Peek Inside Chocolate Pot of Gold Cookies

This St. Patrick’s Day there’s no need to slide down a rainbow to find riches, you can simply make these Peek Inside Chocolate Pot of Gold Cookies and you’ll discover a sweet golden treasure.

Originally published March 2nd, 2015.

I am so excited to finally share this tutorial today. It has been on my schedule for two weeks now, but I just couldn’t find the time to write the post and edit the pictures because I spent 11 of those days in Disney World.

During our stay I attended the Food Blog Forum, celebrated my 50th birthday, met my niece’s fiance for the first time, spent time with some blogging buddies, ate too much, and tried to have fun despite my husband being really sick for 6 of our vacation days. Since returning home, I’ve been fighting off what he has, unpacking and doing laundry.

It’s exhausting coming home from vacation. I’ll share more about my trip soon, but for today, I want to just get to the tutorial for these fun cookies.

A few months ago I created some snowman cookies with clear candy bellies filled with snowflakes which where quite popular. Ever since, I’ve been trying to find other cookies to make using the clear window design and thought these pots filled with gold coins were equally as cool.

I kept the design pretty simple using chocolate cookie dough for the cauldron/pot. I thought the rough exterior of the cookie made for a rustic looking pot, so I didn’t bother decorating the cookies with royal icing or chocolate.I packed up these cookies and brought them to the blogging conference in my suitcase. Only one little leg broke, so I was able to pass them out to some blogging friends who have brought riches to my life. I was happy to share mine with them.

Peek Inside Chocolate Pot of Gold Cookies

Ingredients: (makes 8)

Ingredients:chocolate cookie (recipe adapted from Lili Loa) –

10 tablespoons butter, softened slightly
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup flour

candy windows and gold coins-
12 crystal clear mint candies (I used Arcor candies)
1 tube Betty Crocker Chocolate Cookie Icing (royal icing)
4 ounces gold or yellow candies

Supplies:

optional, 2 silicone mats
rolling pin
cauldron cookie cutter
parchment paper lined baking sheets
2 – 2 1/4 round cookie cutter

Ingredients:

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Combine cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and flour in a small bowl. Stir in to wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated.

Flatten dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap or place in a zip top bag. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove dough from refrigerator.I like to roll my dough out between two silicone mats, that way I don’t have to use flour to keep the dough from sticking. You can also use parchment paper, but that gets wrinkled.

If you don’t have either, lightly dust a cutting board with flour, then roll out dough.

For the first batch of cookies, roll the dough out so it is just a bit thicker than the candies you will use to fill your cauldrons. I used Gold M&M’s, so I rolled my dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut out 8 cauldrons at that thickness. Remove the excess dough, leave the cauldrons in place, and place the cut dough in the freezer for 5 minutes.By doing this, the cookies are more likely to keep their shape when you lift them up off the mat and place them on the baking sheet. I didn’t do it for my first batch of cookies and they were a bit misshapen.

Set the cut outs on a parchment paper lined baking sheets. Cut circles out of the center of these cookies.

Place the pan of cookie dough in the refrigerator.

These cookies will become the center cookie once they are stacked and assembled.

Roll out the remaining dough so that it’s somewhere between 1/8th inch and 3/16th inch thickness.

Cut out 8 more cookies, remove excess dough, freeze dough for 5 minutes.

Set on parchment paper lined baking sheets and cut out circles in the center of each cookie and place in the refrigerator. These cookies will eventually have the clear candy windows in them.

Use the remaining dough, re-rolling as needed to create 8 more 1/8th inch thick cauldron cut outs. You will not cut holes in these cookies. Refrigerate.

You may have some excess dough. I find it’s best not to re-roll the dough too many times or the cookies get tough. So just break off pieces of the dough and create some snack size cookies, if you’d like.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, unwrap the crystal clear mints and crush them into fine crumbs.

I used my food processor, but you can put them in a heavy duty zip top bag and whack them with a meat mallet. I crushed a whole bunch so I’d have lots for other cookies.

Start by baking the trays of 1/8th inch thick holey cauldrons. Bake cookies for 11 minutes, then remove from oven and immediately fill each hole with the crushed candies. Return to oven and bake for about 3 more minutes. Keep a close eye on the cookies as the candy melts.

You want it to just melt enough so that all the candy is clear, then remove it from the oven. If the candy gets too hot, lots of bubbles will form and they will not pop, so your candy windows wont be clear.

Bake the remaining trays of cookies for 10-14 minutes until the tops of the cookies look dry.

Cool all the cookies completely.

To assemble the Peek Inside Pot of Gold Cookies:

Pipe a line of chocolate cookie icing on the backside of one of the holey cauldron cookies (without the candy window) and press that cookie onto one of the whole cauldron cookies. Pour some gold candies in the hole, making sure the candies don’t rise above the top cookie.

Pipe a row of chocolate icing on that top cookie and set one of the candy window cookies on top.

Allow the cookies to dry for at least 30 minutes before moving.

These cookies will stay fresh for about a week if kept in a cool dry place. Do not refrigerate.

Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

More St. Patrick’s Day dessert recipes
from Hungry Happenings

Chocolate Pot of Gold filled with
Dulce de Leche Mousse

Caramel Apple Pot of Gold

Sweet Pot of Gold

Shamrock Cheese Crisps

Creme de Menthe Fudge Shamrocks

If you’re looking for more St. Patrick’s Day food, use the link and check out these awesome recipes.