PORTUGUESE COOKIE CAKE

Versão em Português

Lucia sent us an email asking for a recipe called Portuguese Cookie Cake. It used to be the cake her Grandmother would make, but she never got the chance to get the recipe, she just knew is was made with vegetable shortening, cookies, powdered dark chocolate and hazelnuts.

Intriged, we accepted the challenge and started the research. We saw a lot of recipes and ended up creating our own. Instead of using vegetable shortening that has trans fat, we used butter, cocoa instead of powdered chocolate and walnuts instead of hazelnuts. Lucia, we really hope this recipe is good enough for you, is not like your grandma's but we hope it brings you good memories.

Chocolate layer2 egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
7oz. unsalted butter at room temperature
7oz powdered sugar
2 tsp rum
2 large egg yolks
4 tbsp powdered cocoa


Cookie Layer3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp rum
10.5oz. graham cookies
2oz. chopped walnuts

Directions
Beat the egg whites with salt untill they're firm, but don't let them dry. Place in a sealed container and put it the fridge.
Cream the butter and sugar, add the rum and beat a little bit more. Add one egg yolk at the time beating after each addition. Add the cocoa and beat to incorporate.
Add the egg whites and carefully fold them in the mixture.

Building the cakeIn a plate, mix the milk and rum. Dip each cookie in the mixture and place the cookies in the plate where you'll serve the cake. Do not over dip the cookies, you just want them a little moist.
Add a thin layer of chocolate on top of the cookie layer and some chopped walnuts on top of the chocolate. And then you add another layer of the moistened cookies, chocolate and walnuts. Repeat these steps untill all your ingredients are gone, but remember to finish the last layer with the chocolate. Refrigerate for 1 hour (the longer you leave it there the better) and serve cold.


Tips: Make sure the eggs are good, since they'll be served raw.
Remove the mebranes from the egg yolks so it doesn't smell like eggs.
If you're making this recipe for kids you can substitute the rum in the chocolate layer for vanilla extract and only use milk to dip the cookies.
You can use walnuts, pecans or peanuts. Just make sure you use some kind of nut, it adds a lot of flavor.
You can freeze the cake and serve it very cold.


Serves 8 portions.