Fat Friday

There's been far too much of my face around here lately.

And do you know what's a million times better than my face?

 

Biscuits.

Lots of them. Dunked, licked, chomped or nibbled at, you really can't beat a humble hobnob or two, no matter how you eat them.

To satisfy this very British biscuit craving I managed to dig out one of the dog-eared, butter-stained St Michael recipe books on our kitchen shelf, flicked straight to the back and found a simple recipe for bourbon biscuits.

 

These fork-pricked, chocolate oblongs are filled with a decadent chocolate cream and eaten at tea-time. Which, if you live in Britain, is just about any time of day [or night].

Someone stick the kettle on?

INGREDIENTS

Preheat the oven to 170 C // 325 F // GM 3

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl.

In a seperate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar

Beat in the golden syrup into the butter until smooth.

Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter gradually, kneading slightly until a dough is formed.

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. If it appears too dry or cracks easily add a teaspoon or two of water, re-knead and roll out again.

Trim the edges to make a rectangular sheet of dough [the scraps can be re-rolled after!] and cut into bourbon-shaped pieces [about 2cm by 6cm].

Prick each slice with a fork [purely to make it look more....bourbon-y] and place on a greaseproof-lined baking tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp and allow to cool.

Meanwhile it's time to make that oh so decadent filling...

INGREDIENTS

Break the chocolate up into a heatproof bowl, add the water and place over a pan of just-boiled water. Allow to melt gently, stirring together occasionally and taking care not to let the bowl touch the water underneath.

Remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar until thick and glossy. Leave it to rest and thicken for a good 20 minutes before spreading onto half of the biscuits.

Now just squidge each half together and NOM.

xxx