GialloZafferano's Recipe of the Day: Two-Tone Cocoa and Pumpkin Cookies

Halloween is approaching, and the recipe of the day for Tuesday, October 27 is perfect for starting to prepare some themed treats! These two-tone cocoa and pumpkin cookies are delicious shortcrust cookies made with a pumpkin dough and a cocoa dough, filled with strawberry jam. Their special feature is their shape: little pumpkins carved with spooky eyes and mouths, just like traditional Halloween lanterns. Crumbly and eye-catching, they are also ideal to make with children for a special snack or a costume party.

INGREDIENTS:

• Butternut squash 1 ¾ cup (400 g)
• Type 00 flour 3 ½ cups (405 g)
• Potato starch 0.625 cup (100 g)
• Butter 3.5 oz (100 g)
• Egg yolks 0.5 oz (15 g)
• Sugar ¾ cup (150 g)
• Unsweetened cocoa powder 6 tbsp (30 g)
• Strawberry jam 1 cup (250 g)

• Prepare the pumpkin: peel the pumpkin, cut it into cubes, and steam it until soft. Blend it to obtain a smooth purée; you will get about 7 oz (200 g). Let it cool completely.
• Make the shortcrust dough: pour the flour and butter into a bowl and work them with your hands until you get a sandy mixture. Add the egg yolk, sugar, pumpkin purée, and potato starch. Knead until you get a smooth, even dough.
• Prepare the two doughs: divide the dough into two equal parts. Leave one half plain and add the unsweetened cocoa to the other, working it until the color is uniform. Wrap both doughs in plastic wrap and let them rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Shape the cookies: roll out the cocoa shortcrust dough to a thickness of about 1/8-3/16 inch (4-5 mm) and cut out 20 cookies using a pumpkin-shaped cutter about 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) wide. Make cuts with a small knife. Roll out the plain shortcrust dough as well and cut out another 20 cookies in the same shape, carving out eyes and mouths to create the Halloween faces.
• Bake: arrange the plain and dark cookies on two separate baking sheets and bake them in a preheated conventional oven at 356°F (180°C) for about 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
• Fill and assemble: spread the strawberry jam over the dark cookies and top them with the plain cookies with the carved faces. Your two-tone cocoa and pumpkin cookies are ready!

If you want to customize your Halloween cookies, you can replace the strawberry jam with your favorite kind, or use a hazelnut spread for an even more indulgent version.

To get well-defined faces, try to cut the eyes and mouth precisely, then place the cookies in the fridge for about half an hour before baking. This way, the filling will be clearly visible once the cookies are assembled.