TKO or Thomas Kellers Oreos


Words by Jamie at The Cake Eating Co.
Photography by Joshua at Hohua Photography

These cookies will revolutionise your life. Seriously. I am a big fan of using all my own recipes but there is no way anything I ever come up with will beat anything by Thomas Keller. This guy is big in the cooking world, he has some of the best restaurants in the world and 7 Michelin stars to his name. I was first introduced to the recipe at a master class I attended several years ago run by one of the best Pastry Chefs in the world (she even has an MBE for her contribution to Pastry arts - talk about awesome right?!). 

The Bouchon Bakery TKO (warning: your eyes may have a heart attack if you follow this link) is a deliciously rich chocolate shortbread which is then filled with a silky smooth white chocolate ganache. It is a more grown up version of a classic oreo. The sweetness of the original is exchanged for a deep dark richness which means you can eat way more without feeling sick, I am about 90% sure this is a good thing.

If you can't eat a whole helping of them at once you can also freeze the batter in logs then slice and bake to serve. I love doing this, it's my number one trick that keeps people thinking I am some kind of domestic goddess that always has fresh baking coming straight out of the oven.

Ganache has a brilliant shelf life and can last for 4-8 weeks at room temperature (depending on how hot it gets). It is easily frozen and can stay in the fridge for 8 weeks as well. When refrigerated it goes very hard so make sure you leave it to set at room temperature or it will make piping quite difficult. Ganache does not normally use butter but in this recipe I have opted for it as it gives a better texture for the filling. When making ganache make sure that you use proper chocolate not cooking chocolate or compound chocolate. The reason for this (apart from taste) is that the oil in compound/cooking chocolate is standard vegetable oil while in coverture it is cocoa butter. This affects the setting ability of the chocolate, especially when mixed with cream. Just think of it as oil being liquid at room temperature and cocoa butter being a solid with a high melting point. 






Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Shortbread

260g plain flour
90g cocoa (my favourite is Valrhona but if you can't get your hands on this then try to use a dutch process cocoa, your taste buds will thank you!)
1/4t (1.5g) baking soda
225g soft butter
2t flaky sea salt
160g castor sugar

White chocolate ganache

150g white chocolate (go for a high percentage...spoil yourself)
50g cream
25g butter

Method

Chocolate Shortbread

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2.Into a bowl sieve the dry ingredients. Start mixing and as you mix add chunks of the butter. Mix until totally combined and a smooth dough is formed.
3. On a floured bench roll out 1/2 the dough. Using a circle cutter cut rounds and place them on a lined baking tray. The cookies will not spread much so leave about 1cm between them.
4. Mix the scraps from the cutting with a handful of fresh, 'virgin' dough and repeat step 3. Mixing the used and the virgin dough helps prevent it from getting overworked and keeps a better texture.
5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until matte. Set aside to cool

White chocolate ganache

1. Break up the white chocolate into fine chunks.
2. In a pot scald the cream, remove from heat and add the butter. Mix until melted.
3. Pour over the chocolate and whisk in until all the chocolate is dissolved.
4. Set aside to cool and set.




To assemble

Using a piping bag, or a teaspoon put a blob of ganache on the centre of half the biscuits. Put another on top, squish together and eat them. All of them. Make sure you do this before your husband or children see this mouthwatering delicacy that you have created. If they find out I cannot guarantee the TKOs safety.



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