I am afraid that I shall have to keep this post relatively short, for I am, as predicted, hectically busy. However, I must steal a few moments from working on the cookbook to tell you about these cookies. For they truly, truly should not be missed.

In order to understand how these cookies come about, you first have to know that, at my house, we often use rice crispies in our chocolate chip cookies; it’s something my mother has been doing since she was baking in high school. And although the crunch that the cereal provides (or I suppose I should say the snap, crackle, and pop) is the most important factor, it also adds a pleasant malty flavour that goes very well with the chocolate and the toffee notes of the brown sugar.

Secondly, I want to say that, when it comes to Easter candy, I generally prefer high-quality, upscale chocolates, but I do have a certain fondness for those malted milk chocolate eggs with the crisp candy shells.

And so, when I came across a recipe for chocolate-malt sandwich cookies in Martha Stewart’s Cookies, I decided to make my own version of them, with crushed rice crispies instead of the malted milk powder called for in Martha’s recipe, as that is not something I keep stocked in my baking cupboard. But recalling the malty flavour of the rice cereal, I figured that it would make an admirable stand-in.

Furthermore, using the cereal meant that I could mix some whole pieces into the ganache filling for added texture. I was hoping to recreate the flavour and also something of the airy crispness of those malted milk eggs in the shape of a cookie.

Well, I guess candy is one thing and cookies are another. Or maybe rice crispie powder isn’t as strong as malted milk. At any rate, they weren’t quite as malty as I had hoped.

And at this point, you are asking yourself, “Well, if they were a failure, why are you here telling us about them?”

 Ah, because even though they may not have turned out to be the “malted milk candy in a cookie” that I had envisioned (although the rice crispie ganache filling did capture the flavour and airy crunchiness of my beloved candy), they turned out to be something else that I have been trying to recreate in my home kitchen for years.

Oreos. Or, well, not Oreos; I don’t eat them. But the organic, all-natural brand of chocolate-cream sandwich cookies that I do eat. The intense chocolate flavour, the crisp, slightly sandy texture—these cookies nailed the elusive qualities, and I wasn’t even trying! Talk about a stroke of luck.

I still have to find the magic formula for the cream filling, of course, but I’m perfectly happy to eat them with my malted milk candy ganache until then. I think you might be, too.

Oreos and malted milk candy eggs? It doesn’t get more fun than that, does it? The theme of this month’s Biscuit Barrel challenge, hosted by Laura of I’d Much Rather Bake Than . . . , is fun, and these cookies are most definitely that.

And as my inspiration for these cookies was Easter candy, I’m also submitting them to the We Should Cocoa challenge, organized by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog. Rachel Cottterill is hosting the event this month, and the theme is Easter.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Rice Crispie Ganache

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

Ingredients:

 For the ganache filling:

 

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon whole milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 ½ oz. cream cheese

5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

⅓ cup crushed rice crispies

⅓ cup whole rice crispies

 

For the cookies:

 

1 cup + 1 tablespoon unbleached, all-purpose flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoons crushed rice crispies

8 tablespoons (4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons crème fraîche

1 ½ tablespoons hot water

1 teaspoon baking soda

 

Technique:

1. Make the filling first. In a small saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium heat and melt in the butter and cream cheese.
2. Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream mixture up to a boil and then pour it over the chocolate. Whisk until smooth.
3. Stir the vanilla extract and crushed rice crispies into the ganache. Cover and chill until thickened, about 30 minutes.
4. While the filling is cooling, make the cookies. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder, and then stir in the crushed rice crispies.
5. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, oil and crème fraîche.
6. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add it to the dough. Stir in the dry ingredients.
7. Use a small cookie scoop (2 teaspoon capacity) to drop the dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing the cookies a few inches apart.
8. Bake until the cookies are set around the edges and the tops are cracked, 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Take the ganache filling out of the refrigerator and transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
11. Whip the ganache on high speed until it is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
12. Fold in the whole rice crispies.
13. Flip half of the cookies over so that the bottoms are facing up, and spread a tablespoon of the filling over each one.
14. Sandwich a second, plain cookie on top of each of the filled ones.

Yield: 16 sandwich cookies