Sacher Torte Cookies

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz
Sacher Torte Heart Cookies

Lovely little heart shaped cookies packed with the traditional flavors of the famous Viennese Sacher Torte. 

One bite of this cookie and you will be instantly transported to Cafe Sacher in Vienna. Well, probably not but they do make pretty and luscious Valentine’s Day treats. 

Each piece has a chocolate cookies base, then is layered with apricot jam, marzipan and completely covered in melted semi sweet chocolate. 

This recipe takes a bit of time to create the layers, but it’s well worth the effort. You can switch up the jam flavor with your favorite variety.

You can make these cookies in any shape you like, I used a heart cutter for Valentine’s Day. Star shapes would be beautiful for Christmas. Or you can mix up the shapes in one batch. Decoratively packaged, these also make lovely presents or hostess gifts. 

Sacher Torte Heart Cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes 
Cook Time: 25 minutes 
Chill time: 120 minutes 
Yield: 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
  • 2/3 Cup all purpose flour 
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder 
  • 1/2 cup almond meal or flour 
  • 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup powdered sugar 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  • one stick (half cup) or 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 
  • 1 egg yolk 
  • 5 ounces marzipan 
  • 1/4 cup apricot marmalade or jam 
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum 
  • 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or good quality bittersweet chocolate chopped into pieces 
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream 

Directions:

  • Whisk together the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, almond meal, 1/3 cup powdered sugar and salt. Cut 7 tablespoons of the unsalted butter into small pieces and add it to the dry
  • ingredients.Ab 
  • Add the egg yolk and use your hands to knead everything into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. 
  • Roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Use a 3/4 inch heart cutter to cut out hearts. Lay the hearts on the baking sheet. 
  • Bake the hearts for 12 – 15 minutes, Watch them carefully, you want to remove them before they start to brown. Remove them from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. Replace the parchment paper on the baking sheets with aluminum foil and set aside. 
  • Knead the marzipan together with the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. flatten the mass, wrap in plastic cling film and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. 
  • Heat the apricot marmalade until lukewarm. Mix in the tablespoon of dark rum into the marmalade and push the mixture through a sieve or strainer. 
  • Use a pastry brush or knife to brush the strained warm apricot rum mixture onto the cooled heart shaped chocolate bases. Let the jam cool completely. 
  • Remove the marzipan from the refrigerator and unwrap it. 
  • Roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper until thin. Use the same heart cookie cutter used for the chocolate cookie base to cut out heart shapes. Place each marzipan heart shape on top of the apricot-coated hearts. Place the cooling racks over the aluminum foil lined baking sheets. 
  • Over a double boiler, melt the bittersweet chocolate chips with the remains tablespoon of unsalted butter. Stir together until evenly combined. Remove from heat. 
  • In a separate small saucepan, heat the heavy cream and pour it over the melted chocolate. Whisk until smooth. 
  • Let the chocolate ganache cool for 5 minutes, then carefully pour the melted chocolate over the cookies. Use a spatula to scrape the excess chocolate off of the aluminum foil, add it back to the pan and continue covering the hearts with chocolate. 
  • Let the hearts dry completely on the cooling rack. Transfer to a plate and serve or package up as gifts.

You may also like

1 comment

susan zacharias February 14, 2018 - 2:39 pm

A most wonderful cookie! Thanks for the recipe, Lora.

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.