Sacher cookies
- Vegetarian
- Difficulty: Average
- Prep time: 60 min
- Cook time: 15 min
- Serving: 5
- Cost: Low
- Note plus 1 hour of resting
PRESENTATION
Sacher cookies are crumbly cacao shortcrust rounds filled with apricot jam and finished with a dark chocolate coating — each element drawn from Torta Sacher and compressed into a single bite. The dough relies on the ovis mollis technique, which uses hard-boiled egg yolks in place of raw ones to produce a shortcrust that is noticeably more tender and crumbly than standard versions. It's the same approach used for canestrelli, and it gives these cookies their defining texture from the start. That extra step earns its place.
Hard-boiled yolks keep the dough delicate without making it fragile, so each cookie holds together through the apricot jam filling and the dark chocolate coating while still breaking cleanly when you bite in. The cacao base balances the brightness of the jam, and the chocolate shell ties everything together the way it does in the cake that inspired them. They're good alongside tea or coffee, and they pack well enough to give as a gift — sturdy on the outside, satisfyingly crumbly within.
You might also like:
INGREDIENTS
- Ingredients for 10 Sacher cookies
- Unsweetened cocoa powder 4 tbsp (20 g)
- Type 00 flour 1.3 cups (150 g)
- Potato starch 9 tbsp (70 g)
- Powdered sugar 0.9 cup (100 g)
- Egg yolks 2.7 oz (75 g) - hard-boiled (from about 5 medium eggs)
- Butter 10 ½ tbsp (150 g) - soft
- for filling and decoration
- Apricot jam ½ cup (120 g)
- Dark chocolate 55% 7.1 oz (200 g)
How to prepare Sacher cookies
To prepare the Sacher cookies, start with the Hard Boiled Eggs: they will need 8–9 minutes from the water’s boil 1. At that point drain the eggs, shell them 2 and keep only the yolks for the shortcrust dough. You will need about 75 g (about 2.6 oz) of yolks. Press the yolks through a fine sieve 3.
Add the sifted potato starch 4, the sifted flour 5 and the powdered sugar 6 to the hard‑boiled yolks.
Then add the sifted cocoa powder 7 and the soft butter, cut into cubes 8. Work everything quickly with your hands.
You should obtain a homogeneous dough 10. Slightly flatten the dough disk, wrap it in plastic film 11 and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Then transfer it to a lightly floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin 12.
Roll the dough to a thickness of about 4–5 mm 13. Using a square cutter 6 cm on each side (about 2 3/8 in), cut out 20 cookies 14 and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper as you go 15.
Then make a hole in the center of only 10 cookies using a round cutter 1.8 cm in diameter (about 0.71 in) 16 17. Bake all the cookies in a preheated static oven at 338°F (170°C) for about 15 minutes on the middle rack (check occasionally, as temperatures and times can vary from oven to oven). Then remove them from the oven 18 and let them cool completely.
Transfer the cookies to a tray, turn over the ones without a hole 19 and fill them with about one teaspoon of jam. Spread it slightly 20 and close with the cookie with the hole 21.
At this point chop the chocolate 22, transfer two‑thirds of it into a bowl and melt it in the microwave in short bursts, stirring frequently 23. Then add the remaining chocolate 34.
Stir 25 until it has melted. Line a tray with plastic film 26 and dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate 27.
Place the cookies on the tray as you go 28 and continue in the same way for the rest. Let the chocolate fully set 29 before serving your Sacher cookies 30.