12 months ago I had barely baked a muffin. And now look at me! Seriously though, I am feeling rather smug at having made these impressive looking, tasty biscuits so easily. Further proof that a lot of baking is very straightforward. It is the chestnuts in this biscuit that give it an interesting flavour, and you can’t go wrong with chocolate cream. If you want a plainer and thinner biscuit then leave out the chocolate cream, and perhaps eat them with ice cream as an alternative and much classier wafer. Or just on their own. You don’t need to be really specific with the size measurements – just use the photo as a rough idea. Recipe is by baking guru Dan Lepard.
Ingredients
150g cooked, peeled chestnuts (I use tinned ones from the supermarket)
175g dark soft brown sugar
200g unsalted butter, softened
225g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
100g dark chocolate
50ml double cream
125g icing sugar
Whizz the chestnuts and sugar to a smooth paste in a food processor, then add 150g of butter and purée again. Spoon into a bowl, work in the flour and baking powder evenly, then scrape on to a plastic sheet and chill for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 150 degrees/gas mark 2. Roll the dough to about 0.75cm thick, then cut out round biscuits about 5cm across using a cookie cutter. Lay these on a baking sheet lined with nonstick baking paper (or a non-stick tray). Bake for approx 35 minutes, and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Melt the chocolate, then set aside until barely warm but still soft. Beat the remaining 50g of butter and cream with the chocolate until smooth, then add the icing sugar and beat again. Spread a good dollop on the base of one biscuit and sandwich another on top.
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