Hot Chocolate Biscuits

My original attempt at hot chocolate biscuits were a sub-par batch of dry, cakey chocolate cookies from a recipe I found online so I went back to the drawing board and invented my own version which keeps the hot chocolate powder, generous chocolate chunks and gooey marshmallow but uses icing sugar in place of caster sugar and plain flour instead of self-raising. This creates a more even and less puffed-up biscuit without making them hard and brittle.

The combination of chunky milk chocolate pieces and chewy marshmallow inside a rich, dark cocoa biscuit makes for a delicious taste and texture. For further hot chocolatey decadence, sandwich two biscuits together with Marshmallow Fluff - scrumptious!

Note: the large chocolate chunks in these cookies means the dough will be fairly thick and slightly uneven when rolled out and the final result will be a little bumpy with oozy marshmallow patches, so I'd advise using a simple cutter rather than an intricately shaped one for this recipe.

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 20 biscuits depending on size of cutter

• 8 oz plain flour
• 1 oz cocoa
• 1 oz hot chocolate powder
• 1 tsp Horlicks (or other malt drink powder)
• 1 oz icing sugar
• 6 oz margarine/butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 oz milk chocolate chips or cut-up chunks
• Handful of marshmallows snipped into small bits
• 0.5 tbsp instant ground coffee dissolved in approx. 0.5 tbsp boiling water

METHOD

1. Boil the kettle and pour about half a tbsp water over half a tbsp instant ground coffee and set aside.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and icing sugar together until combined.
3. Add the flour, cocoa, hot chocolate powder, Horlicks, chocolate chunks and bits of marshmallow and mix briefly.
4. Add the vanilla extract and prepared coffee then use your hands to squash the mixture together to form a ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add a bit more flour.
5. Wrap the dough in clingfilm or a freezer bag and chill in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Place the ball of dough onto a large clean sheet of baking parchment then place another sheet on top and roll out with a rolling pin until about 1.5cm thick, depending on the size of the chocolate pieces (alternatively, you could roll the dough out on a floured surface but this may spoil the colour of the biscuits a bit).
7. Cut out as many biscuits as possible using your cutter of choice (I used a flower shape) and place onto a parchment-lined baking tray then squish the offcuts of dough together, re-roll and repeat the process until all the dough is used up.
8. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 8-10 minutes then transfer onto a wire rack. This is the part where I'd normally say leave to cool but don't leave them too long as they're delicious while still warm from the oven - just beware of molten marshmallow!

Red Velvet Star Biscuits

I haven't updated my little blog in a while due to being busy but now we've officially entered the most wonderful time of the year for cooking I've been squeezing in lots of festive baking.

These decadent biccies have got to be one of my all time favourite recipes and more than make up for my first (and so far only) attempt at red velvet cake being a disaster. They contain quite a large amount of red gel colouring and icing sugar, plus buttermilk and egg, so they're not the cheapest cookies to make but they look and taste fantastic and are a perfect luxurious treat for Christmas, Valentine's Day or any other special occasion, or as a gift. I wish I'd taken photo which showed their beautiful dark red colour better as it makes the cookies look very distinctive even without decoration, although I added Dr Oetker Gold Shimmer Spray for an extra festive sparkly sheen. These would also be delicious sandwiched together with some cream cheese frosting for an even more authentic red velvet experience.

If, like me, you don't want to buy buttermilk (it's not very widely available here in the UK), I found a great tip online showing you how to make your own by simply adding a dash of white wine vinegar or lemon juice to milk and leaving it to curdle for a few minutes. Et voila - bona fide red velvety goodness in biscuit form!

This recipe is an adapted version of an American one I found here: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2012/02/red-velvet-roll-outs-recipe/

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 40 biscuits depending on size of cutter

• 4 oz butter/margarine
• 6 oz icing sugar
• 9 oz plain flour
• 0.5 egg
• 2 oz cocoa
• 3 tsp buttermilk (or 3 tsp milk + 1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice)
• 1.5 tbsp vanilla extract
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tbsp red gel food colouring (NOT the liquid kind as this won't work!)
• Dr Oetker Gold Shimmer Spray (optional)

METHOD

1. If making buttermilk as outlined above, pour the white wine vinegar or lemon juice into the milk and set aside for a few minutes.
2. Whisk the butter/margarine and icing sugar until combined.
3. Stir in the egg, vanilla extract, buttermilk then add the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix briefly.
4. Add the gel food colouring a teaspoon at a time and mix until the mixture turns a deep blood-like red shade then squash together with your hands to form a ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add some more flour.
5. Wrap the dough in clingfilm or a freezer bag and chill in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes until fairly firm.
6. Place the ball of dough on a large clean sheet of baking parchment then place another sheet over the top and roll out with a rolling pin until about 1cm thick.*
7. Cut out as many biscuits as possible with your cookie cutter of choice (I used a star shape) and place onto a parchment-lined baking tray (they don't spread out much when cooking so they can be placed fairly close together). Squish the offcuts of dough together and re-roll and repeat the process until all the dough is used up.
8. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 8 minutes then transfer onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
9. If you want a gold sheen effect as in the photo, hold the can about 10cm away from the biscuits and spray each one with the Shimmer Spray then leave to dry.

*You could just sprinkle flour onto the surface to prevent the rolling pin sticking but this ruins the bold colour of the dough when baking.