Ground Chocolate Cookie Wafer Base Recipes

FAMOUS CHOCOLATE WAFER COOKIES/CHOCOLATE SNAPS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar, egg, water and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute.
• Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
• Chill dough for at least an hour.
• Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
• Roll 1/8 inch thcik. Use a round cutter to cut 2 1/4 inch circles. Place circles on lined baking sheets and bake for 17 minutes or until they start to smell and appear done.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE WAFER COOKIES

Steps:

• In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pulse the ingredients a few times to combine thoroughly. Dollop the butter around the dry ingredients and pulse a few more times until the butter starts to incorporate and large chunks begin to form. Mix the milk and vanilla together in a small bowl. With the mixer running, pour the milk mixture into the feeding tube in a slow and even stream until the cookie crumb mixture starts to form together and ball up on the sides of the bowl.
• Transfer the cookie dough to a work surface and knead it a couple of times to fully incorporate all of the ingredients. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a long and narrow log, about 1 ¼ inches to 1 ¾ inches in diameter. Depending on how large you want your wafer cookies to be will determine how thick to form the log. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to a week.
• Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Slice the dough logs into approximately ⅛-inch thick slices and lay the dough rounds on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. I formed my dough into 1 ¼-inch diameter logs and was able to fit 24 cookies on each of my baking sheets.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans from back to front and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. The cookies will be finished baking about 1 ½ minutes after the puffed-up dough deflates so try to keep an eye on them. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely - they will crisp up as they cool.

CHOCOLATE WAFER CRUST

Steps:

• Mix crumbs and melted butter or margarine until well blended. Press into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Chill until firm.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUST

Steps:

• Put the cookies in the container of a food processor; process them until they are finely ground.
• Transfer crumbs to a mixing bowl; combine crumbs, butter, salt, and vanilla; stir until the crumbs are moistened.
• Press mixture evenly across the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate and all the way up the sides of the pan; pack tightly so crust is even and compacted.
• Bake in a 350° oven for 6-8 minutes or until crisp.
• Let cool completely before filling.
• May wrap crust in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 month.

ALICE MEDRICH'S REAL CHOCOLATE WAFERS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy; add the sugars and vanilla and beat on high speed for about one minute.
• Beat in the milk.
• On low speed, beat in the flour mixture, just until incorporated.
• Gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a neat 9 to 10 inch log.
• Wrap it in wax paper, folding or twisting the ends of the paper without pinching or flattening the roll (you may find it easier to improve the shape of your roll after it has chilled a bit).
• Chill for at least 45 minutes or until needed (The dough can be refrigerated for up to three days and frozen for up to three months).
• Place your oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and pre-heat to 350 degrees F.
• Lightly grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
• Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of the chilled dough a scant 1/4 inch thick. Place them one inch apart on baking sheets.
• Bake ten to twelve minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
• The cookies will puff and crackle on top, then settle down slightly when done.
• Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
• Store in an air-tight container for up to two weeks, or freeze up to two months.

CHOCOLATE WAFER COOKIES (LIKE NABISCO CHOCOLATE WAFER COOKIES)

Steps:

• Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler, over hot water, on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted, then uncover and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool slightly.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter.
• Add the vanilla and sugar, and beat to mix well.
• Add the melted chocolate, and beat until incorporated. Then add the light cream or milk and the egg, and beat to mix well.
• On low speed add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula, and beating only until incorporated.
• Place the dough on a piece of wax paper, fold the sides of the paper over the dough, and press down on the paper to flatten the dough to a scant 1" thickness.
• Wrap in the waxed paper and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes (no longer or the dough will crack when you roll it out). (However, if you do refrigerate it for longer (even overnight) let it stand at room temperature for about 1 hour before rolling it out.)
• Adjust two racks to divide oven into thirds, and preheat oven to 400.
• Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil.
• Flour a pastry cloth and place the dough on it. (If you have doubled the recipe, roll only half of the dough at a time.)
• With a floured rolling pin (which should be refloured frequently to avoid sticking), roll the dough out until it is only 1/8" thick (thin). I use a round cookie cutter that is 2 3/4" in diameter. Use any size you like, and cut the cookies as close to each other as possible.
• Place the cookies 1/2" apart on the aluminum foil. (It might be necessary to transfer the cookies from the pastry cloth to the foil with a wide metal spatula. Handle them carefully in order to keep them perfectly round and flat.
• Leftover pieces of the dough should be pressed together and rerolled.
• Bake 2 sheets at a time, for 7-8 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom, and front to back once, to insure even taking.
• Bake until the cookies feel almost firm to the touch.
• These are supposed to be crisp (they will become more crisp as they cool) and they should not be underbaked, but watch them carefully to be sure they do not burn. (If you bake one sheet at a time, bake it on the upper rack.)
• With a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to racks to cool.
• Store in airtight container.

GROUND CHOCOLATE COOKIE WAFER BASE

Steps:

• Chef's Note: If you want to add a hint of peppermint, add two drops of pure peppermint oil to the batter when mixing.
• Combine all the dry ingredients into the clean bowl of a food processor, fitted with an S-blade, and pulse a few times until thoroughly combined.
• Sprinkle the butter cubes over the surface of the dry ingredients, and do about 10 pulses, of one second each, or until the butter is thoroughly combined.
• Chef's Note: In some recipes I freeze the butter, but not this one. After the butter is cut into small cubes, I usually return it to the refrigerator on a small tray. When I need it, I remove it from the fridge, and let it stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes before adding to the dry ingredients.
• Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl, and with the food processor running at low speed, slowly add the liquid.
• Continue to process until the mixture is thoroughly combined. It should resemble a thick, but pliable dough.
• Remove from food processer, and kneed a few times just to make sure all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Form the dough into a log, about 2 inches thick. The thickness does not have to be precise, just get close.
• Tightly wrap the log in cling foil, or wax paper, and place in the refrigerator for two hours.
• Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 350f (176c).
• Remove the log from the refrigerator, and slice into 1/4-inch (.6mm) medallions.
• Baking Tip: The cookies will expand during the baking process; so place them about 1 inch (2.5mm) apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes; rotating the baking sheet back-to-front half way through the process.
• Chef's Note: While watching these cookies bake, they will puff up, and then collapse. I've noticed that they are usually done about a minute after they collapse.
• Remove from oven, and place on a cooling rack.
• Chef's Note: The cookies will crisp as they cool. If they are still a bit moist, you need to cook them longer.
• Chef's Tip: Since all ovens are not created equal, it might be a good idea to do a few test cookies until you get the temperature and timing right.
• Take the crisp cookie medallions and place them into the clean bowl of a food processor fitted with an S-Blade.
• Use 1-second pulses until the medallions are ground into an even crumb. About 6 to 8 pulses should do the trick.
• Chef's Note: Don't pulse too many times, or you'll wind up with chocolate dust. Stop and check occasionally. As one of our teachers said: You can always add another pulse, but you can't take one away.
• Place the chocolate crumbs in a tightly sealed Ziploc bag, and place in the freezer until your recipe calls for them. They should store nicely for 4 to 6 months.
• Chef's Note: In the near future, I will be posting some pie, and tart recipes that call for this kind of base... YUM !!!
• Keep the faith, and keep cooking.