Allow me a moment of your time: Envision taking a bite of an oat-choco Brussels cookie, striking the ideal harmony between a subtle crunch and the divine melt of chocolate. The holiday season is truly an era of enchantment, awe, and the perennial quest for the crowning festive delight. This year, it made a stylish entrance, impeccably timed for those yuletide emotions!
Our local community thrives on its tradition of sharing and celebrating through the yearly cookie exchange, a delightful ritual that sends me on a merry quest for the next best cookie to showcase. This year’s star? A delightful Brussels cookie rendition, stumbled upon during one of my delightful online culinary explorations. A tad bit of tweaking here and there, and voilà—a cookie that now holds a special place in my heart.
To the uninitiated, Brussels Cookies might remind you of a beloved Pepperidge Farm creation. However, recreating this crunchy, chocolate-filled masterpiece is far simpler than one might think. Picture this: Crispy oat layers with a heart of molten chocolate, all coming together in a dance of flavors. Enhance the essence with hints of orange or peppermint for an added zing! A little pro-tip, the oat bran in the recipe can be easily replicated at home with steel-cut oats—your blender will do the magic!
Ingredients:
- ½ cup sugar (with an added 2 tablespoons/18g)
- 7 tablespoons butter (softened to room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 3 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup ground oat bran (or simply take steel-cut oats and blend them)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz. your choice of dark or semisweet chocolate chips
Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter, whipping them up until they’re smooth and creamy—about 2-3 minutes. Introduce the vanilla and milk into the creamy mixture.
- In a different bowl, sift together the flour, oat bran, baking powder, and salt. Slowly incorporate this dry mix into your creamy butter concoction, stirring until perfectly blended.
- Portion out the dough using a teaspoon for those classic 2-inch cookies (feel free to go bigger if you desire!). Lay them out on parchment-lined baking trays, spaced about 3 inches apart. Bake until the edges sport a lovely golden hue, which typically takes 11-12 minutes. As they cool, the cookies naturally flatten to perfection.
- Now, the fun part—melting the chocolate using a double boiler. Slather a generous dollop of this molten goodness onto the flat side of a cookie, and crown it with another. Continue this delicious assembly line until you’re out of cookies.
Quick Notes:
Expect a yield of around 20 heavenly sandwich cookies.