COOKIES AND CREAM BISCUITS (SNOWFLAKES)
Notes: Do you love Oreos, but could do without the exaggerated sweetness (sugar is literally the first ingredient), crappy oils (palm and canola oil) and the preservatives? Then this recipe is for you and dare I say you will like it better. Everyone who has tried these “cookies and cream” snowflakes which are white chocolate covered chocolate biscuits has loved them. This recipe is not complicated and if you get some elegant silicone molds (these were cheap by the way and I’ve linked the exact ones I used in the equipment list since they are still available) you can make the prettiest chocolate covered biscuits. Since the snowflake molds are not specifically Christmas themed, you can make these past Christmas and give them out as a New Year’s or seasonal gift too. The homemade chocolate biscuits have all the snap and flavor of Oreos, but they’re made with high fat, grass-fed butter and far less sugar. And the white chocolate, although obviously not homemade, is an excellent Belgian white chocolate that you can buy in bulk, and I highly recommend having on hand if you like to bake a lot. (linked in the ingredient list below). I just added some salt, which brings out the caramel notes of white chocolate, and a touch of coconut oil to do a quick melt and “tempering” in the microwave. After chilling these for minutes in the fridge you can unmold them and box them up as elegant gifts for friends and family.
If you liked the boxing idea in my instagram reel, then here are some similar boxes since I bought the ones I used a while ago:
Option 1 (white marble cardboard, 6 sections with individual boxes)
Option 2 (brown truffle box, with 8 sections)
As usual, the weighed ingredient amounts in grams will give you a result that is closest to mine.
The perfect bite.
Equipment:
Stand mixer with paddle attachment
Snowflake silicone molds *This link takes you to the exact snowflake molds I purchased from Michaels, which are $2.99 each.
Piping bags *These are disposable bags by Wilton, which I purchased from Amazon.
Baking sheets and parchment paper
Bake and prep time:
45-60 mins
The baked “Oreo” chocolate biscuits have been trimmed to fit the molds and the second layer of white chocolate is added.
The “Oreo” chocolate biscuit ingredients: AP flour, Cocoa Rouge powder, baking powder, butter, egg, granulated sugar, salt.
Ingredients:
Chocolate biscuits:
AP flour: 160 g (1 and 1/4 cup)
Cocoa powder (Dutch processed or Cocoa Rouge): 43 g (1/2 cup).
*I used Cocoa Rouge from Guittard, which is similar to Dutch processed but a bit more intense, bittersweet and red (linked).
Baking powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Granulated sugar: 135 g (2/3 cup)
Butter: 113 g, or 8 tbsp (1/2 cup)
Eggs (room temp): 1 large egg
White chocolate coating:
White chocolate: 200 g (1 and 1/4 cup)
*This bulk bag of Callebaut W2 28% White Chocolate Callets (5.5 lbs) is excellent quality, sustainably sourced, and made in Belgium. I have found that buying it on Amazon is cheaper than the same bag at local specialty baking stores. I have personally used this for several of my recent recipes, the taste is divine and I still have several pounds left.
Coconut oil: 1 and 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
The white chocolate coating: Callebaut white chocolate callets, virgin coconut oil, salt.
The biscuits have all the snap and flavor of an “Oreo” chocolate biscuit minus some sugar and with much better ingredients overall.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. While on low speed, add the butter in several pieces at a time, until dispersed, then add the egg. After adding the egg continue mixing, until the dough comes together in a mass, about 1 minute.
Divide the dough pinching off approximately teaspoon sized amounts and roll them in your hands and drop onto prepared baking sheets. The cookies will not spread much, but leave about 2 inches of space in between.
Dampen the palm of your hand before flattening each ball of cookie dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. You need to adjust the final thickness based on the depth of the molds you are using. My molds had about 1/2 inch depth so I split that into approximate thirds for the first layer of chocolate, then the biscuit, then the final layer of chocolate. *Unless you are using molds that are all the same size (in diameter) you’re going to need to trim the biscuits after baking, so the thickness matters more than the overall diameter. However, you obviously don’t want to make them so big in surface area that you’re wasting a bunch of biscuit with excess trimming.
Chill each tray of flattened biscuit dough for at least 10 minutes in the fridge before baking.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, rotating the pans about half way through.
After cooling the cookies can be stored in an airtight container for approximately 2 days, but they will be most crisp if used on the day of baking. *I had extra biscuits that I did not cover with white chocolate and saved them in a sealed plastic bag because I like to have them by themselves in the morning with coffee.
While the biscuits are cooling prepare the white chocolate. Add the white chocolate pieces (or callets) and coconut oil to a small mixing bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mix thoroughly aftewards to coat all the white chocolate with the coconut oil. Follow this with another 20 second burst in the microwave and again thoroughly mix afterwards to allow all the white chocolate that has softened to be incorporated. You will probably need to do one more 20 second burst to fully melt all the white chocolate into a smooth mixture. *I prepared 3 silicone mold trays (8 snowflakes per tray so 24 total) worth of these “cookies and cream” snowflakes which required 400 g of white chocolate, so I melted and prepared 200 g of white chocolate in two batches to make 24 biscuits.
Add the salt and mix in, then transfer to a piping bag and twist and seal. When ready to start piping into the molds cut off the very tip so you get a narrow stream of chocolate coming out.
After adding the first layer of white chocolate to the snowflake molds I used a chopstick to push the chocolate into all the points and edges. Give this first layer a few minutes to slightly firm up before adding your trimmed biscuits to the molds.
Be very gentle adding the biscuits so that you don’t push them down to the bottom of the molds which will cause them to peek through the chocolate. Transfer the molds to the fridge for a few minutes so that things can set into place a bit more.
Now you can add the final layer. I used the flat side of a butter knife to make sure the final layer of white chocolate made it into all the corners and crevices of the snowflake molds and also tapped the molds on the counter (one or twice) so that any bubbles come to the surface and can be smoothed out. *As you saw in my instagram reel I was not super neat with the final layer, but just as long as you don’t leave big globs of white chocolate around the edges of the molds you can get them to come out fairly clean and easily remove any excess thin remnants of chocolate that cling to the edges.
If you want to box up the cookies in a similar way to what I did, check out these box options:
Option 1 (white marble cardboard, 6 sections with individual boxes)
