Chocolate Cookies with Cappuccino Ganache

Three days in Rome practicly flew, and what I have now are memories, photographs and a terrible backache.  I hate hotels (at least those that I can afford to stay in) for those horrible stiff matresses. Sore feet were nothing compared to the pain I'm still feeling in my back. I've been walking like an old lady, making my kids laugh, of course. But never mind, seeing and visiting Rome was special enough to pay off for all the effort and consequences, no matter how unpleasant they might be.

A few days before we left for Rome, I happened to be walking around the shops and as usual entered in one of the bookshops. I'm always hoping to find a surprise, but it rarely happens. My dream is to find a shelf full of international cookbooks, but they rarely go further than the translation of 2 or 3 Jamie Oliver's books. Which is fine, but not even nearly enough to satisfy my thirst for cookbooks. A quick check, however,  nothing new, and just when I was about to turn around and leave, I glanced upon a section that had nothing to do with cookbooks, just to find out that one of the cookbooks I've been wanting to buy for some time now, and was somehow planning to get myself as a Christmas gift at least, was 25% off. Well, if that wasn't a good enough excuse to grab it...
With a satisfied smile on my face I hurried home and didn't even get to fix myself something for lunch before I checked it thoroughly from the first to the last page. And then once more... I wasn't surprised that at least dozen recipes looked so inviting that I wanted to make them immediately, but to find myself craving the coffee flavoured cookies most, oh, yes, that was more than a surprise. You see, I can say I'm a coffee addict. I simpy believe that if I don't drink a big cup of strong Italian moka first thing in the morning I'll probably faint within half an hour. But coffee flavour in desserts, cakes, ice cream or whatever else, just doesn't appeal to me, at all. Even Tiramisù, the classical coffee flavoured one, is not on my list of favourite desserts, but if made with fruit, without coffee, I'll finish it off by myself  ^__^
So, whatever it was that made me choose these cookies, I'm grateful. That coffee flavoured white chocolate ganache tasting like the finest cappuccino, only better, was so good, and I say soooooooooo good, that I had to make it twice. Simply because I finished half of it with a spoon and million ideas swirling through my head of other possible uses (ice cream being only one of them).
The book itself, Regali golosi, proved to be a good investment, I've already tried two other recipes for cookies, both great.
The recipe as I'm bringing it below is only slightly modified compared to the original, because I substituted 60 g of white sugar with muscovado sugar as I find it great in cookies as it melts and adds that slightly caramelized flavour. And I think more ganache is needed to fill the cookies, so you'll find that part modified too.
My advice, give these a try, you won't be sorry.

Chocolate Cookies with Cappuccino Ganache
(slightly adapted from Regali golosi, by Sigrid Verbert)

Cookies:
* 220 g flour
* 20 g unsweetened cocoa
* 125 g cold butter
* 65 g white sugar
* 60 g brown (muscovado) sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
* 1 egg
* a pinch of salt
Cappuccino ganache:
* 180 g white chocolate
* 60 ml heavy cream
* 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

Mix and sift together the flour and the cocoa into a bowl. Add both sugars and salt and whisk together.
Add the chopped cold butter and rub it in with the tips of your fingers until you have coarse crumbs.
Add the egg and the vanilla extract and quickly bring everything together into a smooth dough.
Divide it into two parts, shape them into balls and then flatten into discs. Wrap them in a piece of plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 160°C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silkmat.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (or between two sheets of parchment paper) very thin, 2 mm.
Cut out little circles, 5-6 cm in diameter, using a round cookie cutter (you may cut out a smaller circle on half of the cookies - the ones that will be on top, or leave them whole).
Gather the scraps, chill them again before rolling and cutting the dough out again.
Place the cut out cookies on a baking sheet and bake them for 10-12 minutes.
Move them on a cooling rack to cool.
Prepare the ganache while the cookies are cooling down.
Finely chop, or even better, grate the chocolate.
Put the heavy cream and the instant coffee powder into a small saucepan and heat until it starts boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until it's melted completely. In case it doesn't, put everything into a microwave oven for 10-15 seconds and stir again.
Let the ganache cool at room temperature and then fill the cookies. Wait until it gets just dense enough not to leak out of the cookies.
Put about teaspoon of filling on the bottom side of one cookie and sandwich it with another cookie.
Let them sit a while before storing them into an airtight container.
Perfect with a cup of coffee or cappuccino.

Biscotti al cappuccino
(ricetta adattata dal libro Regali golosi di Sigrid Verbert)


Biscotti:
* 220 g di farina "00"
* 20 g cacao amaro
* 125 g burro freddo
* 65 g zucchero bianco
* 60 g zucchero di canna (muscovado)
* 1 cucchiaino di estratto puro di vaniglia o 10 g di zucchero vanigliato
* 1 uovo
* un pizzico di sale
Ganache al cappuccino:
* 180 g cioccolato bianco
* 60 ml panna fresca
* 2 cucchiaini di caffè solubile


Setacciate la farina insieme al cacao e mescolateli agli zuccheri e il sale.
Aggiungete il burro freddo tagliato a pezzettini e strofinate con le punte delle dita per ottenere delle briciole.
Unite l'uovo e l'estratto di vaniglia e impastate velocemente.
Dividete l'impasto in due parti, formate due dischi, avvolgeteli con la pellicola e teneteli in frigo per 1 ora.
Stendete l'impasto su una superficie infarinata o in mezzo ai due fogli di carta da forno a uno spessore di 2 mm.
Ritagliate dei biscotti di circa 5-6 cm di diametro e sistemateli sulla teglia ricoperta con la carta da forno.
Cuoceteli per circa 10-12 minuti a 160°C.
Lasciate raffreddare i biscottini e preparate la ganache.
Grattugiate il cioccolato e mettetelo in una ciotolina.
Mettete la panna e il caffè solubile in un pentolino e fateli bollire. Versate la panna bollente sul cioccolato e mescolate bene. Se il cioccolato non riesce a sciogliersi ancora scaldate il tutto per 10-15 secondi nel forno a microonde. Lasciate raffreddare la ganache a temperatura ambiente e poi spalmatela sui biscotti coprendoli poi con un'altro biscotto.

Cappuccino keksići
(iz knjige Regali golosi, Sigrid Verbert)

Keksi
* 220 g brašna
* 20 g gorkog kakaa
* 125 g maslaca (hladnog)
* 65 g bijelog šećera
* 60 g muscovado šećera
* 1 žličica ekstrakta vanilije ili 10 g vanilin šećera
* 1 jaje
* prstohvat soli
Ganache s kavom
* 180 g bijele čokolade
* 60 ml svježeg slatkog vrhnja (ne biljnog)
* 2 žličice instant kave


Prosijte skupa brašno i kakao u zdjelu. Dodajte obje vrste šećera i vanilin šećer (ako koristite ekstrakt dodajte ga kasnije zajedno s jajetom) i sol i promiješajte.
Dodajte hladan maslac narezan na listiće pa ga utrljajte u brašno vršcima prstiju da dobijete mrvice.
Dodajte jaje i brzo zamijesite.
Tijesto podijelite na dva dijela, svaki oblikujte u kuglu koju spljoštite u disk, omotajte prozirnom folijom i stavite u hladnjak najmanje 1 sat.
Pećnicu zagrijte na 160°C.
Dva pleha od pećnice obložite papirom za pečenje.
Razvaljajte tijesto jako tanko, na 2 mm debljine, na pobrašnjenoj dasci ili između dva komada papira za pečenje.
Okruglim kalupićem izrežite krugove (rupica na gornjem keksu nije obavezna, ali pored knjige, jučer sam slučajno našla i kalupić koji sam dugo tražila pa sam ga morala iskoristiti).
Pecite kekse u zagrijanoj pećnici 10-12 minuta.
Ostavite ih da se ohlade.
Dok se keksi hlade pripremite ganache.
Naribajte čokoladu i stavite je u zdjelicu.
Zagrijte slatko vrhnje s instant kavom do vrenja. Istresite vrhnje (divno miriše!!!) u zdjelu s čokoladom i miješajte dok se čokolada ne istopi i smjesa postane glatka (za slučaj da se čokolada ne uspije lijepo otopiti zagrijte sve skupa 10 sekundi u mikrovalnoj).
Ostavite ganache na sobnoj temperaturi da se ohladi i stisne tek toliko da ne curi iz keksa kad ih napunite.
Stavite žličicu ganache kreme na donju stranu jednog keksa i poklopite drugim (ako ste ih pravili s rupicama, onda gore stavite onaj s rupicom). Ne pritiskajte previše.
Ostavite ih da se lijepo stisne krema i poslužite, uz popodnevnu kavu, cappuccino ili samo čašu mlijeka, što vam je već po volji... i uživajte
p.s. moj kalup je promjera 5,5 cm i dobila sam 20-ak gotovih (spojenih) keksa.