french yoghurt cake
almond and cranberry granola
have a fun weekend.
baked quinoa and millet patties
have a great weekend.
bourbon creams
Did your family have a biscuit tin or cookie jar growing up? If so then you’ll have had your favourites. The biscuits (cookies) that were your go-to pick; that you were so excited when you saw.
Bourbon Creams were my biscuit tin favourite. There’s nothing too fancy about them – they are basically two rectangular chocolate biscuits sandwiching a chocolate cream filling. Fancy or not, I loved them.
I could never just bite into them straight (unless I’d dunked them in a cup of tea or coffee first) but instead would nibble the top biscuit off and then scrape out the chocolate cream filling with my teeth. That was the good stuff. The last biscuit was just an afterthought at that point.
A friend of mine recently returned from her honeymoon in Scotland and brought back some supermarket brand bourbon creams (the original manufacturer no longer makes them so it’s all own-brands). I squealed. I hadn’t thought about my beloved bourbons in years and here they were.
Since there’s little chance of finding these beauties in the shops stateside I made some. They are a bit sweeter than the shop-bought kind but retain that satisfying crunch and snap of hard biscuits. The cream filling is lovely and rich – you’ll definitely want to break into them and scrape it all out – divine.
P.S. They’re kid-friendly: no actual bourbon involved.
Bourbon Creams
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon milk
- granulated sugar, to sprinkle
Directions
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Cream butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs and milk, and mix until combined. Add flour mixture, and mix slowly until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl at least once. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into a flat disk. Wrap each disk in cling film (plastic wrap), and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll dough out on a floured surface, sliding an offset spatula under the dough to release it every few turns of the rolling pin. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut dough into small rectangles, about 1 inch x 2.5 inches, making sure each biscuit has a match to make a sandwich. Place rectangles on a lined baking sheet; chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator; use a fork to prick the biscuits with holes. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake until just firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet; transfer to a wire rack.
- With the underside of half the cookies face up, spoon chocolate butter cream to cover one side in a thin layer. Place matching cookie on top of butter cream, top side facing out.
To make the buttercream:
Ingredients
- 2.5 oz good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
- 4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp baking cocoa, sifted
- 2-4 tbsp milk
Directions
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Beat in butter until creamy.
- Add powdered sugar and baking cocoa.
- Slowly beat in milk 1 tbsp at a time until you reach desired consistency.
Category: recipe | Tags: british food, chocolate, cookies, sweet treats 9 comments »
June 1st, 2011 at 10:16 am
i have never heard of these! but I want them :)
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Angharad Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:50 pm
You obviously know your stuff lady.
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June 1st, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I admit that I didn’t know what these were when you mentioned them on Twitter the other day. They look very delicious and I’m betting my kids would really enjoy the creamy center!
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Angharad Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Your kids need these now. Yes they do!
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June 2nd, 2011 at 8:35 am
Actually, I picked these up at an Indian store one time… perhaps you can check one that’s near you? They may not be the same, but I guess it’s a start :) That’s so awesome though that you made a batch in your very home. They look delicious!
XO!
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Angharad Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:40 am
That is extremely heartening news! When I finally get my backside to the Indian grocery store I’ve been meaning to visit for months (years?) I’ll give an eye out for bourbons! Awesome.
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June 3rd, 2011 at 8:22 am
Squeal! I had a biscuit…box…as a kid and these were my favourite. Far better than custard creams. My grandma made gluten-free bourbons once for my brother, but I’ve never made them myself.
Also: if you have a Stop and Shop anywhere near you, they have an “English” section, which can be a bit overpriced, but generally bourbons are cheap, as are Jammie Dodgers, Bachelor’s baked beans and occasionally Jacob’s cream crackers. Haven’t seen Cornish Wafers anywhere though. Probably just as well :)
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December 30th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
You’ve just made a really dull biscuit look and sound really good. I think it’s the nostalgia that makes them so appealing, likewise with custard creams. They evoke the 1970′s/’80s English childhood like nothing else. Ooh apart from those hideous pink wafers and biscuits with dead flies in.
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Angharad Reply:
January 2nd, 2012 at 12:02 am
Oooh I LOVED pink wafers! :)
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