Chocolate-sesame sandwich cookies

June 24-25, 2017

I've had these chocolate & sesame yo-yos from Ottolenghi's Guardian column bookmarked for 18 months, just waiting for the seasons and our Ottolenghi club dates to align. They come under the apt heading Rich pickings, sandwiching biscuits dense with chocolate and sesame seeds with layers of chocolate ganache and tahini cheesecake spread. 

Unfortunately, the instructions weren't quite what I needed to get the job done, and I've adjusted my instructions to reflect what's more workable in my kitchen. For example, the ambient heat from the boiled cream wasn't enough to melt all of the chocolate and butter in my ganache, and I had to set up a makeshift double boiler. The rest of my butter was too firm for hand-beating, yet the biscuit dough was too soft for rolling! What is the temperature in Ottolenghi's test kitchen, I wonder?

In retrospect, I reckon it's worth refrigerating the biscuit dough before forming the cookies. They spread a lot during their brief 6-minute bake, and my irregularly-spooned ones were especially delicate and crumbly around the edges. A lot of care and a few under-the-breath curses were used as I spread them with the thick ganache and flavoured mascarpone.

The finished biscuits were generously proportioned, rich and sweet; a grand final flourish best served with a cup of tea. For future chocolate-sesame desserts, though, I'm more likely to go back to another cookie recipe I posted about a few years ago. It's a good deal less fussy to bake, and I'm sure it'd make cute sandwiches, too, with some sweetened cream cheese in the centre. 

A house-keeping note: as a result of Photobucket changing its terms of service this week, our 1500+ posts from 2006 through to August 2012 are currently lacking photos! We're looking into alternative hosts for these pictures, and we'd welcome your recommendations in the comments.

Chocolate-sesame sandwich cookies
(slightly adapted from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe
published on The Guardian)

ganache filling
70g dark chocolate
25g butter
75mL double cream

cookies
80g sesame seeds
80g dark chocolate
60g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
10g cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
70g butter, softened
60g brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

cream cheese filling
130g mascarpone
40g tahini paste
25g icing sugar

Make the ganache first. Chop the chocolate. Set up a double boiler with boiling water in the first layer (I just use two carefully stacked ordinary saucepans). Place the chocolate, butter and cream in the top pan and cook gently, stirring until everything is melted. Turn off the heat, and remove the top pan; give it a few more vigorous stirs, then let it set at room temperature. Cover the surface of the ganache with plastic wrap and set aside.

Next, start preparing the cookies. Gently toast the sesame seeds in an unoiled pan until golden and fragrant. Set them aside to cool. Gently melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and set it aside to cool. 

In a small-medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Stir in the cooled sesame seeds and salt. Set aside these dry ingredients.

In a medium-large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in the cooled melted chocolate. Gently beat in the dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm, at least a couple of hours.

Heat an oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with paper and spray them lightly with oil. Retrieve the cookie dough from the fridge and roll it into 2cm-diameter balls. Place the balls on the baking tray, leaving lots of space around them (perhaps 7cm each way?) for expansion. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, until just cooked. Let them cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool down to room temperature.

In a small bowl, beat together all of the cream cheese filling ingredients until smooth.

Time for assembly! Sort through the cookies and pair them up so that their sizes and shapes match as best they can. Spread the ganache on one of each pair, and the cream cheese filling on the other of the pair; gently smush them together. Serve!