white chocolate and orange cookies
Are you celebrating New Year’s Eve with the children, desperately trying to keep awake over yet another board or computer game? With a big party and lots of friends? Or maybe with your lover on a soft rug in front of a log fire? Sweet nibbles and a glass of champagne are compulsory in any setting! These white chocolate and orange cookies in the form of champagne glasses are my take on the traditional Basler brunsli from Switzerland. The dough for the white chocolate and orange cookies feels a lot like soft clay, so you can form them easily by hand. The cookies are sweet, orangey and taste great with a glass filled with New Year’s Eve bubbles.
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White chocolate and orange cookies
for about 20 cookies
225 grams sugar + extra for rolling out
250 grams blanched almonds
175 grams white chocolate
2 egg whites
grated rind of 1 (unwaxed organic) orange
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon orange flavored liqueur (Cointreau)
In a food processor blend the sugar with the almonds until finely ground. Break the chocolate in pieces and add to the mixture. Blend again until the chocolate is also finely ground.
Add the egg whites, the grated rind, the salt and the liqueur and bring together in a sticky ball of dough. Leave to firm up in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
Sprinkle sugar on a sheet of baking paper and roll out the dough until it is about ¾cm/⅓inch thick. Use a piece of cling film to cover the dough so that it will not stick to your rolling pin. Cut out the cookies with a cutter or form them by hand and carefully move them to a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Leave them to dry uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or 1 night.
Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for 10-12 mins. for nice chewy cookies. Leave to cool on the cookie sheet.
This post is also available in: Dutch
