May I give you one more boozy recipe for St. Patrick’s Day? My next post will be family-friendly, but I’m still on a Jameson whiskey roll and had a lot of fun creating these crunchy mint cookies. They have a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom and each cookie sports a Jameson-spiked ganache rose on top.
I vividly remember pounding out “My Wild Irish Rose” on the piano in the living room, singing along with neither grace nor talent. Fifty years later the song comes back to haunt me, as it does each March, along with other traditional Irish songs like “Danny Boy”, “That’s an Irish Lullaby”, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling”, and “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen”, though I read recently that this was actually written by a German composer. Oh, and that annoying unicorn song, but I am NOT getting that stuck in my head!
I love The Irish Tenors, and good old Bing crooned his way through some Irish ballads, but when I think of some of these songs it always takes me back to Joe Feeney on The Lawrence Welk Show. He wasn’t one of my favorites, but he sure had the perfect voice for Irish songs. (Grandma made me watch it, honest!)
Now, see? I gave you some nice ideas for tunes to hum while you’re making ganache roses.
The cookies are a slam-dunk. Very easy. If painting their little bottoms with dark chocolate and piping ganache roses makes you grind your teeth, you could take the easy way out and just pour a little bit of melted chocolate into the wells in the center. Or add mini chocolate chips to the dough. They wouldn’t be ROSE cookies, of course, but they’d still be tasty. And of course, you can make them without booze – just use cream instead.
Oh, and if you don’t (gasp!) have a shamrock cookie cutter, you can roll three balls of dough (a teaspoon each), add a stem, and press in the middle to create a shamrock. Flatten the petals down slightly. I learned the hard way that the cookies won’t get nice and crunchy if they’re too thick.
If you’re going for the gusto, here’s your recipe:
| "My Wild Irish Rose" Cookies | Print |
- GANACHE:
- 8 ounces dark chocolate (chips are okay)
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- ⅓ cup whiskey (I used Jameson) You may skip the alcohol and substitute cream if desired.
- ........
- COOKIES:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- green food coloring
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 ounces dark chocolate (chips are okay)
- GANACHE: In a small saucepan on the lowest temperature, melt the chocolate, stirring often. Heat the cream until it's hot but not boiling, and add to the chocolate. Stir until combined. Remove from heat and gradually add the whiskey, stirring constantly until smooth. Cover lightly with a paper towel and set aside, stirring now and then, until the mixture is thick enough for piping. (This might take 2-3 hours, depending on the temperature of the room.) The ganache should resemble thick buttercream icing. Scoop up a spoon to test it; it shouldn't fall off the spoon when turned upside down.
- Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a rose tip. Put a little icing on a rose nail (or I've used a flat meat thermometer in a pinch) and put a small piece of waxed paper or parchment on the nail. Pipe the rose just as you would with icing. (If the ganache gets too soft, allow it to cool off BRIEFLY in the fridge.) There are lots of tutorials on the Internet if you have never done this. Don't make the roses too big! Leave the paper under each rose and place them on a baking sheet. Refrigerate or freeze.
- COOKIES:
- Heat oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- In a large bowl (a stand mixer is recommended) beat the butter until creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and beat well.
- Add the egg, peppermint extract, and food coloring (make it a little darker than you want because it will lighten when the flour is added) and beat until completely mixed.
- Add cornstarch, salt, and flour. This is a stiff dough - you will want to use a dough hook if you have one, or be prepared to finish stirring by hand.
- Roll dough out between lightly dusted sheets of parchment. It should be fairly thick - between ¼-inch and ⅓-inch. Cut with a shamrock cookie cutter and place on prepared baking sheets. With your thumb, press in the center of each cookie.
- Bake for approximately 15-17 minutes, or until just the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and press the centers again, using your thumb (or a rounded measuring spoon, tart tamper, or the handle of your rolling pin) to redefine the well in the middle of the cookie. Move to a rack to cool completely.
- Melt the 6 ounces of chocolate, either in a pan at lowest heat or in a bowl in the microwave at 15-second intervals. Stir well and, using a pastry brush, brush the bottom of each cookie and place chocolate-side-down on parchment, pressing gently to distribute the chocolate evenly. Refrigerate to quickly set the chocolate.
- Place a dab of chocolate in each cavity and add a rose, pressing gently to secure it.
Start with the ganache:
Stir hot cream into melted chocolate.
Gradually add whiskey, stirring constantly.
Use a rose tip to pipe ganache roses.
Make the dough, then roll out between pieces of parchment.
The dough should be nice and thick – between 1/4-inch and 1/3-inch.
Press firmly in the center of the cookie with your thumb, or . . .
Use your weapon of choice: thumb, measuring spoon, tart tampers, rolling pin handle.
Once baked, the holes will have mostly filled back in. Press down again while the cookies are hot. (The first time keeps the cookies from cracking around the cavity.)
Brush the bottoms with a thin layer of dark chocolate.
Press gently onto parchment, wiggling slightly to distribute chocolate evenly. Chill.
Use a dab of the melted chocolate to nestle each rose in its place. Dance a jig!
They’re as tasty as they are pretty; just the right amount of mint. And don’t forget, if you’d like to save a step, add some mini-chips to the batter and skip the chocolate bottoms. Or, hey, if you’re like me and there can never be enough chocolate, do both!
My wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows.
You may search everywhere, but none can compare with my wild Irish Rose.
My wild Irish Rose, the dearest flower that grows,
And some day for my sake, she may let me take the bloom from my wild Irish Rose.
Enjoy!
Lorinda