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Monday, September 19, 2011

Oat Cookies with Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache

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I always have a problem getting rid of leftover baking ingredients. My favourite thing to bake on whim when I need to use up leftover ingredients is cookies. They're so easy and quick and well, everyone loves cookies. Especially when there's chocolate involved. I had a ton of leftover coconut milk from my sticky rice and kaya macarons and had no idea what to do with it. I started toying with the idea of making a chocolate ganache using the coconut milk instead of cream and a quick google search made me realise that it's used quite a lot with dairy-free chocolate as a vegan substitute for ganache. Very interesting...Not that I was wanting to make a vegan recipe, but I was intrigued to see what a coconut milk ganache would look and taste like.
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I decided to use up more of my leftover ingredients by making some delicious golden oat biscuits to be sandwiched with the coconut milk chocolate ganache. These biscuits have a light crunch, they're not too sweet and they are completely moreish. They biscuits are a bit less oaty and crunchy than Anzac biscuits but more coconutty, and quite similar in flavour to Digestive biscuits, with a bit of lovely malt flavour. They taste pretty good on their own, but they are completely addictive with the chocolate ganache.
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The ganache turned out really beautifully, I found it really interesting to substitute hot cream for hot coconut milk in the recipe. The ganache was luscious and shiny, and set really well in the fridge once I had sandwiched it in the biscuits. The ganache itself tasted pretty similar to a normal ganache, maybe a tiny bit richer and only the teeny tiniest hint of coconut. I will definitely be keeping a few cans of coconut milk around the house in case I ever run out of cream and need to make emergency chocolate ganache. You'd be surprised how often I need to make emergency chocolate ganache. It can be such a pain to keep fresh cream in the fridge all the time, I always end up throwing out a lot of expired leftover cream.
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I always love the combination of oat biscuits with chocolate filling. One of my favourite Arnott's biscuits is the Kingston, which is quite similar to this. I remember wanting to try baking Kingston-like biscuits ever seeing Julia's delicious-looking version. And while my biscuits look quite similar to Kingstons, they have a very unique, memorable flavour. They're just the kind of biscuits that I can polish off a plate of with a giant mug of tea on a sunny afternoon. And with the gorgeous warm weather we've been having in Sydney, these are the perfect treat to make at the moment.
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Oat Biscuits with Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache
(adapted from this Taste recipe, makes about 18 sandwiched cookies)
2/3 cup (about 140g) brown sugar
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1/3 cup malted milk powder (I used Horlicks)
1 1/4 cups plain flour (about 180g), sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dessicated coconut

For the ganache:
1/2 cup (125ml) full-fat coconut milk
150g dark chocolate, chopped up into small pieces

Preheat oven to 160°C and line two baking trays with baking paper. Place sugar and butter in a bowl, and beat with electric beaters on high until light and creamy. Add egg and continue beating until well combined. Mix together milk powder, plain flour, baking powder, rolled oats and coconut in a separate bowl. Gradually add dry mixture with the mixer on low, beat until well combined.

Roll heaped teaspoon of dough into balls and press flat on prepared trays, leaving a couple cm for spreading. I managed to fit about 15 on each tray. Cover tray with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes (I skipped this step but had to slightly flatten my cookies halfway through baking with a spatala). Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.
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Prepare the ganache while the cookies cool; place chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Heat coconut milk gradually on a medium-low heat in a small saucepan until the mixture just starts to bubble and steam, about 5-10 mins. Remove from the heat and pour hot coconut milk over the chocolate. Leave to sit for 5 minutes while the chocolate melts. Using a whisk, mix together until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Place in the fridge until the mixture starts to thicken up, about 15 minutes. Don't leave it for too long or the ganache will set hard and you will have to melt it over a saucepan of boiling water. Spoon or pipe ganache on to biscuits and sandwich together. Leave to set for about 15 minutes. Can be stored in an airtight container for several days but best eaten on the day they are baked as the biscuits will get soggier over time.
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23 comments:

  1. These look just like Kingston biscuits, and I love that you have chocolate ganache emergencies! Indeed!

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  2. As soon as I saw your first photo, I thought of Arnott's Kingston biscuits! Great idea to use coconut milk instead of cream for ganache - sometimes I don't have any cream in the fridge but I want/need to make ganache so this would be perfect!

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  3. Kingstons with a twist! With Kingstons being coconutty themselves, and these cookies containing coconut as well, I'm sure the coconut choc ganache would be a perfect filling.

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  4. I always have random baking ingredients left over too..the worst one is nuts which can turn sour so quickly once opened. Cookies are usually the best solution! These look so good...a coconutty version of a digestive with added ganache? Yum!

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  5. They are so perfect Steph! And that ganache! Oh so smooth and luxurious! I'm with Jacq, as soon as I saw that pic, I thought Kingston. They (and Monte Carlo) are my fav!

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  6. What a brilliant idea, I'm off to buy coconut cream now!

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  7. Absolutely perfect! Always know I can come by here for photo inspiration and a bit of drooling, too.

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  8. These look and sound pretty fantastic to me. I love crunchy sandwich cookies with chocolate in/on/over/under them. I also love that you used coconut milk in your ganache! Very creative use of "leftovers" indeed. Your photos are exceptionally beautiful, as always!

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  9. I smiled when I saw your background of old french post-cards but then I focused on the biscuits and my mouth started wattering!! Thanks for this nice recipe!! (and for ganache emergencies I always have a pack of Devondale long life full cream in my cupboard, perhaps not the best cream compared to fresh but really handy!!)

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  10. delicious cookies and great photos

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  11. Your cookies are very tempting, and certainly don't look like leftovers! Very much enjoyed your inspired photos, just lovely.

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  12. Yummy! These would taste lovely dipped in a cold glass of almond milk.

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  13. Oh Steph, these photos are stunning! Kingstons have always been one of my favourite biscuits, and I love the idea of using coconut in ganache. Genius!

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  14. What a great idea using the coconut milk! Def need to try this. I love coconut :)
    Do you think it would work with low fat?

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  15. Everything you make is so darn delicious. Your food pictures are making me fat! Love your work.

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  16. Hey steph, I REALLY love your photos in this post!! Every single square inch is picture perfect. The colours are so vibrant and the photos are so sharp. And don't get me started on the styling, nice one! Look forward to more baking inspirations from here! =)

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  17. heeh very generous amounts of choc ganache! <3

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  18. just made these! found the mixture to be a bit dry so had to add a bit of extra butter, just in case anyone else is having that problem! :)

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  19. Cookies are one of my favourite things to bake. When time is short - as it is most of the time now! - there's such a lovely reward at the end for such a small effort.

    Glad you loved those cookies I made last year. Your version is just delightful! :)

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  20. I was just looking for a recipe for chocolate ganache made with coconut milk and came across this! Fabulous post! Great recipe! Thanks so much ;)

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  21. I stumbled over your blog post when googling for cookie/biscuit recipes using coconut milk and this was a fab find. I really must give these a try! Only problem is I've never heard of malted milk powder and don't think I can find it over here (well, The English Shop have Ovaltine, but they don't have shop nearby and it's expensive to order online). Any suggestions on a substitute for the powder?

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  22. Those biscuits remind me of hobnobs. These are so perfectly shaped. Using coconut milk for this ganache is a great idea love it!

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