Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

I tried various different recipes for the biscuits used in these sandwich cookies before settling on this particular one.

 

This recipe was given to my mum by the woman who ran the nursery school I went to when we lived in Hastings. Her name was Hilary, and so we named these Hilary Cookies. The biscuits are great on their own as well as with the slightly extravagant peppermint buttercream and chocolate coating, and can be mixed together and baked in a matter of minutes.

 

These plain chocolate biscuits were the first thing my sisters and I learnt to bake and its a recipe we still make often. And so it seems fitting that this recipe will be the last one I post on my blog.

 

Writing the blog has been exciting and infuriating in equal measures and has taken up ALL of my spare time! I have so much respect for all those bloggers who keep going for years and continue to develop new and exciting content every single week – it is truly a labour of love.

 

I have now achieved what I set out to do and taught myself how to make many different kinds of patisserie, so in 2014 I'll be moving on to new things, and if you would like to see what I'm up to please take a look at my Etsy shop!

 

Wishing you a happy and productive new year,

 

Kate x

 

 

Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies: makes 24 cookies or 12 sandwich cookies

 

Chocolate Hilary Cookies:
115g butter or margarine

85g caster sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

140g self raising flour

1½ tablespoons cocoa

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• Preheat oven to 190°C and line two large baking sheets with parchment
• Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan until just combined
• Stir in the flour, cocoa and bicarb, mixing thoroughly
• Place spoonfuls of the batter on the lined baking sheets and flatten each slightly with a fork
• Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack
• If making sandwich cookies, you can cut them to the same size with a cookie cutter whilst still warm

Peppermint buttercream:

115g butter

1½ cups icing sugar

1 teaspoon peppermint flavouring

• Beat together the ingredients until thoroughly combined – the quickest way to do this is in a food processor

Assembling the sandwich cookies:

300g dark chocolate

Sprinkles of choice

• Sandwich the cookies together with a thin layer of buttercream, ensuring it comes neatly to the edges of the cookies
• Melt the chocolate in the microwave, or temper it if you have the patience
• Dip each cookies into the chocolate and top with sprinkles

These cookies are best the day after they are made as the cookies will soften slightly and the flavours will develop