Chocolate Orange Cocoa Hearts Recipes

ORANGE AND TOFFEE GANACHE HEARTS

Steps:

• Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl, pour the hot cream over it and let sit for 3 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Add the salt and whisk until the ganache is completely smooth. Transfer half of the ganache to a separate bowl. Stir the orange oil into one bowl and the chopped toffee into the other. Transfer each flavor of ganache to a separate pastry bag fitted with a large round tip.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Pipe 1 1/2-inch chocolate hearts on the sheet pan. Allow the hearts to sit at cool room temperature to set up, or let them set up in the refrigerator before serving.

CHOCOLATE-ORANGE COCOA HEARTS

Steps:

• Add and sift the cocoa powder with the flour, baking powder and salt. Proceed with Sugar Cookie Dough recipe and chill for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Stir the chopped chocolate and marmalade together in a small bowl until combined.
• Sprinkle a work surface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Move dough frequently to prevent it from sticking and add more confectioner's sugar to the work surface and rolling pin as needed. With a 2-by-2 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut 48 hearts, re-rolling dough as needed. Place half of the hearts at least 1 inch apart on two parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Evenly spread about 1 level teaspoon of the marmalade/chocolate mixture over each heart, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edges. Brush the outer edge of the hearts lightly with egg-white wash. Place another dough heart over the filling and gently press the edges to seal. Continue with remaining dough cut-outs. Lightly brush the surface of the cookies with egg-white wash and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar. Bake until set, about 12-14 minutes. Let cool on the pan slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY HEARTS

Steps:

• Put the chocolate and coconut oil in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water to melt.
• While the chocolate is melting, cut the strawberries in half from top to bottom. Slice a little "v" shape into the middle of each half, in order to turn them into hearts. Place on a paper towel-lined plate to dry for 5 minutes.
• Pierce each strawberry half on a slight diagonal with a wooden skewer or long toothpick (to look like an arrow going through). Dip the strawberries into the melted chocolate, covering them entirely. Refrigerate until set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in yolk, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
• Once chilled, remove plastic wrap and sandwich dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out into a 1/2-inch-thick slab. Leaving dough between the parchment, place it on a baking sheet or large plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
• Heat oven to 325 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Pull dough from refrigerator, and remove parchment from dough. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out as many hearts as possible. Transfer them to the prepared cookie sheets. Reroll the dough scraps and repeat.
• Bake cookies for 18 to 23 minutes, until puffed and set, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• In a heatproof measuring cup, melt chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between.
• Dip half of each cooled cookie in melted chocolate, letting the excess drip back into measuring cup. Place back on parchment-lined baking sheets, and sprinkle chocolate with crushed raspberries, if using. Let cool until chocolate is set, then store in an airtight container.