April Fool's Surprise Cookies
I've never done anything out of the ordinary for April Fool's, which is surprising (notice my word choice), because I'm a practical joke fiend. I'm the five year old that stands behind the door waiting to jump out and scare you when you enter a room. Or the six year old that gives you a glass of pickle juice and tells you it's lemonade. Only I'm twenty.
But now, I'm finally doing something for April Fool's, AND it's age-appropriate. I made - drumroll, please - April Fool's Surprise Cookies!
Okay, okay, I know you were probably expecting something a little more - how shall we put this - obnoxious and unkind, yes?
But who says an April Fool's prank can't be a surprise of a more benevolent nature?
So what's the benevolent surprise? Oh, only an unexpected rich chocolate center hidden inside each cookie. (That was sarcasm, because a rich chocolate center will never qualify as "only.") Basically, it's the kindest surprise -EVER.
So, let's summarize this kind-hearted prank one more time:
What people see: a nice vanilla cookie with pretty chocolate drizzles.
What happens when they take a bite: a delicious chocolate-y surprise awaits them in the center of the cookie.
The domelike shape that you see depicted by the cookies is easier to achieve than you might think. Check out my pictures below to see how it's done:
For drizzling, simply lay all the cookies out, dip a fork in melted chocolate, and go crazy (i.e. frantically wave the fork back and forth over the cookies).
april fool's surprise cookies
Slightly adapted from "Balabusta's Choice Cookbook Volume 2"
Yield: About 40 cookies
Chocolate Center:
7 oz. chocolate, roughly chopped
2 cups ground almonds or almond meal
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 egg whites
Dough:
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 cups flour
Melted chocolate, for drizzling
Combine the chocolate-center ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth (see photo of mixture above). Wrap mixture in plastic wrap and freeze till cooled and slightly hardened, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
For the dough, cream the butter with the sugars till light and fluffy. Add in the flour and mix until dough forms.
Remove chocolate mixture from freezer. Take a small piece of it and roll it into a ball. Take a piece of the dough and flatten it. Place the chocolate ball into the center of the flattened dough. Wrap the dough around the chocolate and then roll it between your palms to smooth into circular shape (see photo above for visual instructions).
Bake for 18 minutes, until bottoms golden. Drizzle melted chocolate over the cookies with a fork, spoon, or parchment cone.
On a completely unrelated note, ME:
photo from dumpaday dot com
