The title of this post says all you need to know.
As we have shown with his quiche, his fried chicken, and his brownies before, these lovelies are what result when Chef Thomas Keller decides to rain his genius down upon an old standard and elevate it to new heights. Keller has an amazing ability to get to the purest form of what a dish should be, stripping away unnecessary ingredients, focusing on building the flavor of what's left, and serving it up in a beautiful little package.
Sometimes, as with his quiche and fried chicken the resulting recipe can feel quite daunting, but in the case of these oreos not so much. Gone is the "double stuff" and "dunked in chocolate" mess that oreos have become, and in their place are dark, rich, tender chocolate shortbread cookies sandwiching a perfect white chocolate ganache filling.
Do I have your attention yet?
Aside from their perfect flavor, the real beauty of these cookies is how easy they are to make. The shortbread cookie dough comes together quickly in a standing mixer and rolls out to thin perfection between two sheets of parchment. A quick 12-14 minutes in the oven, time on a rack to cool, and they are ready to marry with the sinfully rich ganache.
The only real trick to making these cookies is anticipating how long it takes for the ganache to be usable. Once made, the ganache needs to cool FULLY to room temperature before you whip it and load it into a piping bag. This will take 6-8 hours, so I recommend making it the night before you want to make your cookies, and let it sit covered overnight on the counter so that when your cookies are ready to go, you're not sitting around cursing the slow cooling ganache.
Trust me, when the chocolate shortbreads are cooled you're going to want to fill and eat them immediately…..understood?
As with all Keller's recipes the quality of the ingredients you use is paramount, and that is never more true than with this one given how few ingredients there are in the mix. Use the best butter, cocoa powder and white chocolate you can find (we use Cabot, Vahlrona, and Callebaut respectively), and you will be amply rewarded with cookies that will leave you swooning.
Cheers – Steve
TKOs - Thomas Keller Oreos
Ingredients
Cookie:
- 1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 15 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, at room temperature
Ganache filling:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
For the filling:
- In a small pan bring the cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk to melt the chocolate until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let stand at least 6 hours (or overnight) to cool to room temperature and thicken up.
For the cookies:
- In the bowl of a standing mixer combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter, a piece at a time. The mixture will be dry and sandy at first, but over 2 minutes, will form pebble sized pieces that start to cling together. Stop the mixer and transfer the dough to your board.
- Heat the oven to 350℉.
- Divide the dough in half and gather each half to form a ball. Roll each piece of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to 1/8" thick. Using a fluted cutter, cut into rounds. Scraps can be pieced together and rolled out again. Place the rounds 1/2" apart on baking sheets lined with Silpat mats or parchment paper.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. To assemble:
- Lightly whip the white chocolate ganache to aerate and fluff it up a little. Transfer to a pastry bag fitting with a 1/4" plain tip. Pipe about 1 1/2 teaspoons in the center of half of the cookies. Top with another cookie to form a sandwich. Gently press down until the cream comes to the edges.
- The cookies can be stored in a container for up to 3 days (though they'll never last that long).