Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut "Franske Vafler" (Sandwich Cookies)
Crispy sugar-crusted cookies sandwiched together with dark chocolate and hazelnut ganache - these franske vafler are a hit!
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 113 grams cold cubed unsalted butter
- 200 grams flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3-5 tbsp ice-cold water
- 50 grams sugar (for rolling out)
- Heavy whipping cream OR an egg (for making the sugar stick)
GANACHE
- 120 ml heavy whipping cream
- 120 grams dark chocolate, chopped
- 120 grams Nutella (or similar hazelnut spread)
- Pinch of salt
TOPPING
- Chopped toasted hazelnuts
Instructions
- Start by making a basic pie dough, which will serve as the cookie part of the sandwiches. Combine flour, cold butter, and salt in a bowl or a food processor. In the processor, pulse until it resembles sand. By hand, crumble the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles sand.
- Add ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time. In the processor, pulse a few times until the dough starts to come together. By hand, add your water a bit at a time and bring the dough together, being careful not to knead too much. If you need to add a bit more water, you can! Once the dough has come together, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
- While the dough is chilling, make your ganache by heating up heavy cream until it is just below a boil.
- Add your chopped chocolate to the cream and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir until the chocolate is fully incorporated. If there are still some chunks that haven't melted, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave for 5-second increments, or use a double boiler to reheat it gently. A double boiler involves heating up a small amount of water until steaming on the stove and placing a heatproof bowl over the water to use the steam to heat the bowl and the contents as well.
- Once the chocolate and cream are smooth and combined, add the Nutella and a pinch of salt and stir well to incorporate.
- Let the ganache sit either at room temperature or in the fridge to set. If you leave it in the fridge, make sure to stir often so that it doesn't harden too much. You still want the consistency to be spreadable.
- Preheat your oven to 390 F (200 C). Once your dough has rested, roll out your dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface.
- Cut out rounds (ours were about 2 in or 5 cm in diameter). Repeat with any remaining dough. We usually get about 32 total round cookies out of the dough, making 16 total sandwich cookies.
- Once you have cut out all your cookie rounds, roll each round lightly with the rolling pin to create an oval shape.
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. You will probably have to bake this in two batches or on two baking sheets simultaneously.
- Brush the cookies with heavy cream or an egg wash and then sprinkle with sugar in an even layer on top.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden. The top should be nice and crispy and caramelized with the sugar layer!
- Repeat with any more baking trays you have, as you may need to bake them in a few batches.
- Once your cookies are done, let them cool on a wire rack.
- When the cookies are cooled and the ganache has set to a buttercream-like consistency, it's time to fill the cookies.
- Prepare toasted hazelnuts by either using a food processor to pulse them into smaller chunks or putting them in a Ziploc bag and crushing them using a rolling pin, a sturdy metal cup, or other item that won't break if you smash it into the hazelnuts on the counter.
- Add a few teaspoons (up to a tablespoon) of filling to a cookie and press another one on top until the filling reaches all the way to the edge.
- Roll the edge of the sandwich cookie in the toasted hazelnuts.
- Repeat with all the remaining cookies. You may have a small amount of filling leftover. Keep the cookies in the fridge if not eating within several hours. Enjoy!