The clock cookies, are simple cocoa shortbread cookies filled with white chocolate, perfect for celebrating an event like New Year’s Eve or as a gift.
Based on cocoa shortcrust pastry flavored with mandarin zest and cinnamon, I made them to use as place cards for the New Year’s Eve dinner, and I must say they were really well appreciated, both for the taste and the decoration.
Perhaps my guests were generous with their compliments on the clock face decoration because with a little more calm and precision, they would surely have turned out better; but the fact that I ’embroidered’ the shortcrust with a decorative rolling pin perhaps amazed them even more!
To achieve the ’embroidery’ effect, you need those wooden rolling pins sold at Christmas market stalls, and I had two: one I bought last year in Vienna, and another that was given to me as a gift.
However, you also need a shortcrust pastry without baking powder that holds in the oven… and with this recipe, you surely won’t go wrong.
I find it a nice idea even for a birthday buffet or as a gift for Father’s Day.
Obviously, the clock cookies turn out well even without embroidery and with other types of shortcrust pastry because the important thing is to make them with love and a pinch of patience.
OTHER INTERESTING RECIPES
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 16 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, New Year's Eve
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- ground cinnamon
- mandarin zest
- 3.5 oz white chocolate
- 1 oz dark chocolate
Tools
- Rolling Pin decorative
- Sticks dough guides
Steps
For the shortcrust pastry, refer to the link and let it rest at least 2 hours in the fridge; you can also make it the day before.
Roll out the cocoa shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 1/8 inch and then roll over the decorative rolling pin.
Cut out disks about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and place them on the baking tray lined with parchment paper or perforated mats.
With a slightly smaller cookie cutter, cut what will be the watch’s bezel. (Out of 32 cookies, 16 need to be cut into rings).
Make a small hole on each cookie (if you want to tie them with string or ribbons) and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 13/15 minutes. Then let them cool completely and in the meantime melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave.
Place the decorated part of the cookie on the work surface and decorate the center with a teaspoon of melted white chocolate, slightly spreading the chocolate but without letting it reach the edges.
Place the ring with the decorated side up on the cookie, trying to align the holes. Let the white chocolate dry completely and melt the dark chocolate (I do not recommend the microwave given the small quantity).
Put the melted and slightly cooled chocolate in a disposable pastry bag, make a small hole at the tip, and draw the hours and hands on each clock.
Finish the clock cookies with a bit of string or thin tubular ribbon.
Storage:
The clock cookies can be stored in a tin or cookie jar.
