so these cookies contain a little alcohol. For a version without it, leave the kirsch out or replace it with a spoonful of cherry juice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The recipe is based on a version by PuderzuckerZauberland, adapted by the We Cook With Love team.