It’s biscuit week in my house. This post is a little late for the Great British Bake Off biscuit week, but the recipe is guaranteed to be way easier. Hey, what can I say, a girl has things to do and no tent to bake in.
Who needs gluten in a biscuit? Not me. These gluten free treats pack a punch of rich flavour.
Recipe yields 15 to 20 biscuits depending on their size.
You will need:
- Baking tray (preferably 2)
- Silicone baking mat or baking paper
- Stand or hand held mixer
- Sieve
- Cling film
- Dough rolling bag or baking paper
- Rolling pin
- Sharp knife
- Measuring tape (optional)
- Fork
Ingredients:
Biscuit
- 75g hard vegetable shortening (or butter)
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp golden syrup
- 150g gluten free plain flour
- A pinch of xantham gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 5g custard powder
- 20g cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp cold coffee
Filling
- 50g hard vegetable shortening
- 100g powdered icing sugar
- 1 tbsp custard powder
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp cold coffee
Biscuit
Step 1
Brew a cup of coffee and leave to cool. I used a coffee machine to get espresso strength, but you can also use instant coffee, made up to espresso strength. This process can be sped up using a freezer.
(Maybe have a cupper yourself while you wait)
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F gas mark 2)
Line the baking trays with silicone baking mats or baking paper and set aside.
Step 3
With a stand or hand held mixer cream the vegetable shortening until light and fluffy. You can use butter here if you don’t need to make them dairy free.
Step 4
Sift the caster sugar into the fat and add the golden syrup. Mix until incorporated.
Step 5
Combine the gluten free flour, xantham gum, baking powder, custard powder and cocoa powder. If you’re making these vegan check your custard powder and cocoa power are vegan, most shouldn’t contain any milk or egg. Custard is only not vegan when milk is added to the powder to make it up.
Sift into the fat mixture and beat on a low speed to combine. The dough will be crumbly at this point.
Step 6
Pat the dough together with your hands, then add the cold coffee a bit at a time, kneading between additions.
Keep any left over cold coffee to use in the filling.
Step 7
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Step 8
Lightly dust the inside of a dough rolling bag or two sheets of baking paper with powdered icing sugar. Roll out the dough in the pouch or between the baking sheets to stop the dough sticking to the rolling pin. You want to roll to between a quarter and half a centimetre thick.
Step 9
Using a sharp knife and a measuring tape, cut out rectangles around 2.5cm wide and 4cm long. Or free style the shapes, but you do want to try to keep them similar sizes so that the biscuits match up to make sandwiches.
Step 10
Transfer to the baking trays with a few centimetres between each biscuit. They won’t change shape much so they don’t need loads of space. Gently press a fork in lines along the long edges of the biscuits to create dots.
Step 11
Bake for 15 minutes, then leave to cool for a few minutes on the tray to prevent breakages, before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Filling
Step 1
Cream the vegetable shortening until light and fluffy. Then add the rest of the ingredients.
Step 2
Beat on a low speed until combined, then turn up to high for a few minutes.
Step 3
Match up pairs of biscuits that have similar shapes ready to fill.
Step 4
Spoon the filling into the middle of one half of the pair of biscuits, then press the pair together. This will push the filling out to the edges. Finally leave them to set for at least half an hour.
Thanks for reading.
The Bakery At Home 