Chocolate Sambuca Cookies (Xmas Baking Part I)

These are Dan’s all time favorite Christmas cookie. His mom has made them for years, though we’ve tweaked the recipe somewhat and have taken charge of their baking. They look great and they are delicious, but they are also a lot of work and it’s one of those times where four hands are much better than two. (Recipe follows …)

Chocolate Sambuca Cookies

makes about 4 dozen

12 ounces fine quality dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup almonds, ground fine
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Sambuca

For coating the cookies:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Combine the chocolate, butter, and espresso powder in a double boiler. (Or if you are like us and have a neato induction cook top, you can do it right on the high tech burner on its lowest setting.)

We used Callebaut chocolate and it melted beautifully, like so:

Whisk your flour, baking soda, salt, and ground almonds together in a large bowl and set aside:

In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar:

Slowly stream the melted chocolate-butter mixture and the sambuca into the egg-sugar mixture, and whisk until well combined:

Now pour that chocolatey goo into the dry ingredients, and stir until incorporated:

Resembles some kind of ancient building material, doesn’t it? Now, put plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Then, the fun part. Preheat the oven to 350.

Put the sugar and powdered sugar in separate shallow bowls. One person should roll the chilled dough into generous tablespoon-size balls (we weighed ours–20 grams each.) This first person will end up with a bad case of cookie dough club hand, which is why it’s very nice to have a second person to roll the ball first in the granulated sugar and then the powdered sugar until they are well coated. Arrange them on Silpat-lined cookie trays, about 1 inch apart:

Bake for 16 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through the baking time. As they bake, they crack open in a very attractive fashion:

These unusual cookies are a showstopper at a cookie swap and they make a good edible gift. Of course, you’re definitely going to want to reserve a stash for yourself. We doubled this recipe. Stayed tuned for Xmas Baking Part II: orange almond shortbread. That one is my favorite.