Domo TKOs

I'm not too sure why, but I find Domo-kun absolutely adorable. So, it was bound to happen that I'd bake something Domo-themed. In case you don't know who or what Domo-kun (どーもくん) is, he's the mascot of NHK, a Japanese TV station. He's a brown, fuzzy, rectangular creature with a perpetually open mouth who apparently hatched from an egg, and he appears in short stop-motion segments on NHK.

I got the idea to make some sort of Domo chocolate cookie, but it couldn't just be any old cookie. And then it hit me, why not Domo-fy TKOs? TKOs, Thomas Keller Oreos, are what I think of as a grown-up's Oreo. They're rich and decadent with salted chocolate wafers sandwiched around a creamy white chocolate ganache center. And so I did just that, giving a playful makeover to the fancy adult treat.

*Edited 1/30/2011: To all of you who want an alternative dough to work with, try Domo Icebox Cookies. The dough is easier to work with, and they aren't sandwich cookies. But, of course, they're equally cute!

Domo TKOs

adapted from The Essence of Chocolate

Brown Dough
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2/3 of 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
10 tbsp butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, room temperature

Red Dough
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 of 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, room temperature
a few drops red food coloring
 
Filling
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped

To make the filling, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then whisk the chocolate and cream together until even. Then set it aside to let it thicken for 6 hours at room temperature or for less time in the fridge.

First for the brown colored dough, mix the flour, cocoa powder,sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Add the butter and incorporate it into the dry ingredients until it comes together as a dough. Gather it in a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 10 minutes.

For the red dough, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Incorporate the butter with a spatula and then add the food coloring, mixing just until no more red streaks remain. Gather the dough and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Shaping the Dough

Take some of the brown dough and make it into a rectangular prism so that the short sides measure 1 1/4 x 3/4" and place it so the longer edge (1 1/4") is parallel with your table. Next take a red piece of dough and make a rectangular prism with 3/4 x 1/2" short sides. Center this red rectangular strip on top of your first brown one with the longer edge (3/4") touching the brown dough.

Then make two narrow rectangular prisms with the brown dough with the short sides measuring 3/4 x 1/4". Place them on both sides of the red rectangular piece of dough with the shorter edge (1/4") touching the brown base. Finally, make another brown rectangular prism with the short side measuring 3/4 x 1/4". Place that prism on top of the red prism and between the other two narrow brown prisms.

Now smooth away the lines between the dough pieces and round the corners of your large rectangular prism. I find it easier to repeat this whole process multiple times with all of the dough to ensure that the shape of the mouth doesn't get distorted by working with too much dough at once. Once finished, wrap the shaped dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate till firm, around 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the dough out from the fridge and slice it into 1/8-inch pieces, placing them onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake them for 12 minutes. Let them cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Once the cookies are totally cool, they can be filled. First pair up all your cookies by size. Only one cookie in each pair will need to be decorated (since the other cookie will be the bottom of the sandwich). Place the white chocolate ganache in a piping bag. Take one cookie from a pair and pipe a bit of filling in the center. Place the other cookie on top and carefully press the cookies together to spread out the filling to the edges. Repeat with the rest of the cookies.

Decorating Domo Cookies

bittersweet chocolate
black food coloring
white chocolate
toothpicks

Melt the bittersweet chocolate. Add a little bit of black food coloring and mix till evenly blended. Take a toothpick and dot on eyes on the cookies. Next, melt some white chocolate. Trace the top and bottom edge of the red mouth on the cookie with the white chocolate. Then make four teeth on the top edge and four teeth on the bottom edge of the cookie. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Serve immediately, or if not, keep refrigerated so the cookies stay crisp and let return to room temperature when ready to serve.

P.S. Heart Shaped TKOs (for extra dough)