Chocolate biscuits

 

I have never liked bourbon biscuits.  I don’t know why, because I should like them – chocolate biscuit and a chocolate filling…there’s nothing to dislike, and yet we’ve just never bonded.  I’ve always found them a bit stale and musty tasting, like they pretend they’re chocolate but they’re not really.  For me they are the biscuit equivalent of that person who your friend builds up saying, ‘you must meet X, they’re hilarious and you have so much in common.  You will become such great friends’, and indeed it sounds so promising and – of course - you trust your friend’s judgement but, when you meet them, you take against them so violently that you wonder if faking a seizure will get you out of the situation quicker.  Not that that’s ever happened to me.  Obviously....

The reason I chose this recipe is that the comments on the BBC Good Food website noted that the biscuit was like a bourbon.  Mr CC is rather partial to a bourbon but I’m not altruistic enough to make a batch of biscuits I don’t like.  This seemed a good middle ground as I suspected that the decoration being actual chocolate would add flavour, plus the fact that the biscuits weren’t sandwiched would make them a lighter eat (I know, I know....I’ve changed).  Plus, I’ve been sorting out my biscuit cutters and found this adorable sausage dog cutter and I’ve been so desperate to use it!

I always have a fondness for biscuit dough made with icing sugar; it is the smoothest, softest loveliest feeling dough you will ever handle.  It rolls like a dream and re-rolls patiently.  The biscuits held their shape well during baking too and, as they bake quickly, it’s a good recipe for fiddly cutters that produce details that might burn during a longer bake time.

The chocolate vermicelli and sugar balls added a nice crunch of texture to the biscuit but, more importantly, makes the dogs look like they’re wearing little jumpers!  It’s a hard hearted person who doesn’t smile at a tiny dog in knitwear.

Ingredients

For the biscuits:
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
85g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon milk
175g plain flour
55g cocoa powder

For the decoration:
100g milk or dark chocolate
Chocolate vermicelli or crumbled flake
Sugar paste eyes

Method

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy.

Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla and milk.

Add the plain flour and cocoa powder and mix gently to bring together into a ball of dough – it will be very soft because of the icing sugar.

Shape into a fat disc, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan oven 160C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper of non stick foil (the latter is always my preferred option).

Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm – this stops you having to flour a work top and risk changing the consistency of the biscuits.

Once the dough is about the thickness of a £1 coin take your chosen cutter and cut out; the dough re-rolls well so don’t waste anything!

Place the biscuits on the prepared sheet, leaving a little room for spreading whilst baking, although they don’t spread much.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the biscuits feel sandy to the touch.

Leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before attempting to move to a wire rack, as they will be fragile straight from the oven.

Once cool, melt the chocolate – either in the microwave, in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in a pan using a gas diffuser ring (my preferred option these days).

Using a pastry brush pain the chocolate over the part of your biscuit you wish to decorate and then sprinkle over the chocolate flakes.

Decorate further as required.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.