Chocolate and Orange Sandwich Biscuits

I appear to be in a biscuit mood this week.  I've just had an urge to make them.  First the Peek Freans, and now these.  I also seem to have developed a thing for sandwiches.  

These are for the fiancé and his friends.  Being in a biscuit mood, these were picked from the biscuit book and something that looked interesting but wasn't too experimental since it involved flavours that have proved popular before.  The biscuits themselves were very easy to make.  It was a good dough, which could be shaped easily.  Really, the hardest part with making the biscuits was finely chopping 100g of dark chocolate.  That was surprisingly tiring.  They also took a while to bake as I had to do it in four batches.

The cream was also fairly easy, though somehow mine ended up being quite runny, which meant when I first tried to use it, it just spilt over the sides of the biscuits.  I had to put it in the fridge to firm up before it worked properly.  I also decided to colour mine, because whilst Milky Bar white chocolate is divine tasting, it turned the cream a rather horrible colour, rather than the nice white look it has in the book.  So I thought making it orange would be more appealing.  It went well with the dark biscuits at least.

I did lose a couple of biscuits, which was shame.  The bottoms of the first batch burnt due to leaving them on the tray to cool like the book suggested (hence I didn't do it with the other three batches) and in trying to remove the burnt part, one cookie crumbled to pieces.  I should have let it cool a bit more so it wasn't as soft.  The other escaped during the filling stage and ended up on the floor.  It was quite annoying.

The tasters' verdict was that they were absolutely delicious.  The filling went really well with the biscuits and they were all gobbled up.  

Recipe - adapted from Cookie Jar

Makes about 15

Biscuits:

• 225g/8oz butter
• 140g/5oz caster sugar
• 2 tsp orange extract
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g/9oz plain flour
• 25g/1oz cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 100g/3.5oz plain chocolate, finely chopped

Filling:

• 125ml/4fl.oz double cream
• 200g/7oz white chocolate
• 1 tsp orange extract
• Orange food colouring (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line 2-4 baking trays with greaseproof paper (it depends on the size of your oven and thus the size of your trays).
2. Mix the butter, sugar and orange extract in a large bowl.
3. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.
4. Sift together the flour and cocoa and salt, and add to the mix, followed by the finely chopped dark chocolate and stir until well combined.  You should get quite a thick paste.
5. Scoop out tablespoons of dough and roll into balls.  Flatten each ball slightly and place on the trays, spacing about 1 inch apart.  They don't spread too much in the oven.  You want about 30 biscuits, or at least an even number. (I only managed 28).
6. Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  They will still be slightly soft when they come out but will firm up as they cool.  Transfer them to a wire rack to do this.
7. Make the filling by bringing the cream to a boil in a small saucepan and then removing from the heat.
8. Add the chocolate, stirring until it has melted and the mixture is smooth.
9. Add the orange extract, and food colouring if using, and stir in.
10. Allow mixture to cool completely before using.  If very runny after this point, put in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up.
11. Put a dollop of filling in the middle of the underside of one biscuit.  Don't fill all the way to the edge because it will spill out when you make the sandwich.  Top with another, squeezing them together gently to spread the filling out.  Repeat until all biscuits are filled.

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons Cupcakes

When I first set about making these yesterday, I did so without the intent to blog about them, since originally I was going to be doing a vanilla cupcake with water icing: nothing fancy.  However, they turned into the cakes they are now as I went along and I ended up with something a bit more interesting, if still fairly simple.

These were made for my fiancé, who has been getting some nasty back to back shifts the last couple of weeks (we're talking finishing at 10pm then having to be in again for 6:30am the next day with a 6 mile cycle to get there).  He mentioned over the weekend that he likes taking my baking to have with his lunch/dinner because it cheers him up but obviously there haven't been any cakes for him to do so.  So I wanted to make him some, and I did.

Like I said, they started conceptual life as vanilla cupcakes.  I instead turned them into lemon ones since he likes lemon.  I then thought I'd put lemon buttercream in the middle and found I had just enough icing sugar to manage it.  But what to top it with, having run out of icing sugar?  Well, I was also making biscuits at the same time, which were to have an orange cream inside, so I pinched some of it before flavouring and made it lemon.  It is then topped with flakes of white chocolate.

He likes them, though it turns out I didn't use enough lemon extract in the sponge.  I discovered that when I ate the leftover sponge from coring out the middles.  I'll amend it in the recipe.  His favourite bit is the buttercream middle.

Recipe - makes 6

Cakes:

• 75g/2.5oz butter
• 75g/2.5oz caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 90g/3oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp lemon extract

Buttercream:

• 25g/1oz butter
• 50g/2oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon extract

Lemon Cream Topping:

• 50g/2oz white chocolate
• 30ml/1fl.oz double cream
• 1 tsp lemon extract 
• Yellow Food Colouring
• 1 square white chocolate, finely chopped for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a six hole muffin tin with cases.
2. Beat the butter and the sugar together until light and creamy.
3. Add the egg and the lemon extract and beat in.
4. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture.
5. Distribute evenly amongst the cases and then bake for about 20 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.
6. Make the buttercream by combining the butter, icing sugar and lemon extract together and beating until it is smooth and creamy.
7. Cut out holes in the centre of each cake, either with a knife or an apple corer.  Reserve the top of the 'cores' to use as lids.
8. Fill the holes with buttercream and then put the 'lids' back in place.
9. Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
10. Remove and add the white chocolate, stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.  Add the colouring and mix in.
11. Spoon on top of the cakes.
12. Top with a sprinkling of white chocolate flakes.

Peek Freans Pink Freens

03/01/13: I have renamed these since they are not actually a Peek Frean biscuit.  They're just inspired by a description of one.  Since writing this recipe, I found what I think is the biscuit they are talking about, which is a Fruit Creme.  My biscuit is a bit different, hence a slightly different name.  It's what the fiancé keeps calling them. 

So some people may remember that way back in May, I attempted to make a biscuit inspired by something I heard in the television series Fringe.  This biscuit being a 'Peek Frean', which was described as a vanilla wafer with a lemon cream and raspberry centre. I was unable to find a recipe for such a thing and decided to concoct my own instead.  Unfortunately it was a failure, at least for me.  I thought the filling was too sweet.  The fiancé enjoyed them though and finished the entire batch off himself, so at least they weren't wasted.

Anyway, recently I was checking the statistical information for this blog and found I've been getting a few hits on that particularly page of late and a number of people stumbling upon my blog looking for a recipe for Peek Freans.  I admit I felt a bit bad for not having any such recipe on that page and so last night, I decided I would attempt it again.  Of course, this meant I needed fondant.  I was thinking something like the ready to roll fondant you can get in supermarkets, but I did not feel like trekking out to one to get it.  So instead I thought I could make it from scratch.  I had a recipe I wanted to try in my sweet making book, but it requires a resting period of 12 hours, so I was making that at 10pm, dressed in pyjamas, so that it could be ready to use today.

I admit, I was a bit nervous about the fondant.  I really wasn't sure if I would pull it off since it required a sugar syrup and my track record with that hasn't been the best.  I usually burn at least one batch each time.  But this time I got it on the first try!  I was so pleased.  The actual working of the sugar syrup afterwards though was exhausting.  It takes quite a while and becomes harder the stiffer it gets.  And then I had a strange period where it suddenly went crumbly, so I added a little water and it went too soft and got stuck to my hands.  I had to get the fiancé to help me scrape it off using a butter knife.  I succeeded in the end though and I was very proud.  It's always a very pleasing feeling to make something from scratch well on the first go.

As for the biscuit part, I went through one of my biscuit books and found a recipe for jam rings, which looked perfect.  A simple vanilla biscuit that could be cut into shapes.  In theory anyway.  For some reason the dough is ridiculously sticky.  I was adding so much flour to it when rolling it out to stop it sticking to everything.  I ended up with some slightly wonky shapes as a result but the final product was still very delicious and worked well.  I admit, because I'd only made half a batch of fondant, I didn't have enough to fill all the biscuits so I just coated my remaining biscuits with chocolate, or sandwiched them together with jam.  But if I'd made a full batch, I would have filled them all, hence I'll be doing that next time.

So...was it a success?  Oh indeed it was!  They were so scrummy.  The fiancé likes them and says they are better than the last batch.  He really likes the fondant filling.  I like them too!  Not too sweet but lovely and creamy and the soft filling and the crunchy biscuit is so good!  I was very very happy.  So this time, you do get a recipe. 

Recipe - Makes 18

Fondant - adapted from The Home-Made Sweet Shop

• 400g/14oz caster sugar
• 150ml/5fl.oz water 

The fondant needs to rest for 12 hours when making from scratch, so prepare it the day before you want to make the biscuits.
If you don't want to make your fondant, you need about 400g/14oz ready to roll fondant icing from the supermarket and skip to the biscuits.

1. Prepare an ice bath and moisten a baking tray or marble slab with water.  Also moisten a metal scraper (or in my case, a cake slicer) and wooden or rubber spatula.  Keep a wet butter knife on hand just in case and a bowl of cold water.
2. Make the fondant by putting the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and heating until the sugar dissolves.
3. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and allow to cook until the syrup reaches a temperature of 114°C/238°F (soft ball stage).
4. Arrest the cooking by placing the saucepan in the ice bath and then quickly pour the syrup onto the damp tray/slab and allow to cool for a few minutes.
5. Using the metal scraper, start scooping the edges of the syrup into the centre of the pool until it becomes glossy.  If it gets stuck to the scraper, use the wet knife to scrape it off.  You may want to re-dampen the scraper every once in a while.
6. Switch to the wooden/rubber spatula and start to move it through the syrup in a figure of eight pattern, scooping it up and pushing it along as you go.  Keep doing this until the syrup goes from being easy to move and transparent to very thick and opaque white.  This does take a long time and you will get sore arms.
7. When mixture is the right appearance, knead it until you can feel no hard lumps and you have a nice, smooth paste.
8. Put the paste in slightly damp bowl, cover with a clean, damp cloth and put in the fridge to rest for 12 hours.

Biscuits - adapted from Cookie Jar

• 225g/8oz softened butter
• 140g/5oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 egg 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 280g/10oz plain flour, plus extra on hand for overly sticky dough
• Pinch of salt

1. Make the dough for the biscuits by first separating the egg and putting the white to one side.
2. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix together.
3. Lightly beat the egg yolk and add it and the vanilla extract to sugar butter and mix.
4. Sift in the salt and flour and mix.
5. Split the dough in half, roll each half into a ball and wrap them in clingfilm.  Put them in the fridge to rest for 30-60 minutes.
6. Remove from the fridge and let sit for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line 3 baking trays with parchment.  Flour the work surface and rolling pin, and have more flour on hand in case the dough gets sticky.  
7. Roll the dough out until it's about 5mm/0.25inch thick and cut out circles using a 5.5cm/2.2inch fluted cookie cutter.  Transfer to the baking sheets.  You should get 18 pairs of biscuits from the dough.
8. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove, brush with the egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.  Bake for a further 5-8 minutes, until the edges of the biscuits are slightly brown.
9. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Filling:

• 400g/14oz fondant
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 2 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
• Icing sugar for dusting
• Pink and yellow food colouring

1. Put the jam into a saucepan and heat.  You want to remove as much moisture as possible, aiming for about half the amount of jam you started with.  Set aside to cool to room temperature. 
2. Divide the fondant in half and place the half not being used into a bag to stop it drying out.
3. Dust the work surface with icing sugar.  
4. Knead the fondant until it is soft and pliable, then add the lemon extract and a few drops of yellow colouring.  Knead the fondant again to mix the flavouring and colour into it.  Place in a bag to keep fresh.
5. Knead the other half of the fondant.  Cut slits in it and spread the jam into the slits, along with a few drops of pink colouring.  Dust with icing sugar and then knead in to mix the colour and jam into the fondant.  The jam will make it sticky so you'll need to keep adding icing sugar to it until it no longer sticks to your hands.
6. Roll the pink fondant out and use a 4cm/1.6inch cutter to cut out circles.  Place the circles on top of the underside of half the biscuits.
7. Do the same with the yellow fondant, placing the circles on top of the pink.
8. Place the remaining biscuits on top and very gently press together.