Chocolate cookies with orange cream

DOUGH INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a bain-marie. Let cool.
• 2
  Whisk the eggs with sugar until light and frothy. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture, then the mixture of flour, cocoa, nuts, salt, and baking soda.
• 3
  Finally, stir the chopped chocolate into the dough. Refrigerate the dough for half an hour to an hour.
• 4
  Preheat the oven to 180°C with top and bottom heat. Using a spoon, form small mounds (heaping spoonful) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced sufficiently apart (leave about 5 cm space around the mounds).
• 5
  Bake for 9 minutes, then (if you want to achieve a regular circular shape) remove the baking sheet from the oven and use a round cookie cutter to even out the shape of the cookies (not by cutting them out, but by 'bordering' them – moving the cutter in a circular motion along the edge of the cookie). Then return the cookies to the oven for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet.
• 6
  I recommend testing the total baking time with one cookie, baking it alone first (it depends on the size of the dough mounds).

CREAM INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Combine all ingredients except butter and whipped cream with a whisk in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for two minutes, stirring constantly (until it has the consistency of cooked pudding). Remove from heat and stir in the butter.
• 2
  Cover with cling film directly on the surface and let cool completely in the refrigerator.
• 3
  Whip the cream until stiff. Fold into the pudding base with a spatula.

FINISHING INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  For the heart design, cut out templates of a larger and smaller heart from paper. Place the larger template on a cookie and dust with powdered sugar. Place the smaller template and sprinkle cocoa through a sieve. Serve with orange cream.