My husband gave me the greatest gift ever. He took our two boys to New York City for an overnight adventure. They left at 9:30 A.M. and did not return for another 24 hours. I think they planned to go to the Bronx Zoo, and out to eat, and… well, the point is I didn’t care what they were going to do. That morning I had the biggest smile on my face while I was getting them all ready. It wasn’t until Cameron started to cry when he said good-bye to me that I felt a pang of guilt. The smallest pang. I just couldn’t wait to be alone! I couldn’t wait to clean up my house, and bake without distraction, and drink an entire cup of coffee without ever having to reheat it, and take a glorious nap. It was a dream day that ended with a fabulous girls’ night at my friend Tallie’s place. By the time my boys came home I was ready to reclaim my family. I woke up missing them. I couldn’t wait to hear Cameron say, “Mom, do you know something…” and then tell me about something I probably knew already. And I couldn’t wait for Wesley to grab on to my leg tightly and kiss my knee. I couldn’t wait to be with them again. I happily took them to the park to play “lion catchers: we catch escape zoo lions”. After about 30 minutes of this I couldn’t wait to be alone again. Motherhood. It messes with you.
Milk chocolate strawberry jams are a play on the good old-fashioned chocolate covered strawberries. These cookies are bursting with vanilla, milk chocolate, strawberry and rum flavors. I got the recipe from Susie Norris & Susan Heeger’s Hand-Crafted Candy Bars: From Scratch, All Natural, Gloriously Grown-Up Confections. This is the second recipe in a row that I’ve used from this book. They really have fabulous recipes. Okay, so you start with a very vanilla, shortbread-like cookie. Easy to make and easy to bake.
Next, you make a milk chocolate ganache. Place a bowl of milk chocolate over a saucepan of boiled water and let it soften.
Remove the bowl of chocolate from the saucepan, and pour in a mixture of hot cream, salt, and vanilla.
Slowly stir.
And stir until it becomes smooth and glossy. Next stir in the rum (completely optional). Refrigerate the ganache for about 30 minutes.
Pipe out, or spread the ganache over each cookie, and then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt.
Finally, add some strawberry jam, and a strawberry slice. Enjoy!
- 2 cups (250 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 cup (225 g) Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1 Vanilla Bean, scraped
- ¾ cup (150 g) Sugar
- 1 Large Egg and 1 Egg Yolk
- 3 TBS Heavy Cream
- 1 TBS Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup (155 g) high quality Milk Chocolate, finely chopped
- ¾ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp. Salt
- 1 TBS Dark Rum (optional)
- Sea Salt
- Strawberry Jam
- Sliced Strawberries
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl.
- In a bowl connected to standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and vanilla seeds together until combined. Add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the whole egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and heavy cream. Mix until combined. Add the flour/salt mixture, and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Shape the dough into a flat disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly flour a clean work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thick. Cut out the cookies using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are lightly browned around the edges. Cool on wire rack.
- Heat 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Once it comes to a boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and place a heat-proof bowl containing the chopped milk chocolate over top. Be sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the hot water.
- In another saucepan, bring the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt to a simmer.
- Remove the bowl of milk chocolate from the saucepan once it has softened. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate, and set aside for 1 minute. Afterwards, stir the mixture slowly until it smooths out (about 3 minutes). Finally, stir in the rum. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until it becomes a good spreading/piping consistency.
- Pipe or spread the chocolate ganache over each cookie. Sprinkle the top of the ganache with a pinch of sea salt. Top that with a ½ teaspoon of strawberry jam, and then garnish with a strawberry slice. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Bowl connected to standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
- Rolling pin
- 3-inch round cookie cutter
- Parchment paper
- Plastic wrap
- 2 saucepans
- Piping bag fitted with a star tip (optional)
