Sookie's Chocolate Praline Cookies
SOOKIE: Just pick a cookie.
MICHEL: I don’t want to.
SOOKIE: Michel, for the rest of their lives, Lorelai and Max are gonna think back on their engagement party and they’re gonna talk about three things. They’re gonna talk about the friends who came, and that special song they danced to, and the cookies that they ate.
MICHEL: Their world is very small, isn’t it?
SOOKIE: Macaroons or chocolate pralines?
Welcome to season 2 of books and cooks! Hello everyone!!! It's been a while since I've posted an actual video, but I've come back with a new season of Books and Cooks with our new guest....Paul! He's an actual cook, who 100% knows what he's doing in the kitchen, which means that these cookies have an actual chance of coming out the right way!
For the praline topping:
1/2 cup almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 oz melting chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
For chocolate heart cookies:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/8 tablespoon salt
4 oz melting chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Praline Topping Instructions:
Prepare oven and pans: Preheat oven to 350 F.
Get 2 baking sheets, cover one with wax paper and another with parchment paper or a baking mat.
Toast nuts: Cover 1 baking sheet with single layer of nuts. Put the pan in the oven and toast nuts for 7 minutes. When nuts are out of the oven, keep it at 350 F.
Make pralines: Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. When it caramelizes (aka turns light brown), add in butter and nuts. Mix them together, and make sure they're evenly coated. Spread praline mixture on wax paper lined baking sheet and let them cool for 15-20 minutes.
Grind pralines: Listen, it says to break into quarter sized pieces for a food processor until they're into a fine, breadcrumb like consistency. You could also just cut/smash them, or put them in a blender until they're ground up, which is basically what we did.
Melt chocolate: In a double broiler over medium heat, melt down chocolate. Or, in a microwave.
Make praline chocolate: Heat heavy cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it simmers, add chocolate praline mix and mix well. Once it's all mixed together and thickened, pour onto wax paper lined baking sheets and refrigerate until cookies are ready.
Cookie Instructions
Mix dry ingredients: Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium size bowl.
Melt chocolate: In a double broiler over medium heat, melt down chocolate. Or, in a microwave. Allow 5 minutes to cool.
Mix wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat with electric hand mixer until fully combined and creamy. Add melted chocolate. Beat to combine. Add egg. Beat to combine.
Make cookie dough: Add dry mix to wet ingredients until all dry ingredients have mixed into the dough.
Refrigerate dough: Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap (or cover the bowl top with plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour.
Bake cookies: Roll out cookie dough to 1/2 inch thick and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Or, you could make them into whatever shape you want. Place hearts on baking sheet and put in the oven to bake for 15 minutes.
Add praline chocolate: Let cookies completely cool and then use something to spread the praline mixture onto the cookie. Sometimes the praline spread can be chilled and difficult to spread-at this time, so warming it up a little either on the stove or in the microwave can be helpful to spread it.
This recipe makes 12 cookies! And takes between 1 1/2-2 hours.
I had a ton of fun making these cookies and have an entire book of recipes to go through filled with food inspired by or that was featured in Gilmore Girls. If you have any specific food or recipes you'd like to see us make, feel free to comment or reach out to me and let me know!