Rap Chain Spritz Cookies

It's up to you.

12 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Soften the butter and prepare the oven

   Take out the 200 g of butter in advance and dice them: they must crush easily with a fork, without being melted or oily. Weigh 80 g of icing sugar and 230 g of flour, then reserves the 100 g of chocolate for finishing. Turn the oven on at 170 °C in conventional oven setting (no fan) and covers two baking paper baking tray. Prepare a solid piping bag with a 12 mm fluted sleeve.

2. Separate and weigh the egg white

   Break the egg over a small bowl and separate the white from the yolk, leaving no shell. Weigh 30 g of white for this recipe and keeps the yolk in the refrigerator for another preparation. Stir the white for a few seconds with the fork to make it fluid; it should not be whipped to stiff peaks. Let it return to room temperature while you work the butter.

3. Cream butter with sugar

   Put the 200 g of very soft butter in a salad bowl and fry them for 1 to 2 minutes, by hand or with the beater at medium speed. Add the 80g of icing sugar in two, starting slowly to avoid the sugar cloud. Scratching the walls with a spatula and whipping for another 1 minute. The mixture should be pale, creamy and without a piece of butter.

4. Add white and then flour

   Pour the 30 g of white in half into the sweet butter, then add the teaspoon of vanilla and the pinch of salt. Whip gently just to homogenize. Then add the 230 g of flour and mix with a spatula, bringing the dough from the bottom to the top. As soon as all the flour is absorbed, stop working: the dough should remain flexible and should not become elastic.

5. Fill the piping bag without overloading it

   Place the piping bag with its piping tip in a large glass and flap the top outwards. Put only half of the dough in the piping bag, fold the top and push the dough towards the piping tip with the side of the hand. Make a small test on the paper: the streaks must be clean and the dough must come out under regular pressure. If it resists much, wait 5 to 10 minutes in the room; do not add milk or water and do not force to the point of tearing the piping bag.

6. Pipe links with a real hole

   Hold the piping bag almost vertical, 1 cm above the plate. Press regularly to draw a closed oval about 5 to 6 cm long, keeping in the center a hole of at least 2 cm; join the starting point with a small layer of dough. Stop pressing before lifting the piping bag. Shapes 24 rings by spacing them 3 cm, without filling their center; the hole should remain visible after slight expansion during cooking.

7. Cook without erasing the streaks

   Bake a single baking tray in the middle of the oven for 12 to 14 minutes. Monitors from 12 minutes: the edges should become slightly golden while the top remains fairly clear. Do not try to brown the whole cookie, otherwise it will be dry. Take out the first baking tray with oven gloves and cook the second in the same way; the cooking time indicated on the sheet includes the two batches.

8. Let the cookies become solid

   Wait 5 minutes after leaving the oven before touching the cookies. Lift them up with a wide spatula that supports their entire shape and place them on a wire rack. Let them cool for at least 30 minutes, until the bottom is completely cold. Then grab each piece by its thickest part, without pulling on a tip or brittle edge.

9. Melt the chocolate finish

   Chop the 100 g of dark chocolate with a knife and put them in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Pour 2 cm of water into a saucepan and simmer gently, then lower the heat. Place the bowl above: its bottom should not touch the water. Stir with a spatula until only a few small pieces remain. Remove the bowl from the heat and keep stirring so the residual heat melts them. Wipe the bottom of the bowl; no drop of water should fall into the chocolate. Let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes: it must remain fluid without being hot when you dip a cookie.

10. Dip a single part of each cookie

    Hold each cold ring by its thickest side and plunge the other side into the chocolate, without going to the center of the hole. Lift the biscuit, wait a few seconds for the surplus to drain, then pass its underside very slightly on the edge of the bowl. Place it flat on a clean baking sheet. The chocolate should form a thin layer, with no puddle sticking the cookies together.

11. Wait until the chocolate is firm.

    Leave cookies flat for 30 to 45 minutes in a cool room. Tests a chocolate edge with your fingertip: it must no longer stick or keep a clean imprint. Take off the cookies by curving the paper underneath, without pulling on their end. The chocolate leftovers in the bowl can be spread out in small pellets on paper and kept for another preparation.

12. Composing the dish at the last moment

    Aligns the rings in two slightly overlapping rows to evoke a chain placed on the table. Just lay one edge on the next edge; don’t try to pass one cookie through another’s hole, because the links are not articulated. Move each cookie by supporting its shape with a spatula, then keep the surplus in an airtight box, separated by baking paper.