Christmas Chocolate Cookies

To make these Christmas chocolate cookies, start by preparing all the cookie dough ingredients.

Cookie Dough: Pour the flour into a bowl.

Add the cocoa powder...

... the baking powder and fine salt.

Combine with a hand whisk...

... until homogeneous.

Place the soft butter (room temperature) and brown sugar into the stand mixer bowl.

Add the castor sugar...

... and mix with the flat beater.

As you mix, add the vanilla pearls.

Once the vanilla pearls are incorporated, add the egg yolks.

Continue kneading this mixture...

... until homogeneous.

Finally, add all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and fine salt)...

... and mix at low speed to avoid splashing.

The resulting dough should be consistent, soft, and slightly sticky.

Transfer the cookie dough on your kitchen worktop.

Divide this dough into small balls, approximately 20g each, to create medium-sized cookies. You can make them smaller or larger. Place these pieces of dough on a perforated baking tray lined with baking parchment.

Roll each cookie dough piece between the palms of your hands to get perfectly round balls...

... as shown in the photo.

Slightly flatten the dough balls (be careful not to flatten them too much).

This is what the result should look like at this stage.

Gently press your thumb into the centre of the cookies...

... to create a cavity.

Cover everything with cling film, ensuring it's in direct contact, and chill for at least 1 hour to firm up the dough.

Chocolate Icing: Prepare all the ingredients. Mix the gelatine powder with hydration water (tap or mineral water) and let it hydrate for 15 minutes.

Pour the sugar in a saucepan...

... and add the water.

Heat this mixture while stirring with a spatula.

Once it boils, remove the saucepan from the heat.

Pour the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.

Add the boiling syrup into the bowl...

... and vigorously whisk to dissolve the cocoa powder completely.

Quickly mix until you get a smooth and lump-free chocolate mixture.

Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan...

... and bring to a boil.

When the cream is boiling, add the hydrated gelatine...

... and stir vigorously until the gelatine is fully incorporated into the cream.

Then pour this hot cream into the chocolate mixture.

Finish by blending everything with a Bamix hand blender, until you obtain a smooth and even chocolate icing.

Cover the resulting icing directly with cling film and let it cool to room temperature.

After the dough has cooled, arrange the cookies on two baking sheets covered with parchment paper, ensuring they are spaced apart. Make sure to leave enough space between them to prevent them from sticking to each other during baking.

Place the trays in a preheated fan oven at 180°C and bake for about 10 minutes. This baking time may vary between ovens.

After baking, remove the cookies from the oven. The cavity might have slightly faded; if that's the case, reshape it using the back of a teaspoon while the cookies are still warm and soft.

Stir the 30°C chocolate icing with a whisk to smooth it.

Pour this icing into a piping bag. No need for a nozzle here.

Cut the tip of this piping bag to make a 3 to 4mm opening to control the flow. Fill the cavities of the cooled cookies with chocolate icing.

Finish the decoration with some gold sparkles directly placed onto the icing using decorating tweezers. Here are our Christmas chocolate cookies ready to be enjoyed. Bon appétit!