Mar

22

Corn and spelt cookies coated with chocolate

March 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The other day I cleaned and re-organized my pantry and needless to say I found myself with too many open packages of different types of flour. I had better start using them before it gets too warm, so today I chose to use corn and spelt flour and make cookies which I was craving.

I got this recipe from my mom a long time ago. I copied it because I really liked the cookies, and then I let the recipe sit for several years without ever thinking about making it. I do this a lot with some of my recipes. I collect them knowing that some day I’ll try them, but not right away. Then one day out of the blue I know it’s time for one of them. Today when thinking about the corn flour I had to use, this recipe immediately came to mind.

The corn flour I used is produced by my organic farmer. He plants a variety of corn called mais vitreo, which has a small yield, but in compensation it’s high in quality and flavor. The spelt flour on the other hand comes from an organic mill situated few kilometers from my house. Lately I’ve been using white spelt flour a lot instead of the wheat variety. I like the texture it gives to my preparations as well as a rounder flavor. I also used an organic raw cane sugar as it doesn’t have the strong taste of regular brown sugar, so it can be used in almost all sweets without compromising the taste. To coat the biscuits I chose a bitter sweet chocolate which has 70% cocoa. I prefer a bitter taste to balance the sweetness of the cookies. If you want you can always choose semisweet or even milk chocolate. Make sure that your chocolate has no soy lecithin or other cheap vegetable oils, which nowadays are often added to chocolate. I use the pure chocolate only made with cocoa butter. If there is soy lecithin has to be at least organic which means no GMOs. I personally buy the brand Mascao, an organic and a fair trade product.


Corn and spelt cookies chocolate coated

Ingredients:

1 cup,  corn meal
1 1/2 cups white spelt flour, unbleached all purpose [regular] flour is fine too
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 + 2 Tbsp. raw cane sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 organic lemon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. aluminum free double acting baking powder
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup pine nuts, 1.8 oz.
5-7 oz. bitter sweet chocolate, 70% cocoa*

Makes: 35 cookies

What you need:

2.5 inch. cookie cutter, in case you don’t have one use a glass or a small cup
oven paper
a pastry brush
double boiler or a stainless steel bowl
a wire rack

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan at low heat and set aside.
Sift the two flours and the baking powder and place them together with the sugar in a bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour, pour the butter, the 3 egg yolks and the salt. Combine well with a fork.
Lastly add the pine nuts, the lemon zest and mix the dough with a wooden spoon.
Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
In the meantime heat up the oven to 350°.
Roll the dough 1/4 inch. thick. Cut the cookies using a 2.5 inch. cookie cutter.
Cover the baking sheet with an oven paper and place the cookies.
Bake for 15 minutes and let them cool at least for 5 minutes.
In the meantime melt the chocolate on medium heat, in a double boiler if you have one, otherwise fill one pan with water and then place a smaller one over.
Brush the top of each cookie with the melted chocolate, place them on a wire rack and let them cool.
If you prefer a thicker chocolate layer, spread another coat of chocolate. I only put one in the cookies pictured.

Notes:
* If you coat you cookies once you only need 5 oz. if you coat them twice you need at least 7 oz. chocolate.

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