Chocolate raspberry cat cookies
 
Prep time: 30 mins
Rest time:40 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

For 10-12 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
Chocolate cookies (recipe for my skull biscuits )
  • 120g very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1 tablespoon neutral oil (like sunflower or grapeseed)
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 30g cornstarch
  • 45g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 150-175g flour
Raspberry buttercream filling
  • 100g fresh raspberries (or thawed)
  • 100g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 75g icing sugar + 2 tablespoons
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
To decorate the kittens
  • Kitten cookie cutters ( to see the tutorial [url: 2] make a cookie cutter [/ url] [/ i])
  • Small 1cm and 3cm round cookie cutter for the paws
  • Multi-coloured sprinkles
Instructions
Make the chocolate cookies
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Mix the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer using the beater blade until smooth. Do not overbeat to avoid incorporating air which could cause the cookies to expand in the oven. Add the egg and mix just enough to incorporate. Add the cornstarch, cocoa and flour ([i]start with 150g and add the remaining 25g tablespoon by tablespoon if the dough is sticky) and mix until the dough comes together and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. Form a ball with your hands.
  2. Roll out the dough between to sheets of baking paper to 3mm thick. Cut out your cookies as close as possible to each other. Do not try to remove them from the baking paper, just put the dough as it is on cooking tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.[I] If you cut cats with holes, remember to cut as many hollow ones than full ones. And cut small triangles for the cats noses[/i].
  3. After 20 minutes, you will be able to manipulate the cookies easily without deforming them. Spread them on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray, leaving a small spacing between them. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes depending on your oven and the size of the cookies. The cookies are done when they appear dry and the edges begin to firm up but the center is still slightly soft. Let cool completely on rack before decorating.
Prepare raspberry buttercream
  1. Blend the raspberries and filter. In the bowl of a hand mixer, beat the butter cut into small pieces at high speed with the beater blade until it becomes very soft. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat again at high speed for at least 5 minutes until fluffy.
  2. Then gradually add the raspberry sauce and beating at low speed until it is fully integrated. The mixture may tend to settle, then add 2 tablespoons of icing sugar, although scrape sides and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth and homogeneous. Put your raspberry buttercream in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (no more) before use.
Assemble and decorate cookies
  1. Transfer the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with 4mm plain tip (Wilton #7). You can also cut the corner of a zip bag, but it will not work for small decoration items. Using the piping bag, lay the buttercream on a cooking before closing the sandwich with another one. For hollowed cats, smooth the icing flat with a spatula before closing the biscuit with a hollow biscuit. Cover the icing with sprinkle and add a small triangle for the nose.
  2. Use the rest of frosting to decorate the cookie sandwiches and the paws. Change the tip for a plain 2mm tip (Wilton # 3) and create small triangles on the ears and in the center the nose or circles on the paws. Fill a small bowl with sprinkle and dip the cookies in to coat with sprinkles.
  3. Let dry 15 minutes at room temperature and lay the cookies flat in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated for the icing to harden.
Notes
For the paws: To create the paws, use round cookie cutter to cut one big round for 4 smaller ones. Transfer the big one on the baking tray then lay the small ones very close to it like in the picture, not leaving any space between them. The cookies will stuck together in the oven.
Recipe by Anne-Sophie Vidal - Fashion Cooking at https://www.fashioncooking.fr/2016/10/chocolate-raspberry-cat-cookies/