French Brunch Cookies

French Brunch Cookies

Recipe by La Bellitude
Servings

24

servings

These delicious and oh-so-easy to bake cookies are as close as you can get to a croissant feel without the laborious task of layered dough. But you don’t need to tell people that if you don’t want to.

Ingredients

  • 6 dark chocolate bars (1.55 oz each)

  • 1 ½ cups flour

  • ¾ tsp salt

  • ½ tsp baking powder

  • 1 tbsp sugar

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, room temp

  • 6 oz ounces cream cheese, room temp

  • ½ teaspoon vanilla

  • 1 large egg, separated

  • decorating sugar or chocolate drizzle for tops

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
  • Break each chocolate bar crosswise along the 3 seams. You will have 24 chocolate pieces in all.
  • Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.
  • With a stand mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat on medium until blended. Add the vanilla and egg yolk. Blend until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and beat on low until incorporated. Add the remaining flour and mix just until the dough starts to come together.
  • Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 20″ x 8″. Cut the dough into 4″ x 2″ rectangles.
  • Place chocolate pieces crosswise across the rectangles so the chocolate sticks out over the ends. Fold the dough around the chocolates and place the cookies seam side down on the prepared pan. They don’t expand much so 1″ to 1-1/2″ apart is fine.
  • Brush the cookies all over with the lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if using and bake until just barely light golden brown, about 18 – 22 minutes.
  • Cool the cookies on the pan and then transfer to rack to cool completely. Drizzle with melted chocolate if using.