Chestnut Cookies Sandwiches

These not so little biscuits are divine! And as the main Carbohydrate source in these are ground chestnuts they can easily be made gluten free by using a gluten free substitute for the small amount of flour that is needed.
If you want to learn more about edible Chestnuts click here.


For this very tasty recipe you need:
250 grams of roasted and peeled chestnuts. (Click here if you need directions for roasting them) You can also use the boiled and peeled ones that are vacuum sealed from the shop. But I do believe that the roasted ones give it the extra bit of flavour.
Grind them as fine as possible in your food processor. Here is an extra tip: Have them solid frozen when processing them. That way they will come out like fine flour!

100 gr of brown raw sugar. Grind it fine in your food processor. No need to take the ground chestnuts out just keep grinding them.
Now add 160 grams of flour (if you take a gluten free cake flour, you´ll have a gluten free cookie! I took a mix of Buckwheat and rice flour)
Zest of one orange
Marrow of one vanilla pod
160 grams of cold butter, cut in little squares
A pinch of salt
Process all until well mixed.


If the dough feels cold (because you used frozen chestnuts) you can go straight to the next step. Otherwise cool the dough in a covered bowl in the fridge for 20-30 mins. Don´t let it get too solid though!

Roll out dough no thinner than 0,5 cm/0,2 Inch thick. Get your fancy cookie cutters out and cut 2 of each (remember these are going to be sandwiches, so you need two of each!) I was surprised, because for a gluten free dough this one actually rolled out pretty well

Now bake them for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven (150C/300F). They should be a little golden brown around the edges, but will still feel a little soft to the touch. Let the cool for at least 10 mins on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling grid.
let cool completely.

Filling:
Melt 100 grams of dark chocolate, over a hot water bath
Fold 100 grams of cream under the melted chocolate.

Spread filling on a biscuit and fit its matching counterpart on top. Voilá you have your sandwiched cookie!

I can´t say anything about the shelf life of these guys, as they were gobbled up in less than 24 hours. But I guess they wouldn't hold till christmas as there is cream in the filling!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!