Chocolate Moon Cookies

Takes 50 mins. Makes 35.

These lovely cookies were inspired by a delicious treat from my favourite Japanese bakery in Christchurch. After my Coeliac diagnosis, I realised that this bakery sadly offered very little gluten free alternatives so I'm trying to recreate all my favourites. These moon cookies are made up of two crunchy dark chocolate biscuits with a layer of butter icing in between.

The biscuit itself isn't actually very sweet, and should have more of a bitter chocolate flavour, so it balances well with a dusting of icing sugar - which gives them a moon like appearance. Be careful, these guys are moorish.

Don't worry about looking for a moon shaped cookie cutter, you just need a circle one! You make the moon shape by layering the circles over each other - like a Venn diagram, and they will be there exact same sized moons. See below for an example.

The only trick part of this recipe is that the does can get very sticky. When rolling out, make sure you sprinkle the surface with a bit of flour and cocoa powder so they don't stick. Below is the dough split into 2 to make it easier for rolling and cutting.

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Recipe

I N G R E D I E N T S

For biscuit

• 115 grams of caster sugar

• 125 grams of butter

• 1 egg

• 200 grams of gluten free flour

• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your gluten free flour mix already includes this)

• 60 grams of dark cocoa powder

• 1 tsp salt

• Icing powder for dusting

For filling

• 1 cup icing sugar

• 50 grams

• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

M E T H O D

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg until combined.

3. Sift in the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix with wooden spoon until combine, then using your hands form into two round balls. The dough should be shiny and slightly sticky but holding it's shape. Pop the dough into the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up so it's easier to handle.

4. Heat oven to 160° Celsius bake. Place baking paper onto a baking tray.

5. Sprinkle flour and cocoa over the surface you will use to roll out the dough. Sprinkle some flour onto the rolling pin as well.

6. Roll out one of the dough's until about half a centimetre in thickness.

7. To create a moon shape, use a circle cookie cutter and overlap to circles like a Venn diagram. See picture above for reference.

8. Reuse all the dough left behind until you have filled up your baking tray. The cookies don't need to be placed far apart as they should barely rise or spread.

9. Bake at 160° for 10-15 mins, or until the edges are slightly beginning to darken.

10. Once baked, let them cool on the tray for 10 mins before moving them. They will be very fragile until they cool down and harden.

11. Repeat steps 6-10 until all the dough has been used up.

12. For the icing, melt 50 grams of butter and add 1 cup of icing sugar and 1/4 cup of dark cocoa powder. Mix until it forms a firm and malleable texture. If the texture is too dry, add a splash of water, if it's too wet and a teaspoon more cocoa powder.

13. Once the moons have cooled, begin icing half of the cookies and sandwich them together. Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy. These keep well for up to a 10 days in an airtight container.