posted by Carol on Jan 8
Whether you want to fill and Easter egg or a pretty box with chocolates, you will find that these recipes are far easier than you ever believed possible.
Ingredients
16oz (455g) high quality semi sweet (plain) or sweet (milk) chocolate
8oz (225g) honey
12oz (340g) finely chopped or minced orange peel
4oz (95g) chocolate and hazelnut spread
3/4oz (22g) orange zest
12oz (340g) semi sweet or sweet chocolate for dipping
posted by Carol on Nov 19
Makes about 25-30. These just walk straight off the plate, so don’t worry how they keep!
Ingredients
65g/2-1/4oz butter
60g/2oz castor (fine grained) sugar
60g/2oz plain (all purpose) flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs milk
150g/5oz plain (semi-sweet) chocolate, melted, for coating
Peppermint filling
220g/8oz icing (confectioners) sugar
1-2 tsp peppermint essence or oil
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C, 350 deg F and line 2 baking sheets with non-stick paper.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and frothy, sift the flour and cocoa together then mix into the butter and sugar mixture, adding the milk gradually.
3. When the mixture forms a soft dough, knead it then cut in half. Roll out the first half between sheets of non-stick paper to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Using a plain cutter, 1-1/2 inch in diameter, cut out cookies from the dough and place on a baking tray.
4. Repeat the last step with the other half of the dough. Bake all the cookies for about 10 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.
5. Peppermint Filling - Beat egg white and about half the sifted icing sugar together. Add the peppermint essence - you need to taste this to get the right amount of peppermint to suit your own taste. Beat in the remaining sifted icing sugar. You might need more icing sugar than shown above. You need a soft dough. If you do need more icing sugar to achieve this, add it gradually. If you overdo it, you can always add a drop or two of water.
6. Now you need to break a piece of peppermint filling and use them to sandwich two cookies together. The filling should come right to the edges of the cookies. Continue doing this until all the cookies are sandwiched together.
7. Dip half each sandwich cookie into the melted chocolate and then leave to set on non-stick paper.
