Chocolate dip
50 g (1¾ oz) good bittersweet
(60–70%) chocolate
250 g (9 oz) good milk
chocolate (30%)
20 g (¾ oz)
neutral/refined
coconut oil
To finish
four 8 cm (3¼ in) square gold
leaf sheets or dust (available
at supermarkets or online)
Domestic baking paper is usually 30 cm (12 in) wide so that is a good
measurement to follow.

If you roll these too thin, the cookie-to-cream ratio will be off kilter AND
you’ll need extra chocolate dip for the extra cookies you’ll end up with.

Push your pin against the edges a few times to straighten them up.

The moment the dough circle stops getting bigger, peel back the top
paper and lightly dust the top of the dough. Flip the paper/dough
sandwich and peel/dust the other side.

If the dough ain’t moving, you’re just mashing it, so keep it dusted lightly
with flour between the dough and paper.

Don’t worry about removing excess flour streaks or any small cracks/
rough patches on the raw dough – the top will become the inside and the
chocolate dip will hide all.

Slide the paper and dough onto a shallow baking tray and chill for
a minimum of 2 hours or a maximum of 2 days.

To bake, preheat the oven to 140°C (285°F). Keeping the dough on
the baking tray, peel the top paper off and bake for 30–35 minutes,
until the shortbread looks dry and feels firm. It will puff a little too.

Assessing the cooked-ness of cocoa doughs is tricky. Go by smell – that
moment when the kitchen is suffused with a baking chocolate cake aroma.

The shortbreads will also change from a ‘wet’, raw look to a matt, drier look
and feel firmer. Don’t bake until crisp to touch – that’s precariously close
to being overcooked. Helpful tip: if you have a scrap of plain crust dough
in the freezer, defrost and bake a little hand-flattened piece alongside the
cookies. When the plain crust dough is golden brown, your chocolate dough
will be cooked too!

Bring the tray out of the oven and place it on a damp tea towel (dish
towel) on your work surface for stability. Using a template (see tip
below) or a ruler and small, sharp serrated knife, carefully cut as many
7.5 cm × 4 cm (3 in × 1½ in) rectangles as you can. Aim for eighteen to
twenty pieces. Keep them evenly sized so the tiles match up when we
sandwich them later.

Chef trick for cutting the cooked dough: make a 7.5 cm × 4 cm (3 in × 1½ in)
template from stiff plastic (like a takeaway container lid).

Cutting the baked dough while hot and soft will guarantee you straight- edged
cookies. If we cut the rectangles before baking, they get a puffy side
bulge. If the dough hardens and starts to shatter before you can cut them
all, return the tray to the oven for 2–3 minutes so the dough can soften.

These amounts make more than
you need, but you need the
volume to dip. Use the excess in
another batch, or in the Flourless
chocolate cake (page 159).