Bonus Recipe: Spiced Chocolate & Buckwheat Spritz Cookies
Just in case y’all need one more cookie recipe, these warming gluten-free cookies hit the spot.
A gift for you! A bonus recipe! Just in case y’all need one more cookie recipe. I promise that these are easy and quick to make.
Before I get to the recipe, I want to thank all of you who read this newsletter. I’m still in a bit of shock when I see people making my recipes out in the wild. I used to sit and write recipes for myself, or jot down some perspectives on cooking or baking. I never expected anyone to read them. I would occasionally send recipes to a friend or family member who asked. But I never thought about putting them out in the world. But now I think about you all when I develop recipes and write these newsletters. Thanks a bunch!
What else is on my holiday baking list? I’m glad you asked.
Lots of Stollen. I’ve made at least six loaves so far this December. I made two yesterday: one tropical variation and one focused on tart cherries and apricots.
Rye lebkucken filled with plum butter from the wonderful Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss
Vanillekipferl, also from Classic German Baking
Tahini Regini from Susan Spungen
Eggnog Spritz cookies, obviously
Nut-free macarons (made with ground sunflower seeds) with strawberry ganache (recipe coming your way…someday)
Lemon Verbena sugar cookies that helped me win star baker!
Cheese Puffs aka Gougeres for Christmas appetizers
I haven’t made this thing before…but I really want to make a salmon wellington. Does anyone have a great recipe?
Chocolate & Cherry Yule Log
On the Yule Log
This is one of the best things I baked all month. It’s not that I’m tired of cookies, but I really needed to branch out. I went extra. I used this ingenious chocolate Yule log recipe by Stella Parks. I filled it with tart cherry whipped cream, spiked with Kirsch and studded with chopped amarena cherries (fancy cocktail cherries). I covered it in an amaretto-flavored chocolate ganache. I even managed to make vanilla bean meringue mushrooms and peppermint toadstools, stuck together with well-tempered chocolate. (I find tempering chocolate so annoying.) In a bit of a show-off move, I brought it to my pottery class potluck. (The meringue mushrooms fit perfectly in an egg carton for transport!) It disappeared fast. I see many more yule logs in my future.
On to the recipe!
Spiced Chocolate & Buckwheat Spritz Cookies (Gluten Free)
The combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and chili warms me up in the winter, and it's a welcome way diversify your spice cookie or chocolate cookie game. You can tweak the type and amount of chili to your liking. I like the combination of dried ancho for fruitiness and ground chipotle for heat and smokiness. I cannot pass the container of these without grabbing one.
For all of the tips and tricks for making great spritz cookies, check out my previous newsletter.
Makes about 4-6 dozen small spritz cookies.
227 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, preferably Kerrygold, at cool room temperature
150 g (3/4 cup) sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons dried ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried chipotle powder (or 1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper)
1 large egg yolk
1 Tablespoon heavy cream (or half-and-half...or milk in a pinch)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
45 g (1/2 cup) Dutch-process cocoa powder
240 g (2 cups) buckwheat flour
Nonparaeils, sprinkles, or course turbinado sugar for decorating
Heat the oven to 375F with a rack on the top third of the oven. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ancho chili, and chipotle powder. With a paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute, then increase to medium-low speed and beat for 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl and paddle. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and cream together with a fork. Add the yolk mix and vanilla extract and beat on medium-low speed for about 30 seconds to combine. Scrape the bowl and the paddle, then add the cocoa powder. Mix on low speed to combine thoroughly then add the buckwheat flour. Pulse the mixture until the flour is moistened and then mix on lowest speed for a few seconds until the batter comes together into a soft, sticky dough. (There's no gluten, so you don't have to worry about over-mixing the dough!) It’s a soft dough, but it shouldn't stick to your fingers too much.
Fill your cookie press. I fill my press by rolling a bit of dough into a log first, then putting it into the press. (Check your cookie press instructions for other tips on filling it.) Press the cookies out onto a clean, dry, unlined, ungreased sheet pan according to the manufacturer's instructions. Or fill a piping bag with a large open star nozzle and pipe the cookies into 1 ½ inch round wreaths or circles. Sprinkle your sprinkles.
Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes. It's hard to tell when chocolate cookies are fully bake, but mine are always done at 11 minutes, 12 if I am baking them from frozen. Everyone's oven works differently, so keep an eye on these cookies.
Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully take them off the pan and put them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
These cookies last in an airtight container for 4-6 days.
Happy Baking & Happy Holidays,
Martin
I'm coming to Chicago for the holidays this year!