It is still pretty cold outside, fingers crossed spring will come soon! These cookies will certainly warm you up in the colder months! The soft chewy cookies are packed with spice which complements the sweetness of the caramelised white chocolate ganache really well. These cookies are a perfectly seasonal winter treat! Caramelised white chocolate has increased in popularity over the years and it is such a fun way to add more flavour into white chocolate. It has a very similar taste to a Caramac bar which is pretty great in my opinion! For more info on how to caramelise white chocolate, continue reading!
These are incredibly easy to make, all you need is literally a bowl, spoon and a pan! I can guarantee you’ll make the cookie dough in less than 10 minutes, which is exactly what I need right now when I am craving something sweet. Caramelising the white chocolate does take a little more time, but can be done in advance when you have spare time, and once you’ve caramelised it, it has the same shelf life as regular chocolate. You can even caramelise more chocolate just for a cooking snack…. there are perks to being the chef!
HOW TO CARAMELISE WHITE CHOCOLATE?
It may sound difficult but in fact it is quite simple! If you have the right chocolate and right temperature, you are all set! You will need a baking tray, white chocolate and a spatula. That’s it! The idea is that you place the chocolate into the oven, stirring it often to make sure it doesn’t burn on a low heat until the sugars in the chocolate start to caramelise and go a golden brown colour.
Here are some tips to make Caramelised White Chocolate:
- Make sure to use a good quality white chocolate. It needs to have at least 30% cocoa solids. This will make sure the chocolate has enough fat inside so that it doesn’t dry out
- Keep the oven temperature low! This will make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn
- If the chocolate isn’t really melting, add a little bit of a neutral flavoured oil, sunflower or rapeseed oil, to loosen it to improve it’s fluidity
- Stir every ten minutes or so, so that the chocolate is evenly caramelised. It should take around 1 hour.
- If your chocolate has been in the oven for a while and is looking grainy and lumpy and hasn’t melted at all, this means you need a better quality of chocolate and one that needs more fat. If you can’t find the right chocolate in the supermarket, I recommend ordering online. Amazon sell so much great chocolate. Check it out here
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Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celsius (fan). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Set aside.
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In a bowl, weigh all the cookie ingredients except the butter and golden syrup. Place the butter and syrup in a small pan and place on a medium heat until the butter has completely melted. Add to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough is formed.
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Leave in the bowl and cover with cling film. Chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
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Once chilled and has firmed up. Use scales to make 20g balls of dough. Then place onto the baking tray. Making sure to leave space in between the cookies as they will spread! (This may seem a little long winded but it will be worth it! It will ensure you have equally sized cookies which is important when you are sandwiching them together).
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Place in the oven for 8 minutes, until they have browned around the edges, but are still soft in the middle! Leave to cool on the trays.
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Now for the ganache. You can prepare this in advance if you have time! We will first caramelise the white chocolate. (All the tips for this is in the description in this blog post!). Place the chocolate onto a clean baking tray. Place into the oven at 130 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. Take out and stir, continue to do this until the chocolate has melted and is starting to caramelise and go golden brown. It should take about 60 minutes.
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Once the chocolate has caramelised, keep it liquid and place into a bowl. Heat up the cream in a small pan, once it has started to boil, slowly add the cream to the chocolate in about 3 inclusions, mixing in between each one. Once you’ve got a smooth ganache. Place in the fridge until it has set to a spreadable consistency.
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Place the set ganache into a piping bag, Pipe the ganache into the centre of half of the cookies bases. Then top the remaining cookies on top of the ganache with the cookies that match the size.
