Pieday Friday ~ Homemade Bourbon Biscuits

I loved bourbon biscuits as a child but I’ve realised that I haven’t eaten one for about 5 years now! I don’t know why, I just don’t really buy biscuits and if I’m going to have a naughty treat I’ll probably choose a slice of cake, haha! So when I read a recipe for making bourbon biscuits on the Good Housekeeping website I was very excited to experience that chocolatey taste once again and I set to work on trying out the recipe straight away.

Here’s the ingredients list:250g (9oz) plain flour,125g (4oz) unsalted butter,125g (4oz)caster sugar,2tbsp golden syrup,50g (2oz) cocoa powder,1tsp bicarbonate of soda,3tbsp milk

Ingredients for the filling:75g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened,125g (4oz) icing sugar,15g (½oz) cocoa powder

And the recipe couldn’t be more simple – just mix all the biscuit ingredients together in one bowl using an electric whisk or blender until it clumps and then bring it together to make a smooth dough.

I wanted to make over-sizebourbons to make them a little extra special so I cut the biscuits about 50% bigger than a normal sized one. I simply rolled out the dough to about 5mm thickness and used a knife to score the lines to make the biscuits. I also used a fork to prick holes into the biscuits to get that bourbon look. These went back into the fridge for half an hour before being baked at 180 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the biscuits because they burn easily around the edges (but you can always trim this off!). I made a few batches of these biscuits and my second batch was much better because I checked them after only 13 minutes and they were cooked but not burnt!

As soon as the biscuits come out of the oven you need to score the lines again with a knife, otherwise they will stick together so I ran the knife around the biscuits and within 3 minutes they were cool enough to be snapped apart and left on a rack to cool down completely.

To make the chocolate filling, put the softened butter into a bowl and sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Mix with a fork until combined into a very thick icing. Spread on the biscuits and sandwich a second biscuit on top.

I enjoyed my bourbons with a pot of freshly ground rich BlankBox coffee which went perfectly with the bittersweet dark chocolate of the biscuits. I felt very autumnal wrapping my hands around a steaming cup of coffee and dunking yummy biscuits! Let me know if you try out this recipe for yourself and I’d love to see photos of your bourbon biscuits if you make them so please tweet me @Cassiefairy.