Gesine's stars

starry starry nights

Starry Starry Nights cookies. They are chocolate rolled in granulated sugar; thus, black and white starry, starry nights.

The grocery closest to home did not have really good chocolate, so I'm making the 'first' batch of these with 60% cacao Ghiradelli chocolate.

Chamboard (a black raspberry flavored liqueur imported from France) and Amaretto (almond liqueur) should pair well with this cookie. I added 1/2 t. to about 3T of batter each, just to test a couple of cookies. The Chamboard is much stronger than the Amaretto in the raw batter.

The cookie dough is now making it's first rest through cooling in the refrigerator. In an hour or so, when the dough is more firm, I'll use the #100 scoop to make little cookies balls, rolling each in granulated sugar (this makes them a Starry Nights). Then, off to the cooler again - freezer this trip - until they are hard as rocks.

Once they are frozen, another roll though the granulated sugar (now they are Starry Starry Nights!) and they are ready for baking.

a couple of days later - -
These are baked from a recipe in "Confections of a Closet Master Baker" by Gesine Bullock-Prado.  This is the cookie version of a chocolate truffle.

We Americans, who use soft wheat flour for baking, may find the almond meal/flour to lend a strange texture to these cookies.  I've been baking with almond meal/flour for a few months, and I like the added texture it gives cookies and cakes.

I mixed the batter, and refrigerated for a couple of days.  Then, with my #100 scoop, I formed the balls, rolled in sugar, and froze for a few days. They baked beautifully, and are delicious!

I stored the cookies in a tin for a couple of weeks.  They remained fresh and flavorful.  Bake a few of these for your 'chocolate lover' friends, and keep a few for your own cookie jar.

Here's the link to a video demo of these cookies.  Gesine makes 'starry starry nights,' and the video is posted on her blog.

enjoy!