Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits

First up, line 2 large baking trays with greaseproof paper. Put your butter, sugar and Vanilla Extract into a bowl and cream together until smooth. Sieve over your flour and Cocoa Powder and mix together to form a smooth dough, if your dough is very firm add a tsp milk to soften it slightly. 

Roll your dough out on a surface lightly dusted with flour to a thickness of approx. 1/2cm. Using a round cutter 7cm diameter cut out the dough and place onto your lined baking tray. Re-roll your dough as necessary. Pop your biscuits dough in the fridge and leave to chill for 30 minutes.

10 minutes before baking pre-heat your oven to, 180°C/ 160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Once your biscuits have chilled pop them in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes. They will be slightly soft but they will firm up as they cool. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 15 minutes and then pop on a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst your biscuits are cooling it’s time to make the ganache. Pour your cream into a pan over a medium heat and stir until just about boiling. Chop your Chocolate and place into a large bowl. Pour your hot cream over the chocolate and leave to stand for 1 minute and then stir to combine and melt the chocolate. If there are still lumps of chocolate then pop in the microwave in 10 second bursts to melt completely. Leave your ganache to cool at room temperature.

Once your biscuits and ganache are cool, whisk your ganache with an electric hand whisk until it reaches a lovely pipeable consistency. Pop your ganache in a piping bag and cut a hole in the end. Pipe a layer of ganache over the base of half the biscuits and then top with another biscuit. If you do not have a piping bag you can spread the ganache over the biscuit with the back of a spoon.

Use the Chocolatey Decorating Icing to decorate the top of your biscuits, get creative with your designs! Leave your icing to set for a couple of hours, it will still be slightly sticky as the icing does not set hard. You are now ready to dig in and enjoy your delicious creation!