Thursday, March 8, 2007

Raspberry and White Chocolate Goodness


I found the recipe for these cookies in a Martha Stewart magazine a year or so ago. I couldn't resist the colors - the beautiful pink middle with golden cookies was enough to make me overlook the fact that I don't like white chocolate. The cookie is buttery and chewy, and would be heavenly enough on its own. And it turns out that I DO like white chocolate when it is mixed with heavy cream and raspberries and stuck between two tasty cookies. The recipe calls for vanilla beans, but being a poor student, I left them out (like I said, the cookies were amazing anyways). The recipe also calls for fresh raspberries (I used frozen), and for straining the raspberry puree so that you are left with just the juice. I did not have a sieve, so I just used the puree. In the end, this resulted in a very tasty raspberry cream, but I had a difficult time determining quantities, and the filling turned out a little on the runny side. Next time I will strain.

Cookies:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbsp butter, softened (calls for unsalted, but I always use salted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
(1 vanilla bean, halved, seeds scraped)

Filling:
1 1/3 cups (fresh) raspberries (1/2 pint)
2 tsp sugar
7 1/2 ounces coarsely chopped white chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream

Make the cookies as you would expect - beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add egg, vanilla (and seeds), then add dry stuff. Use a 1 inch ice cream scoop and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden and beautiful.
For the filling, puree raspberries and sugar in food processor, strain, set aside. Make a ganache with the cream and white chocolate, then add raspberry puree. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then assemble.

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