Kalter Hund

Kalter Hund is a cake made out of butter cookies, surrounded by chocolate, and if you buy the cookies - there's no baking necessary!

Prep Time45

Cook Time20

Chilling3

Total Time4 5

Course: Afternoon Kaffee, Dessert

Cuisine: German

Keyword: butter cookie, Chocolate, no bake

Servings:

Calories: 455kcal

Equipment

Loaf Pan

Ingredients

Butter Cookies

100 grams butter soft
1 egg yolk
70 grams powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
300 grams ap flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 milliliters water
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate Mixture

500 grams semisweet chocolate
150 grams butter
300 milliliters heavy cream

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Instructions

Butter Cookie Dough

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and egg yolk until just combined.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the flour and baking powder. Mix again until the mixture looks like sand, then add in the water and mix until just combined.
If there are dry bits at the bottom, use a rubber spatula to gently fold them into the dough.
Pour the dough onto a sheet of plastic and press it together into a square block, no more than 1" thick.
Place the dough into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place two racks in the oven so that they divide it into thirds.

Bake the cookies

Once chilled, roll the cookie dough out onto a lightly floured surface until it is no thicker than 1/8". You want it as thin as possible without overworking the dough.
Use a knife or bench scraper to cut the dough into rectangles that are 5 cm x 6 cm.
Press the excess dough back together, wrap it up and place it in the fridge to bake once it has chilled again.
Carefully transfer the cookies to the lined baking sheets. Leave at least 1/2" of space between each cookie.
Prick each cookie 3 times with a fork, this will help keep the cookies from puffing up. Then brush the top of each cookie with the heavy cream.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes and then swap and rotate them and bake for another 6-8 minutes.
They should be golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully.

Assemble the Kalter Hund

In a large microwave safe bowl, add in the broken up/chopped up chocolate. Microwave on 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between until the chocolate is mostly melted.
Add in the soft butter and stir to combine.
Then add in the heavy cream and stir again. Heat briefly to make sure everything is smooth and well combined.
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Spoon about a half cup of the chocolate mixture into the bottom of the pan and then lay 6 cookies into the chocolate, pressing down slightly.
Use a ladle or a cup measure to add a thick layer of the melted chocolate mixture over the top of the cookies. It should be around 1/2 a cup - add more as needed. Be sure the chocolate reaches all the way to the edges.
Then add on another layer of cookies and repeat layering the chocolate and cookies until only about 1/2 cup of the chocolate mixture remains. Pour the extra chocolate over the top and optionally crumble some of the cookies on top.
Place in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours.
To remove, use the plastic wrap to lift the cake out and then cut into 1" thick slices.
*Place back in the fridge if it begins to soften too much.

Notes

This will work best with thin butter cookies- if you don't want to make your own, store bought Leibniz are best. It should be stored in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

If you are making your own cookies, be sure to roll them out as thin as possible. If they are too thick, the slices will break apart when you cut them - definitely not the end of the world but it won't look as nice.
To line the pan, use plastic wrap to line the whole inside. I used two sheets side by side, overlapping slightly.
It is likely that some of the slices will break as you cut them, some ways to prevent this are to cut thicker slices - at least 1" thick, and then you can cut them in half down the center if it is too large of a serving. Additionally the thinner the cookie, the better. The other options is to do thicker layers of chocolate and fewer layers of cookies.

Nutrition