Jo Wheatley's Chocolate Orange Cookie Sandwiches

 

So there I was looking through the recipes I had saved in my favourites on the computer and thinking I really must make one of them.  I found a Jo Wheatley cake recipe and promptly got side-tracked by her Chocolate Orange Cookie Sandwich recipe that was linked to it.  My Dad is rather partial to a Terry's Chocolate Orange, so how could I resist trying them.

First you make the filling by heating up some double cream (I only made half the amount for the filling).  My Sis got me this brilliant little pan in Germany with the measurements on the inside.  Perfect for the job.

The heated cream is added to the chopped up chocolate.

I used 70% cooking chocolate from Lindt which melted down perfectly.  Stir in the grated orange zest and chill until set.

Then you set about making the cookie dough.

Once everything is mixed together, I used my cookie scoop (great present from my Mum!) to make relatively even sized dough balls.

In total I got 40 dough balls from the recipe amount.  26 were baked in 2 batches in a 170c fan oven for 12 minutes per tray until golden brown.

 

The rest I have frozen for another day.  Jo recommends taking the frozen dough balls out of the freezer and allow to thaw a little whilst you pre-heat the oven.  They should then bake in 15 minutes.
(ETA:  I did as above, but the cookies were a little over-done.  Still scrummy, but perhaps best to check at 13 or 14 minutes).

Take your filling out of the fridge and sandwich 2 cookies together.  They are whoppers, but very tasty!  I used dark chocolate for this batch, but for a more child-friendly version try using milk chocolate instead.

The gorgeous tulips were a gift from a lovely lady I know who got them from Tuppenny Barn Organics.  We are trying to find out the variety, as I'd love to grow some.  4 days old and they are still as fresh as the day they were picked.

Happy Baking!