Chocolate shortbread sandwiches
These fun - and yummy - biscuits look seriously impressive, but are super easy to make.
Makes: 32Ingredients:
150g butter, softened
65g caster sugar
215g plain flour
15g (½ oz) cocoa powder
To decorate:
75g unsalted butter
125g icing sugar
A few drops of Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract
25g Dr. Oetker Fine Cook's Dark Chocolate
25g Dr. Oetker Fine Cook's White Chocolate
Dr. Oetker Chocolate Hearts
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, Gas Mark 4). Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. In a bowl, beat together the butter and caster sugar until soft and creamy.
2. Divide the creamed mixture between two bowls. Add 100g flour to one bowl and sieve the cocoa on top. Mix the ingredients together to form a firm, chocolate dough.
3. Add the remaining flour to the remaining creamed butter and sugar and mix together to form a firm dough.
4. Working on one dough at a time, turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Roll out to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) - the mixture will be quite short. Using a 3.5cm (1 1/3 inch) wide heart shaped cutter, stamp out 32 heart shapes, re-rolling as necessary.
5. Repeat with the remaining batch of dough to make a further 32 heart shapes.
6. Arrange all the heart shapes on the baking trays, spaced slightly apart. Prick the tops with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly golden and firm to touch. Cool for five minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. To decorate, put the remaining butter in a bowl and beat until soft and glossy. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar until creamy and soft and add a few drops of Vanilla Extract.
9. Spread the butter icing over eight plain shortbread hearts and eight chocolate shortbread hearts, right to the edges, and sandwich together with the remaining shortbread hearts. Arrange on a board lined with baking parchment.
10. Put the dark and white chocolates in separate heatproof bowls and sit them over two saucepans of simmering water until melted. Remove from the water. Using a teaspoon, drizzle a little dark chocolate over each of the plain shortbread sandwiches and place a milk chocolate heart in the centre of each. Drizzle the white chocolate on the chocolate shortbread sandwiches and finish with a white chocolate heart. Leave for a few minutes in a cool place to set before serving.
Recipe courtesy of Dr. Oetker.